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Day Zero

In a post-apocalyptic Cape Town, a group of people being pursued by a viscious, relentless hunter must make their way to a safe haven at all costs.

  • Stephen Nagel
    Director
    Breathe Easy, RELENTLESS
  • Dean Ravell
    Writer
    Breathe Easy, RELENTLESS
  • Haniefa Mooideen
    Producer
  • Nicola Duddy
    Key Cast
    "Maggie"
  • Megan Alexander
    Key Cast
    "Ash"
  • Brad Roman
    Key Cast
    "Shaun"
  • Caelan Curry
    Key Cast
    "Nico"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes 9 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    South Africa
  • Country of Filming:
    South Africa
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Stephen Nagel

Stephen Nagel is a filmmaker whose style of guerrilla filmmaking incorporates public spaces, lots of natural light and simplistic stories with deep themes about the human condition. With a knack for crowd sourcing, his cast and crews often consist of colleagues, family and friends both new and old. Born in Cape Town, South Africa and having studied film, specialising in screenwriting (at UCT) he's been engaging in mobile and DSLR filmmaking for the last 6 years, pushing technical and storytelling boundaries with ambitious ideas and clinical execution.

Truly independent film often requires that a filmmaker wear many hats, and as a result, Stephen has played the part of director predominantly, but also featured in various projects as producer, cinematographer, editor and writer.

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Director Statement

Day Zero started from a need. A need to create. I've done my fair share of pitches, and experienced my fair share of closed doors. I refuse to give up, and that’s' how we developed our mantra for this project: "Make your own door, and open it". Considering how real the water crisis felt to Capetonians, I understood that there was real concern and tapped into this to connect with audiences. When the world ends, it ends for all of us, doesn't it?

Day Zero looks at the mundane nature of a plausible post-apocalyptic world, as climate change continues to impact us. To make the story appealing and the characters relatable, I wanted to take this a step further and tackle themes of toxic masculinity, gender-based violence and human desperation, ideas that are central to the conflict in the film.

As a Capetonian, I was poised to tell this story. I've been collecting my own shower water and flushing my toilet with a bucket for over a year. My team has been busy with this film for 8 months. It takes a level of grit and relentlessness to get a completely independent project off the ground; to keep showing up week in and week out. We did this because we had something to say about the water crisis and the human condition, and used parts of our lived experiences to express that. I’m forever grateful to my team.

The style of low-budget filmmaking here borrows from the raw style of the earlier practical horror work of James Wan while the recent mobile filmmaking of Steven Soderbergh has been an inspiration too. In addition, Jean-Marc Vallée's naturalistic approach to filmmaking is not only creative, but also very appealing to a no-budget filmmaker. Films like The Road inspired the format of the film, with the core story being a journey, in a vulnerable state, with a constant threat.

Having shot a few micro-budget short films in the past, I was prepared for a fluid workflow, planning contingencies for challenges that are bound to spring up. I'm very collaborative, and enjoy the use of natural light, while encouraging improvisation from actors. My goal was always to lean in to the organic moments and let the details of this world be shaped by how things in the real world around us were developing.