Latest news with #MichaelJames'
TimesLIVE
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
God's Work can often be cruel
Durban-based director Michael James' debut feature God's Work is a thought-provoking, multilayered reflection on the lived experience and inner world of the city's marginalised and misunderstood unhoused people. Combining elements of social realism, this meta narrative is an attempt by a well-intentioned young white documentary filmmaker to tell their story. It's a sharp satirical critique of the politically expedient attempts to co-opt them into the platforms of fictionalised versions of the DA and the EFF, and includes surreal hallucinations brought on by the effects of drugs and the traumas of the past, as well as the oppressive violence of the city's corrupt police. The film follows the journey of a group of unhoused young men as they hustle each day to survive in an environment in which the elements seem intent on erasing them. It also provides a complex interrogation of how we interact with sidelined members of our communities and what the abilities and limits of cinema as a medium are to adequately capture the many aspects of the realities of their lives...
IOL News
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
God's work: A powerful new film exploring homelessness in Durban
Michael James' 'God's Work' highlights the struggles of the homeless in Durban. God's Work, a new film by acclaimed Durban filmmaker Michael James, has been selected to compete for Best South African Feature, and will have its SA Premiere at this year's Durban International Film Festival on Sunday, July 20. The film unfolds in a crumbling building in central Durban, where Simphiwe, portrayed by SAFTA-winning actor Thobani Nzuza and other homeless men struggle with poverty, addiction, and the temptations of fleeting notoriety. The ensemble cast also features Mbulelo Radebe, Omega Mncube, Siya Xaba, Zenzo Msomi and Nduduzo Khowa. James got inspiration for God's Work while filming a documentary about homeless shelters at the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban during the Covid-19 pandemic. "I intend to engage with both the internal and external worlds of the characters and to allow the audience deeper access into the surreal and often troubling recesses of the human mind," he said.
