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Catechism, Colonialism and Revolution

Jean Meeran has seen the future - and it is Brown

In his Newcomer's Award acceptance speech at the Sithengi Film Festival last year, he dedicated his award to the Brown Europeans, wished them strength and encouraged them to push on until all of Europe is Brown. He has also, among others, written scripts about a genius Muslim girl with a pet pig, and a Cape Flats wedding video-maker who falls in love with a genie, and is currently finalising the script of the first South African Bollywood-style movie. Riana Wiechers managed to track down busy-as-hell, yet-to-make-a-film but highly prolific and widely acclaimed South African scriptwriter/director Jean Meeran.

"In Amsterdam, on the prophet Mohammed's birthday, Slaam-ous were whizzing about in cars decorated with balloons, loudspeakering to the populace about Mohammed and how great he is. In Holland I saw ghostly reminders of our joined history … The Dutch have little or no consciousness of us, though."

You won the Newcomer's Award at the 2004 Sithengi Film Festival with your short film Katheketik …

Ja, the Newcomer's Award is awarded to a filmmaker who has not yet had a cinematic release. Cynically speaking, it's a welcome into the filmmaking inner circle. The film Katheketik is the first in my Brown Europe Pageant series. The browning of Europe, and ultimately the world, to me is a symbol of the mixing of people and ideas which I hope will lead to understanding, sharing and peace

What's the Brown Europe Pageant about?

It's a series of short films which are stylised profiles of the contestants - all women of colour who live, were born or grew up in Europe. They are the Brown Europeans who will birth future generations of Europeans who are of mixed heritage, changing the face of Europe and the consciousness of the world. Basically, with this project, I'm saying that identity is a fluid, dynamic thing that we can choose for ourselves, change if we want to, and must celebrate at all times. While still feeling free in the knowledge that identity is a perception, and not a fixed thing. Fixed identity is a tomb.

Have you been entombed by it?

During Apartheid and after Apartheid have been two very different tombs. The Apartheid tomb was a very crushing one, but in a way easier to resist because it was so stark. Things were very defined then. Now that the identity conflict is much more subtle and complex, we find that even those closest to us sometimes entomb us. You can be happily yakking away about some identity struggle you're fighting, when one of your friends will turn to you and say something like, "But Indians were privileged in the old South Africa." So, in that moment, I am being buttonholed and pigeonholed. All complexity evaporates. I'm expected to answer for "Indians" and I don't even see myself as such a thing. I see that as only one aspect of my identity. Also, in a case like this, when I'm being cast as "an Indian", the tyranny of the Apartheid hierarchy which used to divide and rule people of colour is reinforced. Everyone has their own perception of identity. I'm saying that we need to allow all around us to express who and what they are respectfully and celebratorially. We must allow one another to form and define our own identities.

What is Katheketik about?

Katheketik is about a white Dutch boy and Indonesian Dutch girl that go on an idyllic cycling and tennis-playing trip through the Dutch countryside. The Indonesian girl is absorbed in a book, and from it learns about her history and heritage. She reads of the atrocities committed by Dutch capitalist adventurers in the name of the spice trade. To gain the monopoly of nutmeg cultivation in the East, the Dutch hired Japanese mercenaries to disembowel most of the male population of Banda Island, for example. This information is communicated through a Dutch narrator and English subtitles. What's interesting is that the actress who plays the girl in the film has, through her mother's family, a lineage that goes directly back to Banda Island.

And symbolically?

