”It was fabulous to make a film that could parody the current times, make us take a deep long look at the absurdity of it and laugh.”
Writer-director John Barker, a proud graduate of The Writing Studio, is turning politics inside out and upside down with his biting independent mockumentary Wonder Boy For President.
Funnyman Kagiso Lediga steps into the shoes of Wonder Boy, a charismatic and authoritative young man from the Eastern Cape, who is coerced into running for president by two dubious and corrupt characters played by Ntosh Madlingozi and Tony Miyambo. Their aim is to mould him into a great politician and manufacture his downfall at the right time, for the right price. It is a political satire that delves into political dynamics and challenges that arise.
Barker and Lediga are no strangers to local television scene and international stages. Lediga was a writer and co-lead in the South African film Bunny Chow, which was officially selected for the Toronto Film Festival and also selected for, and won awards at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (Tiger Awards), American Film Institute Festival, Sydney Film Festival and Melbourne Film Festival.
Wonder Boy for President is co-produced and directed by John Barker who won a Golden Horn Award for Best Achievement in Directing in a TV Soap for Isibaya last year and another Golden Horn Award for Best Achievement in Directing in a Feature Film for Bunny Chow in 2007. The script is by Barker, Camillo Saloojee, Christopher Steenkamp and Saki Bergh.
“We were really blessed to have a whole bunch of South Africa’s top comedians who collaborated on the film with us,” says Barker. “At a time when the rand/ dollar has set a morose mood in the country, and amid all the doom and gloom in the media about corruption, greed and cronyism, it was fabulous to make a film that could parody the current times, make us take a deep long look at the absurdity of it and laugh. Perhaps we all will see some of ourselves in these characters – and perhaps it will help people to make the change they need.”
Director’s Statement
Talented, committed, refreshingly irreverent: John Barker is a South African filmmaker based in Johannesburg. His directional debut Bunny Chow was officially selected to have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2006. The film has since received many accolades but, more importantly, touched the funny bone and heart of South Africans across the country Bunny Chow used a memorable retroscripting technique with the actors improvising their dialogue to communicate the comedy narrative. The outline script for Bunny Chow was written by Barker and David Kibuuka and later retro-scripted with Editor, Saki Bergh. Multi-talented, with a career spanning two decades, Barker excels at directing feature films, commercial work, music videos and gritty documentaries; making for an outstanding and diverse showreel. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Barker made a documentary Soccer: South of the Umbilo about his childhood growing up in the southern suburbs of Durban, which produced many talented soccer players and coaches including his father, legendary SA football player and coach, Clive Barker. Barker wrote, directed and produced South Africa’s first music mockumentary Blu Cheez to much acclaim (and amusement). He next directed the music documentary Kwaito Generals produced by Kutloano Skosana of Black Rage, which focused on the stars who were at the forefront of the Kwaito movement of the late nineties and early 2000s. During this time he joined TV hit, The Pure Monate Show, directing sketches in season one and directing and co-writing sketches for all of the second season. In 2011 he directed 31 Million Reasons. 2014 saw Barker working with comic heavyweight (and Monty Python legend), John Cleese in Spud 3: Learning to Fly, as well as directing a superb cast of local talent in the third of the Spud series by best-selling South African author, John van de Ruit. 2015 was a key year for Barker as he worked closely with Bomb productions, directing the drama series Ayeye and Mzanzi Magic’s The Road. Finishing the year co-directing The Bantu Hour. In Wonder Boy for President , Barker was able to reconnect with many of his collaborators from Bunny Chow. It has been brought into production through the Dog Pack collective; which includes Saki Bergh and Kagiso Lediga. Barker sites his inspiration for Wonder Boy as largely inspired by Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and other notable directors who employ retro-scripting and improv techniques such as John Cassavetes, Christopher Guest, Robert Altman and Mike Leigh. www.johnbarker.co.za
We started shooting Wonder Boy for President in 2012 when we drove to Mangaung to cover the ANC conference.
We struggled to raise money due to the nature of the film which is political satire based on the ANC and the current political landscape.
I have been developing a retro scripting style of filmmaking for a number of years (Blu Cheez and Bunny Chow). For Wonder Boy I wrote story beats and scene beats and encouraged the actors to improv.
I also happened to have one of the country’s strongest improv artists and comedian Kagiso Lediga, who I love to collaborate with, working on this.
I then worked with editor and fellowcollaborator Saki Bergh and we refined the story and narrative in edit. We went back and shot more scenes and re shot scenes that needed to be added to make sense of the narrative.
It’s a bit like being a jazz musician as the story can change and move in a different direction and you have to go with it. Wonder Boy for President was the perfect vehicle to push the improve/retroscripting style as the plan was to intercut real politicians with our fictitious characters and as the politics of the day changed so did our story.
Over the 5 years of shooting we managed to raise enough money (R300,000 – incredibly low budget for a feature film) to complete the film.
We felt as filmmakers that it was important for us to highlight and reflect on the current South African political landscape and make an entertaining mockumentary/ political satire.
We had no idea it would take 5 years to finish.
We were really blessed to have a whole bunch of South Africa’s top comedians who collaborated on the film with us.
At a time when the rand/ dollar has set a morose mood in the country, and amid all the doom and gloom in the media about corruption, greed and cronyism, it was fabulous to make a film that could parody the current times, make us take a deep long look at the absurdity of it and laugh.
Perhaps we all will see some of ourselves in these characters – and perhaps it will help people to make the change they need.