African Perspectives: “Short Huebschles” – Selected Short Films by Namibian Filmmaker Tim Huebschle

Within the monthly filmseries “African Perspectives”, AfricAvenir Windhoek presents a movie evening with “Short Huebschles” – Selected short films by Tim Huebschle, on Saturday, 27 August 2011, 19h at Studio 77. Filmmaker Tim Huebschle in attendance. Entrance: 20N$

"Beef" (2007)
"Behind the Scenes of Lady May – Chokola" (2008)
"Rider without a Horse" (2009)
"Orange Juice" (2010)
“Looking of Ilonga” (2011)

Date: 27. August 2011, Time: 19h00
Venue: Studio 77, Old Breweries Complex, entrance Garten Str.
Entrance: 20N$
Special guest: Filmmaker Tim Huebschle in attendance

About the films

"Behind the Scenes of Lady May – Chokola" (2008, 28 min)    
This 28 minute film, directed by Obed Emvula and Christjan Apollus, shows the making of Lady May’s award winning music video “Chokola”, directed by Tim Huebschle in 2007. The film follows the director Huebschle, the artist Lady May, and the film crew and shares with the viewer the pains, joy, and challenges encountered during the process of filming the video, which later won the prestigious Channel O Best Dance Video Award in 2008.

"Beef" (2007, 14 min)
Beef tells the story of a braai (BBQ) evening hosted by Marc, a somewhat peculiar perfectionist. Everything is planned to be meticulous. The serviettes matching with the plastic cutlery and cups – and of course the guests. His ex-girlfriend (who brings her new boyfriend along), two sisters (the one has a crush on Marc and the other is a Vegetarian!) and two strange men (one of whom seems to fancy Marc and the other just quietly digs into the food). Everything could have been so perfect, as Marc had planned – but the guests end up ridiculing Marc and reduce the host to a servant, but they forget that he who laughs last…

"Rider without a Horse" (2009, 12 min)
The story revolves around the German Rider of the Rider Monument in Windhoek – one of Namibia’s most prominent historical monuments – coming to life in 2008, 18 years after Namibias independence, and being confronted with his own identity. In a funny but serious tale, the Rider’s journey takes him through a changed world, as he stumbles upon the Independence Day celebration ceremony in the nation’s capital. The Rider finds himself confronted by a modern reality made up of mixed race couples, rude taxi drivers, obnoxious prostitutes and dragqueens, and finally black men in uniforms. All the Rider longs for is something familiar…

"Orange Juice" (2010, 8 min)
On a fine day they met over a glass of orange juice. Destiny overwhelmed, they fell completely in love. However they each held a secret. A secret so threatening it would destroy their chance at true love. Years later, still as inseparable as on that one fine day and still very much in love, fate intervenes and both their secrets are revealed. Only the truth will tell the outcome.

“Looking of Ilonga” (2011, 18 min)
One day a man arrives at Simon’s home and claims that his wife Elizabeth has borrowed a lot of money from him – and indeed she did. Simon is faced with one option only: he has to repay his family’s debts. Ripped from his comfortable rural lifestyle, he travels far away to the big city, hoping to work off the debts. But from the moment he sets foot in the city, everything seems to be against Simon…

Director’s Comment
“With “Beef” I wanted to experiment with the unspoken. All characters have some or other connection to one another, either they know or know of each other. Marc faces all his insecurities at the BBQ. He is a nice guy and he is taken for granted. ….
I really just wanted to explore how people interact with each other in a social setting. The locked-off camera shots are emulating a fly on the wall approach. We are just eavesdropping on this strange place with these strange people who are all not really saying what they actually want to say to each other”, says director Tim Huebschle.

