South African filmmaker Sara Blecher has made some outstanding and noteworthy
documentaries including the SAFTA-winning Surfing Soweto and Kobus and Dumile, for
which she won CNN’s African Journalist of the Year award. She is co-creator, director
and producer of the award-winning drama Bay of Plenty and directed and series
produced the local version of Who Do You Think You Are? Blecher currently lives in
Johannesburg and has just completed her first feature film, Otelo Burning, which has
received great acclaim worldwide and has won numerous awards.
DO YOU SURF? IF SO, WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SURF SPOT?
I don’t surf but I am a passionate body boarder.
I love the break at Scottburgh – also the Bluff, but only when I am super fit.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE FILM INDUSTRY?
Actually I was living in Paris. I had, seriously, no money. I was working as a waitress and
babysitter and pretty much doing everything I could to feed myself. Anyway, I met this
guy and he invited me to a party. It was by far the coolest party with the hippest people
I’d been to in all my time in Paris.
So eventually someone came up to me and started talking to me. He introduced himself
as a photographer and asked me what I did. Seriously, this was the moment I decided
to be a filmmaker.
I decided right there and then that I would never again be at a party like this and have
to say I was a waitress. Or even worse a babysitter. That simply wasn’t the plan for my
life. So I went back to New York and enrolled in film school.
Not a sexy story but a true one.
WHAT TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY INSPIRES YOU?
New thoughts.
WHAT IS THE WEIRDEST SCENE YOU’VE EVER HAD TO SHOOT?
The first scene I ever had to shoot was a necklacing and the second was a hut being
burnt to the ground — both for an episode of Zero Tolerance. This was slightly
challenging for a director who had never shot any drama before.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FILM OF ALL TIME AND WHY?
My favourite film last year was an Israeli film called Footnote. I can’t possible have a
favourite of all time.
WHICH LOCAL FILMMAKERS DO YOU ADMIRE?
I think Oliver Hermanus is truly talented.
IF YOU HAD TO INVITE FIVE CHARACTERS FROM DIFFERENT MOVIES TO A
DINNER PARTY, WHO WOULD THEY BE?
– Willie Wonka (Johnny Depp)
– Jason Bourne (Matt Damon)
– Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis)
– Shaft (Samuel L Jackson)
– Mickey Knox (Woody Harrelson)
WHICH HAVE YOU FOUND TO BE THE MOST CHALLENGING TO MAKE –
DOCUMENTARIES, TV SERIES OR FEATURE FILMS?
Working in television in South Africa at the moment is totally soul destroying. Making
documentaries is very challenging because you get involved in people’s lives and, much
as you try not to, you land up affecting them. So this is hard. But nothing compares to
having to work for public broadcaster SABC.
WHAT IS YOUR DREAM LOCATION?
Below the recce base on the Durban Bluff. This is right by the entrance to the harbour
so huge ocean liners pass by constantly, as do trains.
IF YOUR FAIRY GODMOTHER GRANTED YOU ONE WISH FOR THE SOUTH
AFRICAN INDUSTRY WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I’d love if we had a cinema going audience like they do in Korea. There young kids line up
to watch local films. I wish we had a culture like that here.
IF YOUR LIFE HAD A SOUNDTRACK WHAT WOULD BE ON IT?
Tanita Tikaram – Twist in my Sobriety
Bob Dylan – Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
JR and HHP – Show Dem
Tumi – Usain Bolt
IF A BENEVOLENT HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER GAVE YOU A BUDGET OF $200M,
WHAT FILM WOULD YOU MAKE? WHO WOULD YOU CAST?
I know this is odd, but I wouldn’t know what to do. I’ve never imagined ever having a
budget that big.
I think I’d be lost.
WHAT DO YOU DO TO RELAX?
I run. Preferably along water — the sea, rivers, streams…
WHAT IS YOUR STRESS-COPING MECHANISM ON SET?
I phone home.
IF YOU WEREN’T A FILMMAKER WHAT WOULD YOU BE?
I have been struggling to answer that question for years. I think I am a filmmaker “cause
I can’t do anything else.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?
A romantic comedy called Andani and the Mechanic.
I am also one of the recipients of the National Film and Video Foundation’s (NFVF) slate
funding. So I am working on this.
