NECKTIE YOUTH
by Sibs Shongwe-La Mer
Synopsis: On the anniversary of the violent Soweto youth uprising of June 16th 1976, an affluent group of adolescent friends living in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa are shocked by the live-streamed suicide of a young girl in her parents’ family home. A year and some months after the incident, two disillusioned new generation Zulu youths, Jabz and his best friend September, rummage through the sleepy manicured northern suburbs of Johannesburg in search of answers, drugs, distraction and salvation.
Cast: Bonko Khoza, Sibs Shongwe-La Mer, Colleen Balchin.
2015 / South Africa, Netherlands / 86 min / English, Zulu, Afrikaans
Produced by Urucu Media, Whitman Independent, 100% Halal.
“Lots of raw energy captured in bristling black-and-white cinematography”
— The Hollywood Reporter
“Necktie Youth drags South African film furiously into the present, wide-eyed and restlessly searching for its next smart fix”
— Cineuropa
