This is going to make you freak

Short & Sweet, which began in London in 2006 and expanded to Toronto, Cape Town and Melbourne, brings people together through short film. A different selection of the finest short films, music videos and short animations from around the world are screened, from established directors to new talent. The aim is to celebrate film and take audiences on a journey: creatively, personally and emotionally.

Short and Sweet Season 2 kicked off last Tuesday at the Wunderbar Theatre (‘Old’ German Club) off Hope St in Cape Town. The night opened with ‘Nothing about Nothing’ a short film premiere by South African director Daniel Levi. We sat down and caught up with the man.

He talks about the short film being its own separate medium because it needs to be written with a certain structure in mind, and the main element he identifies making a short film successful is its simplicity. Daniel talks with excitement about where filmmaking is at the moment in South Africa, and for him he is really thrilled to have returned to the country.

‘Short & Sweet for me has always been intriguing; I had only seen it on Facebook and heard about the festival. I was not in Cape Town last year and I was amazed at the turnout and how so many people were interested… I thought wow, this is quite a magical event – it shows how interested people are in short film.’ (Daniel Levi)

Daniel gives advice to aspiring filmmakers:

I think the advice I can give young filmmakers is set aside your judgements and self criticism, and pick up the camera and make stuff, and get the experience because its through the action and experience of making film that we as filmmakers develop our language, its not through a thought process its actually through the doing.