Water, please
INSTITUTE: South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance (AFDA)
YEAR: 2016
LANGUAGE: English/Xhosa (African language)
SYNOPSIS: Water is the true protagonist of this short film, water in its absence. A dramatic drought devastates an African village and the situation keeps getting worse. Among the inhabitants fighting for water, Zoleka, despite being meek, does her best to bring back some to his ailing sister, who can only survive by drinking the medication she was prescribed. Tragedy permeates the whole work, and is highlighted by the contrast with Zoleka’s desperate attempt to simulate tranquillity in front of her sister: she repeats that “everything will be fine”, as if pronouncing a ritual phrase which could change their destiny. Colours, music and voices interchange in this depiction of a distorted reality that is not voluntary but is inevitable, and does not provide the audience with a model of the right behaviour to follow in such a scenario.
