A Beverly Gardens resident is making a name for himself, following the success of his documentary highlighting fishers in Kalk Bay released on October 17, 2019.
Angelo Louw, Greenpeace Africa’s digital mobilisation officer and plastics lead, alongside fellow filmmaker Malcolm Rainers, worked on a film named Gutted: the Fight of Kalk Bay Fishers. The short film highlights the battle fishers have to face to get fishing permits that will protect their livelihoods and showcases the stories from the communities.
“I want people to understand that a lot of the issues we hear about on the Cape Flats are deeply rooted and systemic. The community was stripped away of one of the few employment opportunities they had, so where else were they supposed to turn,” Louw said.
Following the release of the documentary, it has since received a number of accolades, such as winning in the Healers category of The Young Independents (TYI) Southern African Development Community (SADC) Awards in 2019 and was also shortlisted in the Jozi Film Festival. Louw was also named in the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans on June 24.
“I was stunned, I didn’t realise that I was one of the [TYI SADC] winners that year. I thought I have just made the list. It was a very proud moment for me. I made the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans list this year.
“It was my final year to make the cut so it was a pleasant surprise. What a send-off from my youth. The movie won several awards at movie festivals from Nigeria to New York. But for me, it was when it was shortlisted for the Jozi Film Festival that I was most proud because it was the hometown and I got to go with my best friend.”
Since its release, Louw said there has been a positive outcome as the government has announced 15-year fishing licenses for small-scale fishers, which is the first for the country.
Louw said he is now working on a series of videos that explores the impact of plastic across the continent. “We produced one in the neighbourhood I grew up in and just finished one in Cameroon. I’m working with the same guy I co-directed Gutted with, Malcolm Rainers,” he told Fourways Review.
