Berlinale: Programme

Film File

Generation 14plus

High Fantasy

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‘I’m not trying to escape who I am. This is it, I was born in this body and I can’t escape it, no. Am I angry at what it is? Yes.’

An innocuous idea, since you can assume it would never actually happen: finding yourself in someone else’s body. Yet that is exactly what befalls Lexi and her friends during a camping trip. The shock is immense, especially given the friction that had already existed before the inexplicable event: not only between the three young women and Thami, the only man – but also between Lexi, who is white, and Xoli, who is black. Under the body swapping spell, conflicts erupt that are symptomatic of social upheaval in the South African rainbow nation. Captured with the protagonists’ smartphones, what unfolds is a shrewd and cutting essay on the politics of the body, decades after the end of apartheid.

by
Jenna Bass

South Africa 2017

English

74’ · Colour

With

Qondiswa James (Xoli)
Nala Khumalo (Thami)
Francesca Varrie Michel (Lexi)
Liza Scholtz (Tatiana)
Loren Loubser (Stacey Lee)
Francois Immelman (Francois)
Jenna Bass (Interviewer)

Crew

Director
Jenna Bass
Screenplay
Jenna Bass, Qondiswa James, Nala Khumalo, Francesca Varrie Michel, Liza Scholtz, Loren Loubser
Cinematography
Qondiswa James, Nala Khumalo, Francesca Varrie Michel, Liza Scholtz, Loren Loubser, Jenna Bass
Editing
Kyle Wallace
Music
Jason Sutherland
Production Design
Chantell Lungiswa Joe, Jenna Bass
Costumes
Chantell Lungiswa Joe, Jenna Bass
Casting
Kelly-Eve Koopman, Sarah Summers
Assistant Director
Rafeeqah Galant
Executive Producer
Irshaad Ebrahim
Production Management
Hessam Binesh
Producers
Jenna Bass, Steven Markovitz, David Horler
Co-Producers
Simon Ratcliffe, Désirée Nosbusch, Alexandra Hoesdorff, Tamsin Ranger

Biography

Jenna Bass

Born in London, UK in 1986, she grew up in South Africa where she now lives. She is a filmmaker who graduated from the AFDA Film School in Cape Town. Her short film The Tunnel screened at the 2010 Berlinale, her debut feature Love the One You Love was presented at numerous international festivals. High Fantasy premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 and screened in Generation in 2018. Together with Wanuri Kahiu, she co-wrote the coming-of-age romance Rafiki which premiered in Cannes in 2018.

Filmography

2010 The Tunnel; short film, Berlinale Shorts 2014 Love the One You Love 2017 High Fantasy; Generation

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019

© Shaun Swingler

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