The Callsheet’s Tina caught up with filmmaker Rina Jooste following her SAFTA for Jammer as ek so Bitter is.

FTER only four years as a filmmaker Rina Jooste has received the highest recognition for a documentary filmmaker in South Africa.

At the 2011 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA) her documentary, Jammer As Ek So Bitter Is won Best Director of a Documentary Feature and Best Overall
Documentary.

Rina’s path to filmmaking seems roundabout, but it landed her propitiously amongst the characters and stories she would draw on for her films.

She first worked as a musician and then entered the air force as part of their band. Her work at the air force led to her organising events and eventually managing industrial theatre for the Department of Defence in 1995. It was then that she started studying history at UNISA. Her love for storytelling developed through the industrial theatre work and alongside this, her research skills were honed as she explored theatre content and became immersed in her academic studies. She also met Josias Moleele, who later became her partner in Kika Productions, through their work in the theatre.

Josias spotted the 2007 SABC Counting the Booty brief and drew Rina’s attention to it. Rina was uncertain, but Josias persisted, saying the brief to explore the development of the new South African society was right up Rina’s alley. He suggested they work with experienced filmmakers, from whom they would learn about filmmaking. The two novices formed Kika Productions, made it onto the shortlist and pitched their proposal to the SABC. As payment for their sins, they were awarded four films in the six part series. “I was in trouble,” says Rina about
the outcome.

They enlisted the help of Ingrid Gavshon as executive producer and Rina started attending every  industry event and workshop, she read all the books she could lay her hands on, did a course through Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking and learnt on the job.

It was sink or swim and Rina, together with Josias and Kika Productions, swam! Rina directed Betrayed, Forgotten, Flowers of the Nation and Now Generation for the Counting the Booty series. She learnt a lot over a short period and attributes the bulk of her training to the SABC as they gave her the chance to be a filmmaker. Ingrid Gavshon mentored her through everything and she also acknowledges that  the editing process helped her to understand a lot more about filmmaking. She worked with editor CA van Aswegen on all her films and found him very supportive.

In 2010 Josias decided he wanted to continue working in theatre while Rina chose to focus on making films only. They parted and Rina teamed up with filmmakers Nadiva Shraibman and Nhlanhla Mthethwa to form Full Circle Productions.

Rina’s latest project is the 52 minute documentary, Captor and Captive - The story of Danger Ashipala and Johan van der Mescht, about the reunion between a soldier for the Namibian liberation movement, SWAPO, and a conscript to the South African Defence Force. She discovered the story while working on Betrayed. Her fascination with war stories is connected to her interest in history, politics and the human nature of war. She looks beyond the politics of war to understand how decisions made by politicians affect ordinary people.

The film was self-funded with the pro bono help of colleagues. For economic reasons the film is slightly skewed towards Johan’s story and perspective: Johan lived near Rina, so access was easier. She only made contact with Danger in October 2009, after she had been researching the film since 2007. The fact that Rina and Danger did not speak each other’s languages presented a second challenge. Interviews were done with an interpreter, which prolonged the information gathering process. The unfortunate death of Danger in 2010 also meant that she spent very little time with him.

Although the film has been completed, the project continues. Rina is enrolled at Stellenbosch University under a Masters bursary programme within the History Department. Her thesis is titled POWs during the SA Border War with selected case studies: Captor and Captive - the story of Danger Ashipala and Johan van der Mescht. The thesis will explore how history is represented in film and how film can add to a written text.

Supporting herself and studying at the same time makes it hard to meet deadlines. She makes sure she does little bits at a time on the thesis to ensure she does move forward.

Captor and Captive - The story of Danger Ashipala and Johan van der Mescht is being distributed by David Forbes of Shadow Films.

Tina-Louise Smith