“To make “Rider Without A Horse” was a matter of the heart. The film follows the colonial Rider Monument coming to life in the post-independent Namibia. For many years the monument has been a thorn in my eye. It stands for all reactionary streams in my country and truly is a symbol of how gloriously the past of this country has been swept under the carpet. More than 20 years after Namibia’s independence, it is definitely time to deal with what was before. The tens of thousands of lives that were lost during the Herero and Nama wars between 1904 and 1907 need to be honoured. And so “Rider Without A Horse” makes a provision for that. I feel that the monument has grown to be a part of our country’s history, however, it only caters for the fallen German soldiers – and that is something that needs to be put into a broader context.” Huebschle continues.

“"Orange Juice" for me was about exploring how a man and woman feel the need to hold on to what was once before and never can be again. But I also didn’t want to run the risk of telling a soppy, romantic, sentimental tearjerker. That’s why I turned to an established genre such as film noir. The broken love is what I wanted to explore, but the reason for it breaking was not betrayal in the usual sense or the man and the woman just falling out of love. The love between them just happened, even though it was not supposed to. Then he chose to set things right, to do what he felt he ought to – as a man sometimes does. But will he be able to live with himself?”

On "Looking For Iilonga" Huebschle comments: “"Looking For Iilonga" posed a quite obvious challenge to me. I would direct actors in English and they would deliver their lines in a language that I don’t understand, namely Oshiwambo. Yes, I have lived in Namibia for many years, but I never got proficient in Oshiwambo. It was not entirely unknown territory for me to make a film in a language that I don’t speak, since I made many documentaries in vernaculars over the last 8 years. But when you are making a drama you ultimately want to have as much control as possible. The valuable lesson I learned from making "Looking For Iilonga" is that it is important to let go, to let things unfold as they are supposed to – and magically as is often the case in life, things do tend to fall into place.”

About the director
Tim Huebschle, born in 1978 in Reutlingen, Germany, moved to Namibia at a very young age. He finished his schooling in Windhoek and went on to study English & German Literature (including Film Theory) at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. nThrough his studies in film theory, he discovered the magical medium of film.
In 2001 Huebschle started making short films while working as intern and later assistant editor at production companies in Berlin, Germany. 2003 he returned to Namibia and began producing documentaries for the national TV broadcaster NBC, as well as TV advertisements and music videos for a vast array of clients and musicians. All the while he kept on following his passion, making short narrative films, preparing him for his first full-length film.nFrom October 2011 he will shoot his next short film “The Grave at Dead River”, a filmic journey down memory lane through pre-independent Namibia.nCurrently Huebschle is developing his first feature entitled "Land of the Brave" following the story of Namibia’s most notorious and gruesome serial killer, the B1-Butcher.

Filmographyn

• Savanna Stories, documentaries series for NBC, 2004/5
• including: Caprivi and the Darkness; Ngatu’s Homecoming; Life in Transit; the Cow, the Sheep and the East; His story of a Hat
• Beef, short film, 2007 (Merit Award for Directing & Special Mention of the Jury, Namibia Film Awards 2007, nominated for World Short Film Award, Best Live Action Short Film 2008)
• Mokasie, music video for Gazza, 2007 (Best Kwaito Music Video, Channel O Music Video Awards 2007, Sanlam/NBC Namibian Music Awards 2007)
• 100 Years of Etosha, documentary, 2007 (Audience Choice Award Namibia Film Awards 2007,
• Chokola, music video for Lady May, 2007 (Best Dance Video, Channel O Music Music Awards 2008)
• Ti Mama, music video for Afroshine, 2008 (Best Music Video, Namibia Film Awards 2008)
• Hope, music video for Afroshine, 2008
• Rider without a horse, short film, 2008 (overall winner Wild Cinema Shared Experiences Short Film Competition, winner Namibia Film Awards Best Director 2009)
• U my lady, music video for Ees feat. PDK, 2009
• Orange Juice, short film, 2010 (official selection at Zansibar International Film Festival 2011, official selection Contravision Film Festival, Berlin, September 2011)
• Looking for Ilonga, short film, 2011 (official selection Gold Lion Film Festival, Swasiland, October 2011)
• The Grave At Dead River, short film in development

nSamples of Tim Huebschle’s work can be viewed on www.youtube.com/timbhuebschle and www.facebook.com/huebschle