Moedertjie

Screening Details

Running Time: 30 min. (Black and White) / Copyright Date: not given / Release Date: 2 October 1931 / Language: Afrikaans / Genre: Drama / Alternative Titles: none.

Synopsis

Though made in 1931, this short is set in 1914, a time when many young Afrikaners were leaving the rural areas to make their way to the big cities. It follows Tante Koester and her husband as they travel from their Bosveld home to Maraisburg in the hope of finding their son, Hendrik, from whom they haven’t heard for two years. Because they arrive late in the evening, they decide to spend the night in the waiting room at the station, where they are joined by a young woman who turns out to be their son’s ex-girlfriend. Late arrivals are a policeman and his prisoner, the latter being none other than their long-lost son....

Context

Based on the one-act play In die Wagkamer by J.F.W. Grosskopf, this film by Joseph Albrecht has the distinction of being the first production shot with Afrikaans dialogue. Together with Sarie Marais, by the same director, it was shown at the opening of the new Capitol Theatre in Pretoria and despite being handicapped by its stage origins, it is undeniably a milestone in the history of the South African cinema. Interestingly, a surviving production still shows the shooting title to have been “Little Mother”, possibly because no-one behind the camera was Afrikaans-speaking. It took about a month to shoot and was shown to members of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Taal, Lettere en Kuns on 11 September 1931.

The old couple is played by two distinguished stage actors, Stephanie Fauré and Jean Plaat-Stultjes, and the film heralded the beginning of a long stage and film career for Pierre de Wet. Joan du Toit had also acted in Sarie Marais, but made no further film appearances. C. (Carl) E. Richter, who played the policeman, was actually a member of the C.I.D. and would become the personal bodyguard of a number of South Africa’s Prime Ministers.