Oliver Hermanus

Oliver Hermanus (born 26 May 1983) is a South African film director and writer.[1] His films include Shirley Adams (2009), Beauty (Skoonheid) (2011), and The Endless River (2015). His film Beauty won the Queer Palm Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.[2]

Oliver Hermanus
Born (1983-05-26) 26 May 1983
Cape Town, South Africa
NationalitySouth African
Alma materUniversity of Cape Town
London Film School
OccupationFilm director, writer
Years active2009-present
Notable work
Shirley Adams, Beauty (Skoonheid), The Endless River

Early life and career

Hermanus was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and holds a BA in Film, Media, and Visual Studies from the University of Cape Town.[3] He initially worked as a press photographer for the Cape Argus newspaper.[3] In 2006, Hermanus received a private scholarship to attend the London Film School,[3] where he earned his master's degree in film.[4]

Films

Shirley Adams

Hermanus's first film, Shirley Adams, released in 2009, relates the story of a single mother raising her paraplegic son, who was injured during a gang fight.[4] Hermanus has stated that he got the idea for the film from his sister, an occupational therapist, who told him the story of a teenage boy paralysed in a shooting incident.[5]

Shirley Adams premiered at the Durban International Film Festival in 2009 where the film received awards for Best South African Film, Best First Film, and Best Actress for Denise Newman.[4] The film was shown in competition at the Locarno Film Festival[6] and was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival.[4] The film also won awards for Best Film and Best Director at the 2009 South African Film and Television Awards.[7]

Beauty

Beauty (known as Skoonheid in Afrikaans) was the fifth South African movie to be selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival and the first in Afrikaans.[3] The film won the 2011 Queer Palm Award for best picture,[2] and Hermanus won the 2012 South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) for Best Director.[8] Lead actor Deon Lotz won the 2012 SAFTA for Best Actor in a Feature Film for his role in Beauty,[8] as well as Best Actor at the Zurich Film Festival.[9] Beauty was also part of the Official Selection 2011 for the Prize Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.[10]

Beauty relates the story of François, a married, closeted, middle-aged Afrikaner, who becomes obsessed with a handsome young lawyer, Christian (played by Charlie Keegan), the son of one of his friends.[11] Beauty was critically praised for being an "unvarnished study of the turbulence of the middle-aged male psyche, but it also addresses the current Afrikaner condition".[11] Another critic noted that the film's original title, Skoonheid, ". . . means 'beauty' in Afrikaans but literally translates as 'cleanliness' . . . is a story about the ugly truth of confronting parts of yourself that you hate and try to suppress".[12]

Some reviewers and critics noted that the film's subject matter and visuals could be "off-putting"[11] and "graphic".[13] Hermanus stated that he was grateful that the film stirred debate.[13] "The debates on the gay issues are amazing, but I'm still yearning for the debate to start on other issues like repression and racial tensions in the movie".[13]

Hermanus was guest of honour at "Side by Side," an international festival of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender film held in Moscow in April 2011.[14] The filmmaker presented Beauty at the festival.[14]

The Endless River

In 2015, Hermanus wrote and directed his third film, The Endless River.[15] This film became the first South African film to compete for the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.[15] Lead actress Crystal Donna Roberts also competed for the Best Actress award at the festival.[15]

The film is set in the small town of Riviersonderend in the Overberg region of South Africa and relates the story of a French expatriate and a small-town waitress who form a bond after the brutal murder of his family on a farm.[16] In describing Endless River, Hermanus explained, "I wanted to combine in my film a place I'm familiar with the story of violence happening in South Africa".[6]

Moffie

Hermanus's fourth film, Moffie, had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on 4 September 2019.[17] The film is based on an autobiographical novel by South African writer André Carl van der Merwe, relating the author's experiences serving in the South African military during the Apartheid-era war in Angola.[17] The lead character, Nicholas van der Swart (played by Kai Luke Brummer), and fellow recruit Stassen (Ryan de Villiers), share a mutual attraction but must make their sexuality invisible to avoid being viciously humiliated and brutalised.[18] '

Moffie was one of three Southern African films submitted for consideration in the 2021 Golden Globe Awards Best Foreign Language Film category.[19]

Living

In October 2020, it was announced that Hermanus will direct the film, Living, set to star Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood.[20] The film's screenplay was written by Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro and is an adaptation of the 1952 Japanese film Ikiru.[20]

Awards
  • Winner, Best South African Film, Shirley Adams, 2009 Durban International Film Festival[4]
  • Winner, Best First Film, Shirley Adams, 2009 Durban International Film Festival[4]
  • Winner, Best Director, Shirley Adams, 2009 South African Film and Television Awards[7]
  • Winner, Best Film, Shirley Adams, 2009 South African Film and Television Awards[7]
  • Nominee, Prize Un Certain Regard, Beauty, 2011 Cannes Film Festival[10]
  • Winner, Queer Palm, Beauty, 2011 Cannes Film Festival[2]
  • Winner, Best Director, Beauty, 2012 South African Film and Television Awards[8]

See also

References
  1. "Oliver Hermanus." IMDb: The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  2. Grange, Helen. "Award-Winning Film on Big Screen Soon". The Argus (Cape Town), 29 May 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2015 from ProQuest database.
  3. "Former Argus Man's Cannes Honour". The Argus (Cape Town), 15 April 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2015 from ProQuest.
  4. "Hermanus Set to Fly High at Fest". The Star (Johannesburg), 12 September 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2015 from ProQuest.
  5. Roddick, Nick. "The London Film School conquers the world". The Evening Standard (London), 24 July 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2015 from ProQuest.
  6. Grandesso, Federico. "Interview: South African director presents in movie criminal gangs violence." Xinhua News Agency, 12 September 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015 from Factiva database.
  7. "Oliver wants some more: Oliver Hermanus shows off his bounty at the 2009 film festival". Sunday Tribune (Durban), 17 July 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2015 from ProQuest.
  8. "Stars come out to shine at SAFTA awards: Main winners". The Pretoria News, 12 March 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2015 from ProQuest.
  9. Nicholson, Zara. "South African Actor Wins Award in Zurich". Cape Times, 5 October 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2015 from ProQuest database.
  10. "Official Selection 2011: Un Certain Regard. Festival de Cannes website. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  11. Romney, Jonathan. "That's the problem with hacks, just a sniff of vodka and they're anybody's". The Independent on Sunday (London), 22 April 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2015 from ProQuest database.
  12. Van Wyk, Andrea. "Secret Obsessions". The Sunday Independent (Johannesburg), 17 April 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2015 from ProQuest database.
  13. Nicholson, Zara. "Gay film elicits praise and reproach". The Mercury (Durban), 9 August 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  14. "LGBT community to hold film festival in Moscow". Daily News Bulletin, English (Moscow), 18 April 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2015 from ProQuest database.
  15. "First South African Film Selected for Venice Film Festival". All Africa, 31 July 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2015 from Factiva database.
  16. "Breakthrough for SA director as film makes top cut for Venice prize". The Pretoria News, 30 July 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015 from ProQuest database.
  17. Vourlias, Christopher (31 August 2019). "Venice Drama 'Moffie' Explores Homophobia in South Africa". Variety. Variety Media. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  18. Romney, Jonathan (4 September 2019). "'Moffie': Venice Review". Screen Daily. Screen International. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  19. "3 local films make the Golden Globes Foreign Language Film submission list". Channel24. News24. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  20. Engelbrecht, Linda (16 October 2020). "SA director Oliver Hermanus to helm international film Living starring Bill Nighy". Channel24. New24. Retrieved 4 January 2021.


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