Stam (The Tree), a new film written and directed by Louw Venter and produced by the team behind the multi-award winning Inxeba (The Wound, 2017), will be released on DStv’s BoxOffice in October.
The film is already generating a lot of buzz in the industry, and is being hailed as uniquely Afrikaans, utterly unpredictable, and without pretension or political correctness in its exploration of the inner world of a set of characters seeking to belong.
There will be a private screening of the film for the industry at the 2020 kykNET Silwerskermfees, which will be held as a three-day webinar, from September 2 to 4.
Stam will have its world premiere in competition at this year’s Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), which runs from September 10 to 20.
For the first time in its 41-year history, DIFF will go virtual.
Also read: 5 films that were snubbed at the Oscars this year
Stam will also be available on KKNK’s digital screening platform in late September.
Stam is a choral narrative which follows the interlinked lives of five very different characters over the course of a few hours in Cape Town’s inner city.
“Now, more than any other time in living memory, we are being forced to look at the meaning and importance of human connection, a theme that lies at the heart of the film,” said Venter.
“The pandemic has proved unequivocally that there are inextricable forces binding us together more powerfully than we could ever imagine.
“We are all part of each other’s stories.
“Stam is an exploration of these invisible chains that bind us.
“Connections and relationships that go far beyond familiarity, economics, gender, race or social standing.”
Cape Town, with its particular brand of tribalism, decay, magic, gentrification, globalisation and regeneration, also plays a central role in the film.
Also read: New South African films to watch during lockdown
“It’s a city quite unlike anything anywhere else on earth,” said Venter.
The film will follow a new model of theatrical release on BoxOffice in early October.
“It’s exciting to be trying something totally new by partnering with BoxOffice for Stam’s commercial South African début,” said producer Elias Ribeiro of the production company Urucu.
“We look forward to the film being so widely available to audiences in the safety and comfort of their homes.”
Stam was produced with the support of M-Net, kykNet, the Department of Trade and Industry of South Africa, the Netherlands Film Fund, the Netherlands Film Production Incentive and the National Film and Video Foundation.
Follow us on our social media platforms:
