Stam wins Best SA Film award for ‘sincerity and sheer heart’

Stam (The Tree), the new film written and directed by Louw Venter and produced by the team behind the multi-award winners Inxeba (The Wound, 2017) and This is not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, 2020, has scooped the Best South African Film award at the Durban International Film Festival.

This is the third time that the award has been taken home by work produced by Urucu with a first-time director at the helm.

The film won over the jurors with its authentic glimpse into the lives of people living on the fringes of society.

“As an outsider, I felt Stam shows the South African social texture in a very special and intriguing way, depicting the various strata of the population living side by side, making it seem like it could not be otherwise,” said juror Or Lee Tal from Israel.

“Stam is a testament to the evolution of the South African film narrative, with brutal honesty, lack of pretension and a determined yearning for truth,” said Layla Swart, a local producer and juror. “It comes out of nowhere to completely win you over with its sincerity and sheer heart.”

Director Venter said: “It is particularly significant that an Afrikaans language film can compete in a festival that is truly representative and independent.”

The film tells an unpredictable story that avoids political correctness as it explores the inner world of a group of people who want nothing more than to belong.

Stam is follows the interlinked lives of five vastly different characters over the course of a few hours in inner city Cape Town.

The theme of human connection lies at the heart of the film. It’s an exploration of the ties that bind us and that exist independent of familiarity, economics, gender, race or social standing. – Citizen reporter