Calvinia

The director Rudi Van der Merwe comes back to Calvinia, the small town in South Africa where he grew up. This return is an opportunity to once again tackle this familiar and conservative territory, fuelled by injustice. Accompanied by the memories of his childhood and adolescence on the farm – told through intimate voice-over – he revisits the history of his family, who belong to one of the town’s white communities, while taking a critical look at this territory. The film weaves together tender encounters and moments of exchange as he visits his friends and family. The director uses these moments to tackle prevailing social inequalities: this homecoming – where home does not seem to have evolved much – is shot through with racism and homophobia. Beset by severe drought, the town, named after the French Protestant reformer, seems stuck in time. Calvinia is a generous and elegantly constructed film, a journey made up of encounters, moments of solitude and flirtation, blending past and present in a return home that feels like a farewell. 

Alice Riva