The film Five Fingers for Marseilles – set in a town in the rocky badlands of the Eastern Cape –is an African western that tells the story of a group of young men (the Five Fingers) who stand up to brutal police oppression in Marseilles.
Having already travelled the global festival circuit, earning widespread praise and excellent reviews, the film is set for theatrical release in South Africa on 6 April 2018.
The western tells the story of freedom-fighter-turned-‘outlaw’ Tau, who kills two policemen, and is sentenced to 20 years in prison. When he gets out, the embittered ‘Lion of Marseilles’ discovers his comrades are now in prominent positions in the town he left behind. But there’s also a vicious new threat afoot, and so Tau must hesitantly reform the Five Fingers and take on old allies and new enemies.
“Five Fingers for Marseilles fuses western influences, from classic to spaghetti and revisionist eras, into a contemporary South African drama played in local tongue by four generations of acclaimed South African stars, led by television icon Vuyo Dabula,” shares director Michael Matthews and screenwriter Sean Drummond. “The great westerns have always contained socio-political threads, and Five Fingers’ loose allegory on today’s South Africa is edge-of-the-seat and starkly human.”
Inspiration
Matthews and Drummond say that the idea for the film struck them while travelling through remote regions of the Free State and Eastern Cape where they were inspired by the landscapes, history and towns they passed through – former colonial towns with European names reborn as new South African spaces: “…many of them former townships now towns in their own right, going through the birth pains of being new frontiers, which is another grand western theme. And dealing with the legacy of the country’s past,” they explain.
“Most often westerns are about the conquest and the taking of land, but we wanted to turn that back on itself and look at who is left behind and the legacy of that conquest.” The men travelled 8000 kilometres visiting small towns, meeting people, hearing stories, looking at history and developing their narrative.
Financing a Sesotho western
Written in English, the film was always intended to play in a local language and Basotho screenwriter Mamokuena Makhema came on board as a translator and cultural advisor, consulting on language, culture and nuance, and ensuring the dialogue in Sesotho stayed true to the original script.
The choice to make a predominantly Sesotho language western wasn’t a choice in essence, as both Matthews and Drummond had already agreed to tell the story in an authentic way that would be true to the area and the culture. “Sesotho and isiXhosa are the predominant languages in the area, we ultimately chose to film in almost completely Sesotho with some English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and other sprinklings of language. It’s a poetic, powerful language,” they share.
A directorial debut for Matthews and screenwriting debut for Drummond, the pair spent six years trying to finance the film. “There were a few times we were very close to a ‘go’, but then something would fall away,” they say. Ultimately keeping the film predominantly in Sesotho with only South African actors made it difficult to reach the budget level they were aiming for. “However we knew that we needed to take our budget a step further than the majority of local films to do the project justice and take a step in a new direction for South African film,” explain Matthews and Drummond. “Over this financing time we continued to develop the script, and the time definitely helped us with creative perspective and making the script as rich as possible.”
Five Fingers for Marseilles received the full backing of the National Film and Video Foundation as well as the full DTI rebate for a local film. Most of the private equity was sourced through the film’s partners Game 7 Films, as well as a backer in Dupa Films locally.
Casting
In addition to lead actor Vuyo Dabula who stars in long-running SABC1 soapie Generations, Five Fingers for Marseilles features an array of established and emerging local talent, including Hamilton Dlamini, Zethu Dlomo, Kenneth Nkosi, Mduduzi Mabaso, Aubrey Poolo, Lizwi Vilakazi, Warren Masemola, Dean Fourie, Anthony Oseyemi, Brendon Daniels and Jerry Mofokeng.
Both Matthews and Drummond praise legendary casting director Moonyeenn Lee as being instrumental in the casting process adding that she was a big believer in the project right at the beginning – eight years ago. With Lee, the film was cast over six years. “A lot of the main cast was already chosen three years before shooting. We have been really blessed with the level of the great cast we have in the film. They are artists and complete professionals. We also cast a number of supporting roles and all the child actors in the film are from the town of Lady Grey itself. There’s amazing talent there.”
