David R. Walker

Archive for the ‘Jordy Sank’ Category

Die Kwiksilwers

Director: Jordy Sank

Cast: Lida Botha, June van Merch, Susanne Beyers, Jacques Bessenger, Johann Vermaak, Laura-Lee Mostert, Solomon Cupido, Theresa Sedras

Running Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Language: Afrikaans with English subtitles

Johannesburg based film director Jordy Sank continues his exploration of the aging demographic as he effortlessly switches from his award winning 2021 documentary film Ella Blumenthal: I am Here to a feature length fiction film in the new hilarious Afrikaans comedy Die Kwiksilwers opening in South African cinemas on Thursday 1^st May 2025.

Die Kwiksilwers features a merry group of elderly ladies lead by Elsabe Marias played by Lida Botha and her friends Anna played by June van Merch, the outrageous Meinke played by Susanne Beyers and Katie played by Theresa Sadras.

The group actually make a perfect bridge four but Elsabe is desperate to escape the confines of her overbearing carer and her son Wikus wonderfully played by Jacques Bessenger. In a bid to recapture the memories of her travels with her late husband Roland in a Ford Granada nicknamed Die Kwiksilwer, Elsabe and her friends decide to go on a vintage road trip to Sutherland in the Northern Cape to watch a meteor shower near the observatory. The only catch is they don’t tell anyone where they are going.

Die Kwiksilwers is a poignant and funny road trip about four elderly ladies that decide to break free and travel across South Africa for an adventure which will get them entangled with the law, some wayward goats and of course a psychedelic festival in the desert which resembles Africa Burn.

While Wikus desperately attempts to track his mother and her friends as they continue to elude him, director Jordy Sank and co-writers Gabriella Blumberg and Marista Van Eeden shine a light on a significant issue: how the younger generation treat elderly people as if they are incapable of being independent. There is a great scene whereby Elsabe and her friends discuss how their children all treat them as invalids as they merrily travel on their great escape.

Die Kwiksilwers shows a humorous side of getting older and not caring about what people think. It’s a light-hearted and hilarious comedy with strong production values which rightfully earned the Audience Favourite Award at the kykNET Silwerskerm Festival in Camps Bay, Cape Town in 2024 https://silwerskermfees.co.za/english/.

Support South African cinema and catch Die Kwiksilwers in cinemas from 1^st May 2025. Director Jordy Sank does a brilliant job of shining a light on the elderly which often appear to be invisible in a youth obsessed culture.

Die Kwiksilwers is an excellent comedy, fun and exhilarating which gets a film rating of 8 out of 10. Highly recommended viewing and definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

Ella Blumenthal: I am Here

Director: Jordy Sank

This is a Feature Length Documentary and is available online at the Encounters: South African International Documentary Film Festival from Thursday 10^th June until Sunday 20th June 2021 – https://www.encounters.co.za/ #Virtuallyeverywhere – https://www.encounters.co.za/film/i-am-here/ and at select physical venues in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

After his South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) nomination for best short documentary The Locket in 2017, SA documentary film director Jordy Sank tackles a fascinating subject, the horrific memories of a still living holocaust survivor Ella Blumenthal in his directorial debut feature length documentary Ella Blumenthal: I am Here, which was part of the official selection at the 2021 Miami Jewish Film Festival https://miamijewishfilmfestival.org/ and winning the Audience Award at the 2021 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival https://www.ajff.org/film/i-am-here and now is available to watch online at the Encounters South African Documentary Film Festival.

In a plush apartment in Seapoint in Cape Town, South Africa, Holocaust survivor Ella Blumenthal celebrates her 98^th birthday surrounded by her children and grandchildren. During this auspicious occasion, Ella Blumenthal reveals the secret of her horrific past as a Holocaust survivor.

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1921, Ella Blumenthal was 18 when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939 igniting World War II. Her and her family were immediately transferred to the Warsaw ghetto until it burnt down. Ella and her niece Roma were then transferred to various concentration camps , while her survival skills were paramount she went onto survive both Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz concentration camp where eventually n 1945, World War II ended and the Holocaust survivors were freed by the Allied troops.

Director Jordy Sank films his subject matter with a compassionate gaze from Ella walking briskly on the Seapoint promenade to her emotional retelling of her horrific experiences of being a prisoner of some of the most notorious concentration camps of World War II at her 98^th birthday celebration in 2019, surrounded by friends, children and grandchildren, educating them about the past.

Perceptively and rather cleverly, the flashbacks to the concentration camp horrors are told in a strategic combination of documentary news reel and beautiful animation provided by Greg Bakker, giving the documentary a palatable and heart-warming tone.

Impressively it is the shot of the 98 year old great grandmother swimming in a heated pool with the magnificent skyline of Cape Town in the background as her voice over describes the relief at being rescued by the allied troops and being brought to a camp with well-made up beds and running water, basic necessities which we nowadays take for granted.

Ella Blumenthal: I am Here is a captivating and brilliantly shot documentary about an extraordinary woman, a 98 year old Jewish woman who came to South Africa to make a new life and it offers a message of hope and forgiveness as she recalls how her and her grandson visited Auschwitz in 2004 to make peace with the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. Ella’s message is simple, love everyone and be grateful to be alive.

This is an amazing documentary, skilfully educating a new generation about the survivors of the Holocaust and a formidable woman who has learnt to live life through memories as most of her family from Poland were killed during World War II. With the exception of her niece who now lives in New York, Ella Blumenthal is one of the few survivors of a generation that got brutally obliterated by pure hatred and rampant Anti-Semitism.  

Highly recommended viewing and an important documentary to watch, Ella Blumenthal: I am Here gets a documentary film rating of 8 out of 10. Catch this insightful documentary online at the Encounters Film Festival –