Film festival alert: South African film, Creep, produced by F Creations, based in Cape Town is a finalist in the World Monologue Film Festival (WMFF), April 23-24, 2021, featuring micro films

What: Creep by F Creations from South Africa- short film -finalist in 2021 in World Monologue Film Festival (WMFF) Livestream semi-finals: Fri April 23, 12:30pm (SA time): https://youtu.be/I1UzVXnkOgM Livestream finals: Sat April 24, 12:30pm (SA time): https://youtu.be/X0gMcvk5hYI  

Do you have a minute or a minute and a half to spare? Click in to watch the semi-finals and finals of The World Monologue Film Festival (WMFF) on April 23 and 24, 2021 and be treated to “micro films” from around the globe, which were submitted to the WMFF. It is a micro film festival, showcasing short films under 1.25 minutes. The exciting news is that Creep by F Creations from South Africa is in competition and is in line to win a cash prize of $AUS500 for best film. The inaugural WMFF has an impressive panel of judges- from around the globe.

WMFF “was set up to provide a filmmaking challenge during lockdown conditions: 1 actor only, 1 continuous shot, 1 – 2.5 minutes.” The brief: Do not mention or reference Covid. Festival founder, Australian, Peter Malicki is a creative innovator. During 2020, he ran the World Monologue Games, a virtual acting competition platform which engaged over 3000 performers from 85 countries. The success of the games, spurred him to establish a monologue film festival. In 2020, Faeron Wheeler of F Creations [a production company in Cape Town] filmed monologues by Maliki, (extra)ordinary, (un)usual, for the digital stage. The monologues were filmed with Cape Town actors and brought in a stage aesthetic to the digital stage. When Wheeler heard about WMFF, she decided to submit a film and invited cinematographer Stephan Hambsch to come on board as collaborator.  In 2019, they worked together on Nothing for the 48 Hour Film Project in Cape Town and received a best editing nomination for their film. Shooting Creep, during lockdown regulations required tremendous planning. It was filmed from outside, looking into an interior and therein lies the drama – which I won’t plot spoil. It creeped me out – on various levels-in a good filmic way. It is a very edgy film. The protagonist (played by Wheeler) is on edge. This feeds into the global unease and edginess, at the moment. This comes across in this film. We can all relate to that global sense of – “what happens next.” Communicating by voice on the phone has become a fixture of Covid. In Creep, the phone is almost like another character; a protagonist. It is often said that short films are calling cards and may lead to features. I can see Creep being developed into a psychological thriller. Beautifully shot and edited, it has an intensely plotted out narrative in a tight framework of just over a minute. I held my breath as I watched- to see what would happen; to see how it would end. How will it all end? There is no charge to watch the semi finals and finals, online but there will be an in-person ticket event in Sydney, with films beamed on the big screen. Here is the info as supplied by F Creations:

F CREATIONS ANNOUNCED AS FINALIST IN THE 2021 WMFF

Film festival: Creep by F Creations from SA, finalist in World Monologue Film Festival (WMFF)

F Creations is proud to announce that our short film, Creep, has been selected as a finalist in the inaugural World Monologue Film Festival (WMFF). The semi-finals and finals are due to be streamed in a live event on YouTube on Friday 23 April and Saturday 24 April respectively.

“It’s been a tough 13 months in the artistic industries in South Africa and this opportunity to create was a wonderful release,” says Faeron Wheeler, part of the two-person team that produced Creep. The WMFF was specifically designed to allow filmmakers to create something despite lockdown conditions around the world and stay safe while doing so.

WMFF founder Pete Malicki set up the festival after the success of last year’s World Monologue Games, a virtual acting competition that saw over 3000 performers from 85 countries get involved. Malicki says, “Normal filmmaking conditions don’t exist right now and filmmakers needed a new framework in order to keep creating, hence World Monologue Film Festival was born. The work we’re screening is so incredibly diverse and inspiring – I was blown away by what people did with the format.”

Submissions for the WMFF had to be shot in one continuous take and feature a single performer only, with a duration of only one to two and a half (1 – 2.5) minutes. The only restriction on content is that Coronavirus and the global pandemic cannot be mentioned.

The short time limit on the film was an exciting challenge for the team of Stephan Hambsch and Faeron Wheeler. The question was all about how to tell a full story that has impact with only one actor and in so little time. The F Creations team elevated their challenge even further by choosing to film during twilight in order to get a specific look for their film.

Cinematographer Hambsch had this to say about the shoot: “In terms of look, I wanted the house to radiate warm tones while being enveloped by the blue hues of the night sky. Usually this is fairly easy to achieve with a lighting crew and big lights, enabling you to perfectly balance the ambient light with the interior lighting of the house and allowing you to shoot well into the night. We didn’t have a lighting crew with big lights, which meant we had to wait for a very small window of roughly 20 minutes after sunset when the balance of light is perfect. Luckily we rehearsed meticulously because we only managed to get four takes out of this window; the fourth take made the final cut.”

This is the second time that Wheeler and Hambsch have teamed up on an F Creations film project. The first was during the 2019 48 Hour Film Project in Cape Town. Their film, Nothing, was nominated for best editing that year. “Working with Stephan is great. He knows what he wants visually and how to achieve it,” says Wheeler. “This meant that I could trust him to get the shot while I focused on performance on the day. We also had a lot of fun bouncing ideas off of each other in order to create a concise film that packs a punch.”

Don’t forget to tune in on YouTube to catch Creep and all of the other finalists in the WMFF on Friday 23 April and Saturday 24 April. To find out more about the film, please follow F Creations on our digital platforms.


F Creations, Cape Town South Africa- production company – film and stage

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FCreationsCT Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fcreationsct/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCitRDp64dhFelgZb4r7FAbA/videos Website: https://fcreations.online/  

Creep: Faeron Wheeler in Creep – a micro film (under one and a half minutes), which has been selected as a finalist for The World Monologue Film Festival (WMFF). The semi-finals and finals are being live streamed online, April 23, 24, 2021. See box on this page for details. There will also be an in-person screening in Sydney, Australia. Creep is produced by F Creations, a production company, Based in Cape Town, South Africa,

❇ Sponsored content.