media update’s David Jenkin spoke to him about his success.

You’ve described the One Source campaign as a celebration of the creative revolution taking place across the continent – would you say that makes a Gold win at Cannes especially significant?

I am just happy that work from Africa is being celebrated in all its rawness, beauty, and power. I love this continent and dream of seeing more work from her being celebrated. We have so much to offer as a continent creatively and I hope this is just a tiny little step forward for all of us to create more work with an Afrocentric aesthetic. A win in Cannes means the international market is responding to raw, honest work from our beautiful continent.

How do you feel about it personally?

I love what I do. I feel privileged to have been part of such an amazing project and to have made friendships in other countries that I will keep for life. I have also met many other crazy, creative minds that have inspired me to do better.

When I think of the super talented and genius photographer Osborne Macharia that I worked with from Kenya, or Moh Awudu from Ghana, or Venus Bushfire from Nigeria – I feel super grateful that I could collaborate with those incredible artists, who have pushed me to strive for excellence and to really embrace this continent more than ever. How often does one get a chance to collaborate across the continent like that?

When it came to executing the concept for One Source, what was the most important thing to get right?

Authenticity. We wanted it to feel unapologetically African.

What thematic elements do you consistently strive to bring into your work?

One of my passions is always to capture the spirit, the passion, the creativity of what our continent offers. I really want to embrace all that we are as Africans, and to keep showing a different side of Africa that people might not have seen before.

Regarding your career background, going from studying organisational psychology and a career in banking to directing must have been quite a leap of faith. What drove you to do it?

Film has been a passion since I was a child living in the townships. Film always transported me to worlds I never dreamt I would go to. I got to travel to many different countries and universes through film. I’ve always been a dreamer … It often got me into trouble, but I have always tried to pursue the passions deep inside me.

My stints as a student, a rugby player, and a banker were steps along the way that gave me the courage to take the leap. I never really knew that there were things such as film schools or that one could study film. The long-term goal was always film and when I was a student, I did a lot of commercials in front of the camera. That’s when I realised that I, too, could create some of the worlds I had grown up watching. It wasn’t easy because I started as a PA and worked from the bottom up, but all those other disciplines in sport and banking really prepared me for film because as a director and writer, you have to have life experience to tell honest stories.

Do you have ambitions to make more feature films in the future?

Definitely. I’m in the process of finishing the screenplay for my next film, Riding With Sugar, which I am hoping to shoot next year in Cape Town. It’s a project I’ve been trying to make for 14 years, but, with hindsight, I am glad I only get to make it now with a bit more experience and the things I learnt shooting Absolut and other projects across Africa in the past few years. I feel I am finding my voice, finally, and the movie can only benefit.

Broadly speaking, what do you think creative agency professionals in SA need to do to meet the challenges of current economic conditions, with clients holding onto their purse strings tighter than ever? Where should their heads be at?

I think it’s combination of not just agency, but clients too. Clients need to get braver and allow agencies to write brave and bold work – without dictating about things that are irrelevant in the long term. You cannot make films by ticking boxes.

Films are meant to draw on authentic human experiences and allow people to go into worlds that make them feel, worlds that move them. Agencies need to be braver to push for bolder work. We as filmmakers equally need to be courageous and present treatments that push the envelope – while understanding the client’s needs. Clients, agencies, and filmmakers – we all need to be brave to stand out.

For more information, visit eggfilms.tv.  

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The One Source campaign made waves at Cannes this year, with NATIVE VML also receiving numerous nods. Read more in our article, NATIVE VML’s Ryan McManus offers reflections on Cannes.