Films | Unusual Bones

“a moment of unraveling intimacy”

ekstasis teaser

Unusual Bones., in association with Couscous and Cream, presents an intricate short film, ekstasis, written and directed by Emilie Badenhorst and Kanya Viljoen that explores the unravelling nature of intimacy through the eyes of two young South African women.

The film stars the sensitive performances of Inez Robertson and Mariana Del Carmen in the leading roles, supported by veteran performers Grant Swanby and Ilse van Niekerk. The film was shot by an intimate group of filmmakers in the summer of 2019 in Cape Town city centre and along the west coast towards a local fisherman’s town, Velddrif.

The film is an exploration of a young woman that discovers love and intimacy, and the loss thereof, through a blossoming relationship with her best friend and the dissipation of her parents’ marriage. The 35 minute film uses the landscape of multilingualism in South Africa, the Afrikaner culture and LGBTQIA+ bodies to question the moments of existing inbetween these spaces and borders created within society.

Both Badenhorst and Viljoen created this film as they wanted to explore the navigation of the young, female body in relation to identity and how this then navigates the familiarity felt and found in others.

The film was created following a collaborative process where many elements emerged through workshops between the writers, actors and the production team throughout filming. It set out to explore what could happen if certain spaces were left for creative input from all bodies on set, thus allowing an immediate truth to emerge within the story.