Kanye Kanye*, which takes a refreshingly different stance on a South African story, has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Student Film.
The film was written and directed by 23-year-old filmmaker Miklas Manneke. He and his crew are still overwhelmed with the Student Oscar nomination and proud to be able to represent South Africa on an international platform. The winners of the awards will be announced in June 2013.
Manneke wants the world to see Kanye Kanye, a movie that tells a South African story in a context that is just as relevant locally as internationally.
Building on the premise of Manneke’s previous film, E-electricity, which was shot in a township in Walkerville just outside Johannesburg, Kanye Kanye came to vibrant life in shades of green and red, also in a Walkerville township.
“The crew and I looked at how the world sees township in films,’ says Manneke. “The world associates townships with poverty, crime and violence, all these bad things.
We looked at showing that people are born there, they learn to live there, they learn to love there, that is their lives. That is the story we wanted to tell,’ Manneke continues.
“We started filming Kanye Kanye in November 2011 and finished the movie in November 2012. It was a crazy journey to find the perfect township that we could split in half.’
As was the case with E-lectricity, Kanye Kanye also resulted in community involvement as about 30 houses were painted in different shades of green and red and two new shacks were built for the main characters.
“It was a lot of work but we had so many people helping, we had assistance from first year and second year students from AFDA,’ says Manneke.
The team spent two months painting houses on location and building 11 interiors in studio. They started shooting for 11 days in June 2012.
Kanye Kanye is about two best friends, Mpho and Mpho. Together in the 60s, the friends run one of the most well-known apple shops in South Africa until they have a bitter disagreement about which apple is better: the green or the red one. Their argument escalates to such an extent that the whole town is divided and split in half, symbolically depicted by a white line.
The townfolk adopt the notions of green and red completely, which is displayed in the colour of their houses and the clothes they wear. “The most important thing, however, is that the reds and greens would never mix,’ emphasises Manneke.
“I chose apples because the greatest divides are caused by something as small as an apple. Conflict can be avoided by someone simply saying, “enjoy your apple’,’ he continues.
Now, in Kanye Kanye, many years later in 2012, a “green boy’ called Thomas and a “red girl’ called Thandi fall in love. Forbidden to see each other, they use tins connected via wires to connect as people would do on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
“The second you take away any preconceived ideas about someone, anyone can connect or just start talking,’ says Manneke. That is what happens in Kanye Kanye. But when communication comes to an abrupt end, a new hatred develops between the reds and greens, which causes more animosity than ever. Only when Thomas discovers that the wire has been cut and that this is the reason for the breakdown in communication, can he and the town – and Thandi – reconnect. As he proclaims his love to Thandi, he dares her to meet him at the division line with the entire town joining in.
In Kanye Kanye the dispute between the reds and greens is solved within 27 minutes, in reality similar divisions still exists after decades. And that is one of the main reasons Manneke wants a worldwide audience for Kanye Kanye. To perhaps cause a shift in consciousness, the movie is an example of how division can be overcome peacefully.
Another reason Kanye Kanye is of such importance to Manneke, hits close to home for the filmmaker. Both his parents are German and although his mother lives in South Africa, his father is a pastor in Germany at a Lutheran church.
In recent years, a massive neo-Nazi movement has surfaced in Germany, against which Manneke’s father has launched a nationwide protest. This has resulted in his life being threatened, even leading to a petrol bomb being thrown at his house.
However, the support his father has received has been overwhelming – from all over Germany people have called Manneke’s father to offer him their support and protection.
*On its own the word “kanye’ does not have a meaning, but used in duplicate, “kanye kanye’ means “together’ in Zulu.
By Martie Bester
screen africa magazine – march 2013
