Film student is living her dream

THIRD year screenwriting AFDA student, Tarryn Grobler, recently won a short video contest through the film school.

Tarryn’s video was a short documentary entitled Raising the Future which tells the story of her mother, Ruth, a woman who has inspired so many with her strength and love, to never give up, never lose hope and always believe in a brighter day.

“The competition details were emailed to the students and the categories caught my eye. They were different as they were about inspiring people and I liked the idea of showing the reality but also highlighting something beautiful. I chose to do a documentary on my mother, not because she does good deeds, but because of how she does this,” she said.

In her documentary, Tarryn tells the story of how her mother had started a ministry for abandoned babies after Tarryn’s father died when Tarryn was nine years old.

“She had no backing, she was just a woman with a dream! The plight of abandoned babies has always been close to her heart and she even wrote a song Who will Love the Children,” she said.

Ruth started by adopting a two-week-old baby, Simon, and felt God wanted her to do more. This sparked her mission to take in abandoned babies. “She started in our home and I ended up sleeping in the lounge! It’s been a funny adventure. She made choices with love, and provided for others, as well as for me and my older brother, Justin. After Simon, she adopted Mary, Jake and Siya, and as a single woman, she worked a full-time job and cared for six children, as well as her ministry. I always said I would write a book about it, but in Matric I developed an interest for film,” she said.

After playing with a computer editing programme, Tarryn’s passion for film grew. “I fell head over heels for film and ended up doing our matric DVD in high school. At first I wanted to be a journalist, but I played with cameras and videos and decided to go into film with a journalistic voice,” she said.

She studied film in Cape Town for two years, but returned to Durban after being hijacked. “I came back and took a gap year or two andreally matured during this time. I got to understand why I am studying film and met a lot of people and did freelancing jobs along the way. I started at AFDA last year, and am finishing my third year now,” she said.

Reflecting on her away, she said it was very exciting to have won. “I put the story together, followed by filming in two to three days and got everything done in the space of just less than a week. I thought about who could bring the most to the project and decided I wanted to work with my editor, Anja Schuulst, with Sizophila Makhathini on camera. This project wouldn’t have happened without them and their encouragement. We uploaded the documentary two hours before the deadline and I got a call the next morning to say I had won the category, I nearly died! The work on the project was so surreal, but I have realised what I am capable of with passion and commitment from a good team,” she said.

Tarryn said her mom was ecstatic about the project. “She knew I was making a story about what she does, but didn’t know how I was putting it together. She has always been very supportive of me and always 100 per cent behind me,” she said.

The future looks bright for the young film maker who has dreams to travel and make short stylistic and inspirational documentaries which show the goodness in people.

“I want to travel and create in any form. I’m such a wanderer! I just plan to go with the flow, but I am so happy that I finally know what I want to do with my life!” she said.

Following her win, Tarryn is now eligible for the “Popular vote” contest which is being held online.

The documentary Raising the Future can be viewed on the “Storieslived” site at https://www.storieslived.com/personal-passion/raising-the-future/

The community is encouraged to view her documentary and vote for her before 1 October.