BE.
BE. is a religious drama which follows the protagonist Liyana who is a type 1 diabetic. Liyana lives with her younger sister Thembekile in a small apartment in Durban. One evening Liyana starts to feel lightheaded and collapses in front of her sister. Liyana is hospitalised and is diagnosed to be in a comatose state. Whilst being in a coma she experiences the most intimate and deep dreams in which she meets a man in a beautiful park. This man takes her on a journey of self – love and to be more present. The man is quirky, raw and real and he teaches her the truth about how she has seen herself and her perception about life. As the man leads her through specific conversation and memories her body starts responding in multi-faceted ways. Every time he speaks about being, she starts coming back to herself. And when he teaches her about living in the past and future her body responds negatively, and the audience is drawn back to reality in the hospital room, where it looks like she is not going to make it out of her comatose state. On the other hand, the audience experiences the intense grief and emotional trauma that her sister Thembekile has to endure by seeing Liyana in a coma. The audience is introduced to Thembekile’s desperation as Liyana is the only family she has left because the sisters are orphans. The film intercuts between reality and Liyana’s comatose dream world, by doing this we are giving the audience both sister’s perspectives. In the physical world the audience sees Thembekile’s desperation in wanting her sister to wake up whereas in Liyana’s coma world the audience experiences Liyana’s ideal dream world that she has made up in her head.
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Rhonda ChristiansenDirector
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Rhonda ChristiansenWriter
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Nothando ZondoProducer
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Annita QataKey Cast"Liyana"
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Thembeni DlaminiKey Cast"Thembekile"
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Menzi DlaminiKey Cast"Jesh"
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Jessica EngelbrechtDOP + Grader
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Project Type:Short, Student
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Genres:Drama
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Runtime:12 minutes
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Production Budget:0 USD
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Country of Origin:South Africa
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Country of Filming:South Africa
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Language:English, Zulu
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:Yes - AFDA Duurban
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Durban
South Africa
November 27, 2021
AFDA Durban Graduation Festival 2021