Their film Scapegoat, a story about a goat in a township, was an instant hit with audiences at the festival and won both awards that it was nominated for, namely Best Comedy and Best Comedy Screenplay.
The elated director John DeVries and actor Kyle St John Peters, attended the festival in Los Angeles where they felt they had to pinch themselves at getting such a golden opportunity. "It was an audience full of movie and TV stars, quite surreal, and they all loved the film," said John who matriculated from York High and started making documentary films when he was 16.
At the time the teenager made short videos that documented the ministry work his parents, Rev Phillip deVries and mother Maryna, did while working with LIFE Community Services. These documentaries were broadcast in the US and used to raise money for LIFE. "From then on my love for film grew. I was inspired by its power to influence and change lives for the better.
"So with every free moment I had, I would borrow cameras, lights and make short action films over weekends with my friends in George. It was a fun ride. After I completed high school at York High, I went on to study film at Media Village Training in Cape Town, and afterwards got my degree at UCT.
"I'm 26 now and along with a friend of mine, I co-own a film production company in Cape Town called TH Films. We are very involved in the Cape Town film scene and are constantly working on new projects. We also have a couple of feature film scripts that we're working on so watch this space!"
John and his colleagues have a vision of a South African film industry that has its own voice. "Although it's important to remember the past and the issues of our amazing country, South African films have been largely dominated by topics such as Aids, crime or apartheid. What we need is a commercially viable and proudly South African film industry that will take the world by storm; films that have no political agenda, but rather set out to entertain and inspire.
"When we sat down to write the script for the 168 Film Festival we wanted to do something different. We wanted to celebrate our African identity, not just make another Hollywood-style film. So we settled on the comedy genre quite early in the creative process. It all started with a conversation between myself and co-producer Howard Fyvie. We asked the question: 'how do we tell an African story that Americans can relate to?' The result was Scapegoat. We put an American in the heart of a rural South African township. The rest was the result of hours of brainstorming and laughter with our team."
John volunteered to work in townships and rural areas since he was very young so the township life, like Dunoon where the film was shot, is very familiar to him. "Whether people realise it or not, the townships are a huge contributor to the heartbeat of this nation. One of our co-producers, Nevil Sandama, lives in Dunoon so he was able to open doors for us to film that which would have otherwise been impossible. We set out with a small crew and no money, but we had passion and we won in Hollywood.
"We had at least 70 people, lots of them big names in Hollywood, come up to us congratulating us on our film. They loved it. We made a lot of great connections from Hollywood to Australia. Many of them expressed interest in working with us one day."
An excited John concluded: "Kyle and I also had the opportunity to meet up with some other South Africans making waves in Hollywood and they were really excited for us and encouraged us all the way."
• The 168 Film Project is a faith based, practicum for artists focused on the media. The 168 Film Project provides a proving ground for filmmakers, writers, actors and all interested in creating stories. (The film is shot in 168 hours).
• Scapegoat was one of two South African films featured in the festival. Another South African film, the drama Freedom Road, took home six awards. "This is eight out of 22 awards, showcasing the calibre of talent coming out of the South African film industry," said a leading light in the industry.
The comedy Scapegoat, produced and filmed in Dunoon township, Cape Town, wowed Hollywood audiences a fortnight ago. From left: Kyle St John Peters and Mfihlakalo Mazwembe with the goat that causes great consternation in the township.
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