Hand-made movie: Cape Flats star set to tackle taboo topics in movie shot on iPhone
|Published
Earl Hendricks on set. Picture: Supplied
Local actor, Earl Hendricks has gone behind the camera and added director and producer to his resume as he gears up to launch his debut film.
Hendricks, 42, from Claremont is sure to ruffle some feathers with his film, Lost Hope.
He was born in Mitchells Plain and later moved to Retreat where he attended St. Mary’s Primary School, but later uprooted again to Steenberg and Lavender Hill.
Now he says he is finally ready to tackle the scourge of mental health and childhood trauma in a gripping true story film this year.
The actor previously has his acting talent displayed in Afrikaans soapies Sarah Se Geheim, Arendsvlei, the hot new docu-series Catch Me A Killer, Summer Tide, Of Kings and Prophets, and had his face splashed across International campaigns for Oral B and Emirates Airlines.
But now Hendricks is changing the narrative to add his voice to his own film.
This self-funded project was produced with only an iPhone 13 and conceptualised and co-written by Hendricks and written, directed, edited, and co-produced by Norman Leslie, 37, from Kraaifontein.
Based on his childhood experiences, Hendricks unflinchingly addresses the impact of trauma and the struggle to break the cycle of silence.
Together with Leslie, they promise to take audiences on a harrowing journey into the world of sexual abuse, addiction, and mental health in the coloured male community.
Hendricks says: “I created a fictional story based on my lived experiences, but I created a fictional world of fictional characters and that’s why I have a younger brother in the story, which I don’t have in real life.
“So I’m telling the story of this character that I created, whose name is Darryn, and his younger brother.
“I shared my journey with mental health issues because of a childhood rape.
“I’m taking the suicide of my cousin who hanged himself, using bits and pieces from different events in my life and people close to me and meshing it all into one story.”
Hendricks says the goal of the film is to create a conversation around taboo topics – largely affecting males on the Cape Flats.
He adds: “Our goal is to create much-needed dialogue about taboo topics in the coloured community because awareness leads to solutions and healing.
“Going forward, we are planning to collaborate with organisations that focus on the themes we explore in the story - topics such as men’s mental health issues and gender-based violence from a coloured male perspective.”
‘Lost Hope’, is set to launch next month with a public screening at a theatre to be announced. Watch this space.