Snaaks Genoeg – An Entertaining And Poignant Dark Comedy

Snaaks Genoeg (Funny Enough) explores the pain inflicted by humour on the average human being.

Snaaks Genoeg,  an original piece written and directed by David Moore, follows a down-and-out comedian (Casper de Vries) who drifts from one small town to another. Having alienated his audience with his crude comments and dirty humours, his popularity has faded. He hits the road fighting not only for survival, but also to find the spark he once had. He has been reduced to doing shows in small towns and working for food and accommodation.

As he drifts from remote location to remote location, successful comedians are being kidnapped, tortured and murdered in bizarre ways, and he seems to be riding right into the centre of this storm.

The murders and kidnappings are in fact being orchestrated by a genius lawyer, Koos van der Merwe (Tobie Cronje), who gets criminals off their charges in exchange for “sorting out” comedians who offend him and his family name. De Vries has some strange experiences along his journey, some hard and some less so, and all help to make him look at himself and start to re-invent his persona.

In the end, De Vries and Cronje come head-to-head in a somewhat unexpected finale.

The film was shot in the Northern Cape and the Tankwa Karoo – one of the most arid and evocative regions of South Africa.

With four of South Africa’s top comedians playing themselves, the film has a realistic feel to it, and provides the perfect vehicle for them to do what they do best.

A Note From Writer, Producer and Director David Moore

I wrote this story more than 20 years ago while working in a takeaway shop in Epping. I always felt this would be an entertaining film.

It was written for Bill Flynn and Tolla van der Merwe. Sadly, both passed away before it became possible to turn the idea into a reality. We did, however, convince Wicus van der Merwe to do a cameo for the film to represent his family. With the help of two friends, Erich Herbst and Gerry Bezuidenhout, I raised the funds required to complete the film.

david-moore

David Moore has been in the industry for 25 years. He started as a sound engineer and then moved on to creating, shooting and directing his own projects. He produced inserts for SABC3 for several years in the early 90s and went on to winning the highest SA film and television award at the time for a short film, Spring2Mind. He won for directing, creating, and cinematography. David then created the famous cult travel show Going Nowhere Slowly which ran for seven years. His love of drifting and creating stories in odd places led him to finally make his first film Once Upon a Road Trip. This movie was nominated for four Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAAs) and took one for make-up. David has produced over 300 episodes of various shows for television with travel being his real passion. He writes continuously. His stories are original pieces and it is his plan to make sure all are completed in his lifetime.

We have been granted a rebate from the DTI, which will be made available once the film is in cinemas. I travelled extensively through the lesser known parts of South Africa and more specifically the Karoo.

All the locations featured in the film are authentic and none had to be redesigned or changed. Like the locations for my previous film Once Upon a Road Trip, which was sold to etv, Snaaks Genoeg was also shot in real places, with the story adapted around them. The movie is eccentric, but it has great fun appeal and it has been really well received by those who have seen it.

As with our first film, we believe it will do well with film critics and the public alike. As a Director, I look to keep the style simple and the take odd.

In addition to my love of images, I brought in Steve van Zyl to light and manage the first unit.

The editing process was an interesting one in that we had various ‘directors’ managing the cut. Casper de Vries, a filmmaker in his own right, added great value on the final cut. For me, music is extremely important.

For that reason, we had music and a score written specifically for the film. Luna Paige and Daniel Kemp both produced incredible songs. Pierre Rommelaere who did the score for my first film once again tied the film together with his musical genius.

This has been an incredible journey and one that demanded much, but has also given us the drive to make more movies in the future. Managing a cast and crew of this size and travelling almost 1 500kms while shooting is not easy but I would happily do it all again tomorrow.