Daniel Dercksen shares a few thoughts with director Regardt van den Bergh

Following directing and writing  Faith Like Potatoes you jumped straight into filming Hansie, and directly after the massive undertaking of Hansie, you immediately started working on Tornado and the Kalahari Horse Whisperer. Don't you deserve to take a break?
No, I don't want a break. I'm actually very privileged to have made one after the other. The types of stories I am really happy with. I was really happy with Faith Like Potatoes, I wrote it myself so I wanted to do it. Hansie was an important movie to make on many levels and then came Tornado, which for me was really fantastic because it came from the outside - it came from a producer that I haven't worked with before - and it fitted like a glove. For me the kind of films that I want to make, it's also, again, inspirational and it's a story of hope.

What attracted you to the script of Tornado and the Kalahari Horse Whisperer?
I think the story in itself because it was a true story. Already that attracts me because any true story, there must be a way to tell it, there are many levels to it. Also, it's a multi faceted story. I really have to mention the scriptwriter, Darren Meyer, I saw a short story that he wrote on film; what was difficult about this was that he was writing about something in the heart, something that he could not express through character, and he took this story and he let this guy - he couldn't say goodbye to his dad because his dad had died - and through the events coming together he eventually rides on this horse bareback, and that is the catharsis for him and the moment that he could say goodbye to his dad. What he did really was, he wrote more of the story in between the lines than what he wrote in the lines, and that fascinated me, because the story of Tornado has a lot of deeper level, of subtext. It's a fantastic story. It's a lovely, feel-good story.

It's also a great coming-of-age story as well as a moving love story. As a director you have managed to perfectly capture that sense of isolation, and how it can force the character to deal with his torment.
I appreciate you saying that. That for me, was what attracted me to direct it as well, putting a character in a landscape where he is isolated. For me, the film is about the inability to communicate. It's a struggle to communicate, first of all with yourself.

For him, to simply hold Meretha's hand, is the most difficult thing he could ever do.
Exactly, and that for me was so fantastic. What I found fascinating to work with as well, normally in a film you want to let it out and have catharsis, big outbursts, but in this film you can't, because the character can't. He can't. not able to. There's just too much hurt, there's too much confusion, and the control of how he slowly comes of age, for me the thing is when he is told to listen to silence between him and the horse. That's why I do have silences,  there are places where I want people to feel like the film got stuck (laughs). I really love this film. It's a little jewel for me.

Was it a difficult film to make?
On that level it was a difficult film to make because of the intangibility.  It's difficult to make a film about an inner journey, where the journey is so intimate that you have to show people something else and hopefully it awakens what's going on in this guy's heart. He doesn't ever say it, there's no outburst. He's got to come to the point where he takes her hand and realises that this is a major breakthrough for him. It is as big as any heroic ending. What also made it difficult was the technicalities. We had to shoot in a very short space of time, in 23 days.

You are also blessed with a dream cast.
Absolutely. I'm infatuated with my cast. Something came together. I think it's also the harsh circumstances under which we worked because it was winter in the Kalahari. In fact, minus 8 some of the mornings; after the ladies showered and walked to their tents, their hair froze on their heads. All of that - it was a team-spirit that happened and without that I don't think it would have been possible. Even though it was a small cast, there was really a sense of ensemble, there was a sense of 'we're doing something together here'.

You also managed to get Kashmir to act as well?
Ilana Nel who did the horse wrangling, she was phenomenal in terms of her patience and me saying 'I want the horse to do this', and she's got to find a way with carrots and whatever. I had to wait for longer than I wanted to, for the horse to come up with some things I needed.

As a filmmaker you seem to have always had this incredible patience and serenity. Being in control of whatever you are doing?     
It comes from the love and passion for what I am doing. Also, if I think back to the way I grew up in the industry, to Jans Rautenbach, to the way he worked. I remember very well that when you worked on a scene and there was something he wants out of it from the actors and if he doesn't get it, he works on it over and over again, and I even remember some scenes where he worked you to a point where you are literally exhausted and can't even think straight anymore. That's where he wants you, because out of that something natural, something defenseless opens. I think that's also part of the building blocks I use. If I really want something specific, you've got to wait for it, you've got to have patience.

You also have the ability as a director to let the story speak for itself and not force your own imprint on it?
For me that's a very important thing. I'm thankful that you think I've cracked it. In filmmaking, worldwide,  even if you are talking about what I sometimes call 'hamburger' movies, which is the run of the mill entertaining story, is to not be precious about what you are telling, but to let it have its own life, and not try and control it. It's not easy for a director. In the old days it was even more difficult because a director was a one-man band, he was the God of the whole creation. Nowadays, I think a director tends to sometimes become too precious about what he does, and you can see it. I think that you have to allow the thing to live on its own.

I'm sure you are not taking a break after this film?
No break, I'm developing a script called The New Republic, with a young writer (Craig Goldbrecht) who did an extremely good job on a movie that we are making, For Africa. Africa's future lies in the choices young people are making now.  It deals with a young boy who is co-opted into a terrorist group but he has inherited a solid foundation from his grand father and reverts back to that when he gets into a dark hole.

What do you hope audiences will get from watching Tornado and the Kalahari Horse Whisperer?
First of all I would like them to be inspired by the victory that the main character has over himself, that he concurs a fear and inability to communicate. You know, many people walk around with brokenness, a kind of kinks in the armour; we can deal with that. People love us the way we are. You have to make peace with the fact that your broken in an area of your life. Also, I would like people to appreciate the beauty of the film.  For me, there is a poetic beauty to the movie that inspires one's heart.

READ INTERVIEW WITH DANNY KEOGH AND REAL-LIFE HORSE WHISPERER BARRIE BURGER

READ MORE ABOUT TORNADO AND THE KALAHARI HORSE WHISPERER

READ MORE: THE CAST AND CREW TALK ABOUT MAKING TORNADO

READ AN INTERVIEW WITH QUENTIN KROG

REGARDT VAN DEN BERGH TALKS ABOUT FAITH LIKE POTATOES

REGARDT VAN DEN BERGH TALKS ABOUT DIE ONGELOOFLIKE AVONTURE VAN HANNA HOEKOM

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