Symbolically the Dutch boy and girl represent Holland and its colonies. I have stylised the actors (both women) to resemble the kissing Dutch boy and girl, that iconic ceramic curio that's on sale all over Holland as a tourist souvenir. But I have replaced the Dutch girl of the curio with an Indonesian Dutch girl. So as the two of them go off on their cycling trip through the Dutch countryside, the girl, who sits on the back of the bicycle, reads a book and so learns about Holland's horrific colonial past. Through this I am trying to say that there is something sinister behind the cute face of Holland. The name Katheketik is German for catechism, which means the learning of religious doctrine, only here the girl learns about her personal history. They then go on to play a tennis match in a forest clearing which, though pleasant, symbolises the European powers juggling the ownership of various colonial islands amongst themselves. When the Indonesian girl hits the ball out of sight the boy is peeved. A storm breaks. The girl retreats into her book. The boy extends a peaceful gesture in the form of a stroopwaffel (syrup waffle) which they then share, communion-like. They kiss and make up, the kiss symbolising the reconciliation that lies at the end of resolving one's conflicts.

And then the Boeing flies over. Was it planned?

Yes, that was part of the script. It's just there to emphasise the message as a whole. Like an exclamation. The Boeing symbolises the travels of the VOC, Dutch colonialism and the interconnectedness of the world.

I thought it was a sinister 9/11 type message. A warning almost.

Ja, some people did think that, but it wasn't intended. It's sort of an added bonus. Because you could connect that to colonialism, in a sense.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Pietermaritzburg and later in La Mercy on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, close to Tongaat. I went to high school in Tongaat, at Uthongathi.

Isn't that the school that was already mixed in the '80s? No school uniforms, and so on?

Ja, that was an experiment undertaken by Anglo American and other liberal/capitalist structures in South Africa in trying to build a "multiracial" middle class. Multi-racial, not non-racial, by the way. Liberals can't shake race, precisely because they ignore it in favour of focusing on freedom of economic practices. Ja, it was arty, and we could call our teachers by their first names. We had no rules, except no horseplay and no physical contact between boys and girls.

When you say "liberals can't shake race" …?

Liberals pretend to ignore race, while still pursuing their capitalist goals. At the same time capitalism relies on racial oppression for its hierarchical structure.

What did you gain from attending Uthongati in those days?

I ended up as a person with no specific group. I wandered all over the show, paratrooping from one group to the next. Hence I have a huge number of friends, most of whom have no contact with one another. I am in the eye of the storm. I feel lonely sometimes, but I feel free.

Lonely in what sense?

Lonely in the sense that I don't have the usual tribe that makes other people feel unlonely.

Do you have any siblings?

An identical twin brother. Then a younger brother, younger sister, and two older brothers, one of which is dead. All of us have different fathers of different races. My mother is the reluctant earth mother of South Africa. I use the word reluctant because we were all left behind. Politics, exile, divorce - various circumstances were to blame. Finally my mother landed up with a white daughter only. All the sons fell away. Harsh country we have.

How do you mean?

I mean that we all generally have good intentions and most of us try to live by them. We try to be good to others. But Apartheid and colonialism were, and still are, such huge and obliterating forces that we often end up fulfilling the same shit that we are or were fighting against. Like my mother. A struggle activist who ended up with the white daughter as her favourite. That situation came about as a result of being born in a harsh and complex country.

What does your twin brother do?

Zinaid's a filmmaker. He's doing a Masters in film at UCLA.

Is the relationship between identical twins different from that of "normal" siblings?

It's the same as any close siblings or couple. It's just that you are always together, regardless of proximity. And you've had all the same experiences, so you think similarly. But then again, I wouldn't know how other siblings feel, since I am a twin.

How are you and your brother alike, and how are you different?

(Laughs) He's bigger from working out with weights! He cares more about vital things like social development and reconstruction. I do too, but I'm more into the metaphorical and consciousness-changing stuff. Much more so than the structural. So I think film is the right medium for what I have to say.

What did you study after school?

I studied politics and sociology. Later film, at UCT, NYU and the Binger Institute in Amsterdam.

What jobs have you done?

I've worked in film and photography. In film I did every job on set, including being a runner. That was shit. They shout at you for all their own frustrations.

What were your impressions from the time you spent in Amsterdam at the Binger Institute?

Ja, Holland is nice. It feels like Scandinavia. The people there are so polite and tall and blond. And there's a shitload of people of colour. Span of slaam-ous too.