Production
Five Fingers for Marseilles was shot over five weeks in Lady Grey, Eastern Cape. With Johannesburg being the closest main city and a seven-hour drive away, production scheduling and co-ordination proved to be quite complicated. “It was also the middle of winter with snow, rain and hail, making the shooting process even more challenging,” say Matthews and Drummond.
Shot on the Arri Alexa Classic with Zeiss Ultra Prime LDS lenses and an Angenieux zoom, Matthews says that the overall key to the feel and tone was to make sure the film had a ‘weight’ to it, “a confidence and a deeper tension constantly boiling under the surface of the characters and the town”. “With the cinematographer, Shaun Harley Lee, we took mostly a classic approach, favouring solid, composed framing and simple tracking shots, rather than an immediate handheld style. Although handheld was used in higher energy moments. We shot for 2:39/1 anamorphic framing and always aimed to keep the lighting looking natural and practical, rather than too staged.”
Special Effects were carried out by Paradigm Shift, who Matthews praises for their work on the film: “They really went above and beyond the resources we had. They did a lot of mist and smoke, squibs and dust bullet hits.” In addition, there were about 120 VFX shots: lightning and thunder, a train, set extensions, stunt wire clean-ups and numerous action embellishments. “One of the more complicated and hopefully unnoticed VFX shots was to add facial hair to a character for continuity,” he adds.
World premiere
The film made its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to screen at Fantastic Fest, BFI London Film Festival, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival among others, receiving rave reviews throughout. “We have been surprised by responses from all the festival audiences and critics so far. They have really connected with the themes and ideas that feel relevant to South Africa, but that have also resonated internationally,” comments Matthews and Drummond. “We thought they might see it as a bit of gimmick idea, ‘An African Western’, but they have really dug deep into the western research we did, as well as the strength of the films cinematic language.”
Five Fingers for Marseilles is produced by Asger Hussain and Yaron Schwartzman of Game 7 Films, and Sean Drummond and Michael Matthews of Be Phat Motel Film Company. Dylan Voogt of Stage 5 Films is co-producer, and Paulo Areal and Dumi Gumbi serve as executive producers.
On 7 March, the film will have its African premiere at Rapid Lion, the upcoming South African International Film Festival, and it will open at cinemas nationwide on 6 April. Additionally, the film has been sold to a handful of countries, with many sales to be carried out throughout the year. Matthews and Drummond share that each country has its own distribution dates and plans with the USA theatrical release set for September this year.
The film deals with the repercussions of violence and its reoccurring effects as well as the cycle of damage from our colonial past. “We don’t want audiences to feel like there is a strong message that we are preaching to them. Hopefully, the film resonates with South Africans and sparks conversations about where we are and where we’re heading,” says Matthews and Drummond. “We hope that after all these years of hard work, we have made something different and new for the South African audience. We’re offering something simply gripping, thrilling, cool and iconic for a South African and a world audience. As well as a film that has some deeper conversations and themes. We are making the kinds of films we’d like to see.”
Five Fingers for Marseilles is distributed in South Africa by Indigenous Film Distribution.
TECH CHECK
EQUIPMENT
- Camera: Arri Alexa Classic
- Lenses: Zeiss Ultra Prime LDS lenses Angenieux zoom
KEY CREW:
- Director: Michael Matthews
- Screenwriter: Sean Drummond
- Producers: Asger Hussain, Yaron Schwartzman, Sean Drummond, Michael Matthews
- Executive producers: Jeff Hoffman, Paulo Areal, Dumi Gumbi, Josh Green
- Co-producer: Dylan Voogt
- Cinematographer: Shaun Harley Lee
- Production Design: Franz Lewis
- Editor: Daniel Mitchell
- Sound Design: Morné Marais, Richard West
