BLACK LENS: NECKTIE YOUTH

7pm, Thursday 4th May 2023

Join us for our monthly Black Lens film night & audience review.

Necktie Youth is the scream of Johannesburg’s wealthy suburbia, and its numb, confused and drug-fuelled suicidal pleasure seekers.

The debut feature, written and directed by Jo’burg local Sibs Shongwe-La Mer, depicts a Black South African upper middle class failing to find purpose in a post Mandela world. Likened to Larry Clarke’s 1995 movie Kids, Necktie Youth carries the ugly but truthful nihilism of being vain, young, wealthy and bored.

Shot in black & white to a thrashing soundtrack, Sibs blazes up a South Africa rarely seen on film.

In a 2015 interview with Dazed magazine, Sibs explains its bleakness.
“People from my government would come up to me and ask: ‘Why paint our country in such a negative light?’ I told them that I saw my film as very patriotic because it questions us. If I didn’t care about my country, I’d make something that doesn’t offend as much. But it highlights a reality, and it’s a part of our existence.”

Necktie Youth has a new voice glory to it. It’s an addition to African cinema’s canon that is not to be missed.

Necktie Youth trailer (viewer discretion advised –  suitable for 18 years old+ only)

Following the screening, we invite you to stay a while to explore and engage in an open and candid conversation, curated by our film programmer, Ephraim Webber.