What's a "slaam-ou"?

A Muslim. It's Durban slang for Muslims. Anyway, in Amsterdam, on the prophet Mohammed's birthday, they were whizzing about in cars decorated with balloons, loudspeakering to the populace about Mohammed and how great he is. In Holland I saw ghostly reminders of our joined history, especially in the mix of people: African, Indonesian, Indian, White. Which is exactly what we have here, thanks to the adventuring of the VOC. The Dutch have little or no consciousness of us, though. If anything, they have the colonial, jungle, drums, skins, Big Five, mahotella queens idea of South Africa.

Were you there when Theo van Gogh was assassinated? I was gone by then. First I thought shit, Holland was not as sweet as I thought. Then I read about how xenophobic he was. He looked like a venomous old bastard, actually. So I thought fuck him. But of course he didn't deserve to be offed.

What do you think about claims that Islam oppresses women?

I think Islam oppresses women big time. It's just that Van Gogh seemed to be motivated by xenophobia.

You won an award for your script P-I-G. Whatever happened to that project?

P-I-G won the Goteburg Film Fund Award for best pitch at the Sithengi Film Market in 2001. P-I-G is being developed by myself and Zinaid with Kobus Botha of Ballistic films. Funding is in the pipeline. Hustling for cash takes forever, though. P-I-G started as a short story which won the FNB Vita Short Story award.

WHAT IS P-I-G ABOUT?

P-I-G is set in '80s Apartheid South Africa on the Natal North Coast. It's about a little genius Muslim girl who is obsessed with pigs. She loves them like crazy, collects pig figurines, reads up about pigs, and so on. So one night, while watching Oorlewing on TV, she finds out about a halaal pig that is found only in South-East Asia and saves up to buy one. Eventually she manages to buy one and it causes community upheaval. She almost gets killed, witch-hunt style.

It sounds as though it could be a controversial project

It's an extension of my need to communicate that "Nothing is as it seems". It's bound to be controversial among Muslims, because any mention of pigs seems to obliterate their logic. But the affection of the story could, I hope, overrule the anger that might be at the root of the controversy. In a sense P-I-G is autobiographical. The mother of the girl in the story is an exiled revolutionary like mine, the father an armchair revolutionary, like mine was. Both my parents were atheist/agnostic, but my mother is from a Christian background, as in the script. The community is very similar to the one I grew up in, except that I've made the surroundings in the film very Muslim, whereas where I grew up it was mainly Hindu.

But you grew up in a Muslim family. Are you religious?

Somewhat. I fast and pray, but I believe that following or not following the religious rituals and rules is irrelevant. Being good to others is the only thing that really matters.

Tell me about the Bollywood-style script you are working on at the moment

The film is called Jhoti, which means "Light". It's written in a Bollywood style, but set in Durban and Cape Town. Mostly Cape Town. It's produced by DV8, directed by Munier Parker and written by me. It's about arranged marriage, family obligation and culture clashes. It's also a portrait of South Africa, showing us a number of different worlds - the coon carnival subculture, the Bo-Kaap Islamic community, Durban Char-ou family life, Cape Town as a tourist entity, and the spaces that exist in between. Where all the different worlds meet and interact.

What's the plot?

Two sisters are brought to Cape Town by their father who owns a skin-lightening business. In the new South Africa the demand for the product is way down and he is on the brink of bankruptcy, so he is selling his business to a Cape Town tycoon who has a booming hair-relaxer biz. The deal includes selling his one daughter off to the tycoon - ie marrying her off to his creepy son. Once in Cape Town, the (Hindu) girl falls in love with a Muslim tour guide. The tour guide is a coon-singing superstar. The girl is a classical Indian dancer. Love prevails.

Music plays an important part in Bollywood films. How do you intend to approach the music side of the project?

