Taxijam :: Simon van Gend

If you think patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time is a piece of cake, there’s a hip Cape Town folkster serving a slice of humble pie called “Blinking and Breathing and Crying.” Simon van Gend is a bespectacled troubadour with a perpetual five o'clock shadow, a dark mane and a name that should be avoided by the eNews Channel weatherman. If he was a gimp, you’d bring him out for sessions of soul-searching, making the contemplative heights of Tafelberg Road at sunset a fitting location for his Taxijam. Accompanied by drummer Ross Campbell on the shakes and vocal harmonies, SVG’s offering is proof that less is more when it comes to catchy songwriting and that clapping and whistling are time-tested techniques to get toes tapping. “Blinking and Breathing and Crying” reminds us that big themes don’t need fancy lyrics and that big brothers should be encouraged to bully their arty siblings in the hopes of planting traumatic memories that will flourish into great music. Putting the inside out there is what Simon van Gend knows best and it does us all some good to join him on the train of introspection. The album Guest of my Feelings (2008) is where to hop on.

► Taxijam :: The Smallest Gig in Town

Future Shorts :: South Africa Launch

Cape Town’s Alliance Française hosted the inaugural gathering of Future Shorts South Africa last month. The UK-based short film label was established in 2003 in the interests of celebrating the form and raising its status. Future Shorts operates in over 50 cities in 15 countries and channels local material to an international hub in London where it’s compiled, distributed and screened elsewhere. As such, the platform treats audiences to independent work from around the globe while providing home-grown filmmakers with the potential to reach wider audiences.

The evening’s programme consisted of eight short films obtained via the Future Shorts network (a showcase representing the US, the UK and France that consisted of work produced between 1989 and 2007). Highlights included “City Paradise” (UK, 2003) by Gaëlle Denis, a whimsical take on London through the eyes of a foreign resident, as well as Jamie Rafn’s reflection on the schizophrenic nature of romantic relationships entitled “She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not” (UK, 2004).

Following a short interval, three South African productions were screened in collaboration with Shortcut Wednesday. The work consisted of a stop-frame styled music video by Terry Westby-Nunn (the Simon van Gend Band’s “Minor Revelation”). This was followed by the recently completed “Epitaph” by Rowan Pybus, an instalment in a series of poetic pieces that combine the artwork of Faith 47 and the music of Inge Beckmann. The screening then closed with Dave Cotton’s low-fi “Hannibal Goes on Holiday,” a story of friendship, betrayal, forgiveness, guilt (and zombies) featuring plastic dolls in the leading roles.

Present at the screening, Cotton participated in a Q&A that focused on his concern for storytelling and his mantra that “content is king.” Cotton encouraged budding filmmakers to simply produce work rather than be hindered by the trappings of high production, saying that imperfections often provide the fresh quality absent in works that are over-produced. Cotton stated that the journey to becoming a filmmaker is an evolutionary process that starts with scripts being turned into tangible works rather than being left to gather dust under a bed. Plans are currently underway for Future Shorts South Africa’s second instalment.