Nu Metro will release Andrew Wilmots debut feature, The Race-ist, on 1 April 2010. A South African comedy in the vein of The Fast and the Furious, The Race-ist is the zero-to-hero story of Lukas (Craig Palm), a Brakpan waiter who desires to be the South African quarter mile champion.

The movie’s name comes from the opening scene, set in the 80s, when a young Lukas is walking down Brakpan Main Road with his mother (Eunice Motsisi). He sees impressive folks with mullets, mustaches and Ford XR3s and is hyper impressed. When Lukas asks his mother who they are, she replies, “Ag man, they are a bunch of racists.” Lukas enthusiastically responds, “Wow, one day I want to be a race-ist.”

Andrew, The Race-ist’s writer/director/producer, is not exactly a household name in the local film industry; the former youth pastor’s main experience before this was shooting infomercials and music videos during spells at a small ad agency and at a production facility. “This was my film school,” he admits. “I chose an action comedy so I could get away with some mistakes.”

Andrew originally penned The Race-ist as a TV sitcom, but decided it was bizarrely easier to raise funding for a feature. “We put together a promo that was almost a fake trailer and went to see everyone who would listen. For every hundred ‘Nos,’ there was a ‘Yes.’”

It took approximately eight months from the conception of The Race-ist Productions to principle photography. During this time, the team delivered up to four pitches a day in the race to raise the funds.

Andrew says, “”As a first project for the team, we made sure that we chose subject content that already had a strong following. The financial recession meant that there would be a demand for light, fun entertainment. My goal was just to make it as entertaining as possible. Our goal was not to make the best movie ever made in SA, but the coolest.”

Andrew cast a host of South African celebrities, including Kurt Darren, DJ Fresh, Strini Pillay, Bad Brad, Brandon Auret, Liezel van der Westhuizen, and Genevieve Howard, alongside veterans Ian Roberts and Jonathan Pienaar.

“I wanted icons who would represent the current popularity trends in South Africa,” Andrew explains. ”I am really trying to make a South African film with faces that South Africans would recognise and enjoy on the big screen.” From the celebrities, he singles out Afrikaans singer Kurt Darren for special praise. “He really held his own on the big screen,” Andrew says.

Although Andrew says this is family movie, he adds, “Every young man (and older) loves fast cars and hot chicks. What is a nice car movie without some hotties? We had to put eye candy in the movie.”

DOP Hanro Mohr has gone for what Andrew calls a “bright, poppy look,” shooting on the Arri D21 and the Red as A-cameras, plus a mixture of the Canon 5D Mark 2 and 7D, and Sonys EX1 and EX3.

“I was very impressed with the Canon cameras,” Andrew says. ”You could shoot an entire movie on the 7D; Robert Rodriguez is now working with it.”

Andrew, who Christians may remember DJing as RevThump, also focused on the pumping soundtrack, courtesy of composers Geo Hohn, Johan de Kock and hit music producer Nathan Winkler, who’s worked with clients like Daniel and Natasha Beddingfield.

Like all first-time filmmakers, Andrew was up against a tight budget during his 40-day shoot. “We definitely didn’t have The Fast and the Furious’ budget. Because we shot in 2009, the economy wasn’t playing along and a lot of our sponsors were losing their funds mid-shoot and stopped taking our calls. Thank God we had a very supportive cast and crew.”

Luckily, there was no shortage of volunteers who wanted their cars to appear in a film. “On one shoot day there were enough cars on set to cure a small country’s hunger problems. We’ve even got Lamborghinis,” Andrew says, although he admits it was harder to find volunteers for the stunt sequences. “We bought one ugly old Golf and wrote it off twice, then cleverly cheated another accident scene with a drift vehicle.”

Andrew’s feeling confident ahead of The Race-ist’s wide digital release. “We did a test screening and the best feeling is hearing the audience laughing in the right places.”

He’s already in preproduction on the sequel. ”The Race-ist is a pitch for what we want to do in the future, when we’ll hopefully have the money for 10 times the production value.” He’s also prepping a science fiction film called The Gift.

To watch the trailer, click here.

Kevin Kriedemann