Writing of music, action and choreography will occur simultaneously and symbiotically. I have selected musical genius and acclaimed musician Kesivan Naidoo (who also grew up with Bollywood) as musical director. He will choose a team of experts to work with.

What do you think about the state of the local film industry?

Well, they seem to be a bit trapped in the African Renaissance, Rainbow Nation vibe, which was necessary, but is now somewhat limiting. It sidelines those of us whose expressions and perceptions have passed beyond the old ways, and also those whose ideas never were part of the old. But I think the industry is okay. It just needs to be braver. It's tough, though. Investors don't like taking what they perceive to be risks.

Do you see yourself as part of the so-called "new rise" of talent among South African scriptwriters?

I think the talent was always there. It's more that resources for filmmaking are finally increasing. Those who have something to say about their experiences as South Africans are very drawn to this medium. Film is possibly the most powerful and most populist art form in the world. Powerful expressions need powerful media.

Do you come from a "creative" family?

No, my parents come from a revolutionary/social development background. But they loved art, and so encouraged me. But my main impetus for art comes from their revolutionary ideals.

A lot of your creative work seems to be centred around childhood memories and set in a very "apartheid South Africa" context.

It's true. You see, I'm made up of a totally mixed background, and from a very diverse family. I've lived within the very firm boundaries of identity that Apartheid enforced, and over the years, at times, I felt I was being driven mad by this. So I started writing about it. I feel that having had this diverse background has taught me a lot about identity. I want to share this with the world.

How do you see your identity as a South African?

I am a South African of mixed heritage. My father is of South Indian origin - Malayalam (from the deep south of Kerala) and Tamil. My mother is of so-called Cape Coloured origin. Her ancestry is Madagascan, Indian, Huguenot and Dutch. My stepfather is white South African of Swiss descent, but he grew up in Lebanon. His family are Cape Town southern suburbs peeps. My stepmother is of North Indian descent: her mother was from Gujerat. (Laughs) I'm a pure VOC mix!

What are your future career plans?

(Laughs) Make one film and then become a herb farmer! Seriously though, I'm busy photographing stylish old men (I think it's about me in the future), workmen at rest (class and capitalism), workmen on the back of trucks (don't know why). I'm hustling for my film The Djinn to be produced. Producers are taking the script to Cannes. I'm hustling for the Brown Europeans, so that we can have a pageant in Barcelona and show off Brown Pride. I also want to start a range of revolution fashion.

Explain your concept of Brown Pride

It means being proud of your heritage while recognising its complex, layered nature, hence Brown as opposed to Black or Indian or Coloured or one of those "fixed" identities. Brown also because it is simply a colour and a beautiful one.

What would your revolution fashion range entail?

It will be in the same vein as the current fashionable military-inspired type of clothing, but I want specific outfits to represent specific conflicts. Like a Selous Scouts-from-the-Second-Chimurenga-of-Zimbabwe outfit, for example. And either side of whichever conflicts could inspire the clothing. I think it could be a perfect combination of capitalism and Zeitgeist.

Who were the Selous Scouts?

The Selous Scouts were a battalion of white Rhodesians fighting against the liberation of the country.

What do you think of fashion as a societal phenomenon?

We all have a need to decorate, express and differentiate ourselves through adornment. This is a sincere process. Then capitalism turns it into an imposing and belittling force. Style is a concept free of that taintedness, but we need to appropriate it and feel free of the dictates of the fashion industry. Here I'm talking about feeling free to pick and choose and discard and accept whatever you feel like in terms of expressing yourself. Apart from all that, I think fashion is groovy.

What do you do in your spare time?

Camping, hiking, surfing, drawing, cooking, jolling, herb gardening.

What interests you most?

My major focus is on identity, specifically exploring my belief that NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS. Ever. You cannot "place" someone by their looks, though it is inevitable that your initial reaction is to do that. But you should not. You should guard against categorising people, boxing them in. Every person and every thing on this earth has surprises waiting beneath the surface. And to not be receptive to that and to not incorporate it into your own reality is to lose out. To recognise it is to free yourself from the tomb, to enable yourself to have a multiple identity (or if you want, to have a singular one). The contradiction inherent in this is the true beauty of diversity. But beauty also interests me enormously.

