Little One, a feature film directed by Darrell Roodt (Yesterday, Sarafina!) and produced by Anton Ernst, was recently announced as South Africa’s official entry into the Best Foreign Film category of the 2013 Academy Awards (Oscars).
Roodt is delighted at the film’s selection. “Little One is a very low budget film, and it just shows what you can do with a committed cast and a dedicated crew. It may not be as polished as some of the other films that were in the running, but it has a big heart.’
In Little One a six-year-old girl (Vuyelwa Msimang) is left for dead on the dunes near a township in Johannesburg. She is found by a middle aged woman, Pauline (Lindiwe Ndlovu), who saves her life and becomes actively involved in her case. The film also stars Mutodi Nesheshe as Detective Morena.
According to Roodt, finding the child lead was one of the biggest challenges of the production. “I prefer not to go through a casting agency when I’m looking for child actors, so I asked our lead actress Lindiwe if she knew of a child who could carry the role and would feel comfortable acting with her. She suggested Vuyelwa, her neighbours’ daughter. We met her and instinctively knew she was special. She was just a joy to work with.’
He believes that the quality of the acting played a big role in convincing the South African Academy Award Selection Committee, who described the film as “a poignant, moving, and minimalist narrative which is unapologetically South African’.
Says Roodt: “The actors all just really got into their characters. We shot the film around June and July this year, and we rushed to get it finished because we saw that we had something special on our hands. It doesn’t happen very often that everything just comes together in this way.
“It’s a tough and challenging film, but it’s also inspiring, hopefully. The audiences so far have loved it – the best response I’ve ever received for one of my films.’
Roodt notes that they’re working hard at raising the international profile of the film, as it was finished too late to do its rounds on the international festival circuit, which could hamper its Oscar chances.
“We have a lot of people championing the film in Los Angeles, and we’re trying to get as many screenings and as much publicity as possible. Little One is gaining momentum and voting audiences have responded positively, so we believe we have an outside chance of being nominated.’
The film is funded by private finance and The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) rebate.
Roodt explains that production took place in the middle of winter 2012 in a squatter camp outside Johannesburg. “I think the mood and the coldness just seeped into the film and makes it very authentic,’ says Roodt.
Director of photography Trevor Brown worked with a Canon 5D. “It was perfect, because the camera is so small that it made it easy to access the shanties and move around in the squatter camp. The footage is hyper-real, although the shots were very composed and considered, which contributed immensely to the mood of the film,’ explains Roodt.
Post-production was done in Los-Angeles, and because of the tight deadline, Roodt approached composer Laurent Eyquem (who composed the score for Winnie) and asked if he had any old tracks they could use. “Laurent watched the film and said he wanted to write a score. He worked for 72 hours non-stop and the result is a sublime score. Once again we were just blessed with this film.’
Little One was released at The Zone in Rosebank, Johannesburg for a week in September to qualify as an entry into the Academy Awards. According to Roodt they will look at a wider release in 2013.
The shortlist for the Oscars Best Foreign Film category will be revealed in January 2013, a week before the announcement of the official Oscar nominations.
By Linda Loubser
Screen Africa magazine – November / December 2012
