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 Set in 1981 South Africa, "Moffie",
a derogatory slang term for being gay, depicts
the brutal military service young white men had
to complete during apartheid.
In an interview with Reuters, Hermanus, who is
mixed race, said the drama explores homophobia,
toxic masculinity and how Black people were
treated at the time.
Below are excerpts edited for clarity and
length.
Q: Why did you want to tell this story?
Hermanus: "It was actually a very difficult
decision in the beginning because ... the
concept of the film ... was a really big
challenge for me ... because I couldn't really
think of how I would connect with that."
"Making 'Moffie' has been going beyond that
racial barrier, which is a very common South
African thing, we kind of think very much in
racial terms as a country. And so for me, this
was a breaking of that barrier of my own."
Q: Do you think this film speaks to the current
moment?
Hermanus: "It definitely does. The intention ...
was this forced perspective for the audience to
see the treatment of Black people from the white
society during apartheid.
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 "And it was my hope ... to
position an audience inside of this racist
headspace to see it from the inside and to see
how horrific and unacceptable it is. And it is
meant to outrage an audience. It's meant to
upset because I think that's the only way that
we really understand the nature of racism."
Q: The film also enabled some of those involved
to reflect on their experiences?
Hermanus: "'Moffie' is ultimately a film about a
generation of men who are still alive and well
in South Africa ... What we found in showing the
film in South Africa is that it allowed for a
space, particularly for these men, to articulate
something that they've never articulated before
... This army came to an end right as Nelson
Mandela came out of jail and the country
changed.
"There was no room for this generation of men to
have a public moment of articulating their
levels of trauma and 'Moffie' ... has given ...
a lot of men an opportunity to talk about what
they've been through and what they feel."
(Reporting by Sarah Mills; Editing by
Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Alison Williams)
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