South Africa / 2004 / 98mins / Comedy, Drama / Afrikaans, English and Zulu

A young rural man, with a talent for mourning at funerals, comes to Johannesburg to attend the university. Due to a series of mishaps, he misses his registration, and ends up with his crooked uncle in Soweto. His uncle decides to exploit his nephew's talent for mourning, leading to a great deal of comic havoc.

Teddy Mattera

Teddy Mattera is an award winning filmmaker who has been active in the industry for decades. Born in South Africa in 1963, he studied at the London International Film School and the Maurits Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam. His early experience ranged from work on documentaries for television in South Africa and the UK, among others, and on shorts, commercials and music videos. He began his film career as an intern for the Oscar-nominated documentary Hoop Dreams at Kartemquin Films in Chicago, Illinois. In 1990, Mattera worked at American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as a features producer and later joined a video collective, Video News Services (VNS) making documentaries for trades unions and community organizations against apartheid in South Africa. They were screened on BBC, Channel Four, Global Vision and various other international broadcasters. He also wrote Dumisani Phakathi’s short Waiting for Valdez (2001), which was selected for the MNET New Directions series. Teddy Mattera went on to write his multi-award winning feature film Max and Mona in 2004. Since then he has written and directed many television programmes (including social documentaries and drama series) for both local and international distributors. In early 2006, Teddy Mattera was honoured with a Carnegie Fellowship as a guest to Wits University in Johannesburg where he mentored in screenwriting and directing. His other works include Norman Comes to Jozi (2002), One Way (2006-2007) and Telegraph to the Sky (2009). Learn More