As in aesthetics? Style?

I recognise something as beautiful when it grabs my attention in a visually pleasing way. But I feel that beauty has been problematised and muddied by various factors, such as media depictions of femininity, for example. And racism in media images has degraded and sidelined most of the world's population. Or it has exoticised us people of colour into caricatured beings. The media has ignored the glamour of everyday life. And this is what I want to show through my work. As I showed in my photographs exhibited in YDEsire, or as I will show in the Stylish Old Men series. And as I plan to show in the Brown Europeans project.

So Stylish Old Men will in truth run a lot deeper than depicting just stylish old men?

Oh yes. It is about dignity, both in the ageing experience, and in the political (Brown Pride again). It is about not giving up on the life force. It is about being aware of your fellow human beings.

What is good art?

Sincere art. Art where you communicate, or try to communicate, what you really feel - instead of pretending to show what others feel, or what you think others would like to see. Or what you want others to think you feel. That said, sincere art is not necessarily always seen as good art by society, because society has different needs or wants at any given time. That's why so many sincere artists are never recognised. But that doesn't mean that their art isn't good.

What interests you least?

Insincerity.

How does this insincerity manifest?

Insincerity is a stumbling-block in any social relationship and societal structure. It is usually patently obvious, and then if one is invested in the person or structure, you have to waste energy either exposing it, or teasing out the truth, when you could be going forward.

If you had unlimited funds available, what creative projects would you undertake?

I would produce the Brown Europe Pageant, another script of mine, The Djinn, and start a scholarship fund for talented art students

What is The Djinn about?

The Djinn is about a frustrated young Muslim wedding-video-maker who is on a downward spiral of self-destruction. He meets and falls in love with a djinn called Laeeqa, a creature from the spirit world of Islam. They journey into her world, where he learns a series of lessons, changing his life forever. It is set in Cape Town. On the Cape Flats and all over.

Have you travelled much?

Not enough. I've been to Mecca for Umrah, Europe, Zim, Moz, NYC, Texas, Turkey. I still want to go to Latin America, where our diverse counterparts live.

What was Mecca like?

I went when I was 16. It was during a heavy period of OCD. So Umrah was arduous for me. But, like Malcolm X, I saw first-hand the complexity and diversity of the world (laughs).

What is Umrah?

Umrah is the smaller version of Haj that you do when you're a child or if you want to do a shorter visit to Mecca. Also, Haj is done only with your own money. If someone else pays for you, you can only do Umrah.

What was your "heavy period of OCD"?

I was obsessed with the rules and rituals of Islam, which are many. Praying, washing, diet, fasting, those kinds of things. So to go to the heart of the Islamic world (Mecca) and do this long, heavy ritual was torture. I didn't want to be obsessed like that, but I suffer from OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It's a mental and physical illness. A neurosis, in short.

How do you reconcile your identity as a Muslim with your identity as a South African?

I don't find it something that needs reconciling. Islam has been part and parcel of South African identity from the arrival of the slaves from South-East Asia who were brought here by the Dutch. I think it's an identity that South Africa generally recognises, so I've never felt that it's something that needs reconciling. South African Muslims have fought tirelessly against colonialism and Apartheid. No probs there.

If you were the last person to leave planet Earth - what message would you leave behind for whoever may come after?

It's beautiful, and it's sensitive. Treat it right.

Jean Meeran is one of the scriptwriter/directors in the DV8 production stable. DV8 was created by producers Jeremy Nathan and Joel Phiri who realised the need to establish an infrastructure for South African filmmakers to get their full-length feature films produced in a stable and secure environment. DV8 has committed itself to over the next three years develop, produce and market twelve (12) genuinely South African digital feature films.