Necktie Youth

Necktie Youth is not what you call an «instant film». Is has a coal black heart, and is formulated in a great black-and-white contrast, being just as engaging as it is painful.

We are thrown into Johannesburg´s youth culture, where the kids are far from alright. Generation Post-Apartheid experience that their parents’ former struggle did nothing but sweep the segregation under the carpet. Many now live in well-furnished homes, with superficial quality prints of Mandela and Gandhi on their walls. They find it difficult to live up to their parents’ achievements, especially as depression and underlying social structures presses down on them, whether it relates to racial or class affiliation.

The very opening scene has the dubious honor of exemplifying this wasted youth demography, with a suicide, in the parents beautiful garden, in front of a webcam put to live stream. Incredible enough it is all downhill from there. Introduced to the girl´s circle, running such a hedonistic lifestyle that it is just a question of time before it hits. This ominous feeling smolders through the entire lapse. Think Elephant by Gus Van Sant and its “calm before the storm”-tactic, and catchy nihilism by Harmony Korine. In Necktie Youth they party as if every day would be their last – and for some it actually is. Add notice to the amazing soundtrack – a lovely chaotic and schizophrenic mix of local punk, hip hop and electronica.

Sibs Shongwe-La Mer (b. 1991) from Johannesburg in South-Africa debuted within feature film with Necktie Youth (2014) doing film direction, script, clip and on of the lead roles. He has worked with advertising, photography, music videos as well as being a musician. Necktie Youth had premiere at Tribeca and was well received at both Berlinale and Sydney Film Festival.