Private Project

Middle of Somewhere

After a family tragedy, a man attempts to guide his son into manhood through a series of hunting trips at the request of his overbearing and traditional father. His father's patriarchal influence trickles down the family tree, leading to fatal consequences.

  • Kobus du Plessis
    Director
  • Kobus du Plessis
    Writer
  • Brandon Clarke
    Producer
    Letters to the Man I Love
  • Jason Watkins
    Producer
  • Morné Visser
    Key Cast
    "Albert"
    Die Stropers (The Harvesters), Skoonheid (Beauty), Warrior (HBO TV Show)
  • Brent Vermeulen
    Key Cast
    "Allie"
    Die Stropers (The Harvesters)
  • Ian Strauss
    Key Cast
    "Eugene"
    Yes We Can
  • Karli Heine
    Key Cast
    "Irma"
    Strikdas
  • Chelsea Art
    First Assistant Director
    Verstikking
  • Nicholas James Faure
    Director of Photography
    Hand Off, I Used To Love Him, A Bloom, Verstikking, Letters To The Man I Love
  • Chadlee James Skrikker
    Editor
    Letters To The Man I Love, I Used To Love Him
  • Adam van Schoor
    Composer
    Hand Off, I Used To Love Him, Letters To The Man I Love
  • Michael Smith
    Sound Editing and Mixing
    Longsince
  • Hough Maritz
    Colorist
  • Leon Basler
    Gaffer
    Time Spent With Cats Is Never Wasted, Verstikking
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Middel van Êrens
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes 52 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 30, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    13,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    South Africa
  • Country of Filming:
    South Africa
  • Language:
    Afrikaans
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, ARRI Alexa Mini
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Afrika Film Festival
    Leuven
    Belgium
    April 21, 2024
    European Premiere
    Official Selection for YAMFA Fiction
  • Durban International Film Festival
    Durban
    South Africa
    African Premiere
    Official Selection
  • FAME Shorts Festival
    Cape Town
    South Africa
    September 5, 2024
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Kobus du Plessis

Kobus is an emerging writer/director from Cape Town, South Africa. He studied filmmaking at AFDA, Cape Town and continues to hone his skills through indie film sets and, of course, watching and engaging with cinema. In his debut short, Middel van Êrens, you can see the influence of filmmakers such as Paul Thomas Anderson, The Coen Brothers and Oliver Hermanus. Kobus aims to have a strong command of his medium to be able to tell stories that reach commercial and arthouse audiences alike.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The generational perpetuation of toxic masculinity is an issue that, in the Afrikaner community, is intentionally and systematically passed down from one generation to the next. There is a special attention paid to upholding one's family’s traditions, not being able to do so (or refusing to) immediately establishes one as weak – the worst thing you can be as an Afrikaner man.

These ideas are deeply rooted in the culture and everyday life of Afrikaners and can be hard to pinpoint and even harder to eradicate. This is the idea that lays at the centre of Middel van Êrens: Where do these ideologies start? How do they get passed down? What do they ultimately lead to?

By taking a very traditional Afrikaner family and exploring their dynamics in a somewhat extreme story, we can start to understand on an emotional level what these ideals represent.

As an Afrikaans man living in a relatively more open-minded family, even I have felt the toxic pressure of being a certain kind of man. It is an expectation placed on us from birth and follows us through life. Even when such pressures aren’t enforced by one’s family, they are all around us in how society perceives what an Afrikaner man should be.

Middel van Êrens reflects this feeling of being an outsider in your own culture and being forced to conform - or face dire consequences.