Synopsis

SIRED tells the story of a young girl stuck in a system that she cannot escape.

Written poetically with dialogue rich in Zulu heritage, parallels are found between motherly figures and their subjects.

Starring internationally acclaimed talent, characters that burn right off the screen with charisma, creating connections that cross borders. This short film confronts a difficult conversation with hopes to leave audiences aware and asking themselves how they can bring about change.

Filmed on the iconic KwaZulu Natal coastline, what dark secrets are hidden behind the beautiful visual landscape?

FRAMES

Cast & Crew

Want to let us know what you thought of the film? Collaborate? Contact the team here:

48Hr Film project

The 48hr takes place on different weekends in different cities throughout the year. In each city local Film Teams—from beginners to pros, compete to make a short film in only a weekend!

It all begins with the Friday night Kickoff event when you and teams in your city draw genres out of a hat and receive the required elements for your film.

Then it is off to the races—writing, shooting and editing and doing whatever it takes to submit your short film on Sunday night.

The big payoff is seeing your masterpiece in the big screen at a local theater. Every film, both on-time and late, will screen.

Filmapalooza and Cannes

The Best Film in each city screens at our annual international film festival—Filmapalooza. This fest features screenings, workshops and parties and is attended by filmmakers from around the world. At the Awards Ceremony we announce the Grand Champion of the Year!

Pre-production & Behind the Scenes

Written by Zane: Oct 2025

Every film shows its stength in the pre-production. But being provided a brief the night before filming, offers so many variables that you have to plan as best as you can and then hope that you can pivot those plans to suit the genre, props, location, talent and crew.

I had put out a request on last year's group (in which Mtho had written and played the lead role and I was DOP for my first 48Hr) to secure crew.

This year Mtho and I threw ourselves at the challenge approximately 3 weeks before the scheduled weekend. In a scurry to secure a location and talent, Mtho dedicated days to drafting scripts and aligning talent to characters.

Not knowing if we'd secure crew members or equipment, I started building what we needed to bring to set.

DIY LED Panel of Light with Diffusion for set.

We were hoping and preparing for a drama genre but drew Dark Comedy / Workplace Film. I received the message while driving to our location in a fully loaded (with equipment from JR Film + Craig from Unprecedented Pictures) truck, borrowed from my friend Warren from Froggie Shoes who kindly helped us. Little did we know that even the truck would be used as a prop.

When arriving on location I was greeted by our lovely Production Manager, Mela and an amazing crew of school girls...?

Mtho has been teaching these eager young ladies drama in their home township of KwaDabeka and they were ready and very keen to learn on the fly. Helping me carry equipment and setting up for an early start.

While the ladies learnt the fundamentals of film-making, Mtho was busy in the script and doing what he does best. We all listened to him read his drafted script and knew we were in to make something truly meaningful.

Mtho and Mela pushed through the night getting a shot list + schedule in order for our talent, Zazi Kunene and Minnie Dlamini, who would both be flying in from Gauteng to visit our set. I setup and filmed our opening title plate before getting a few hours of sleep.

We would start before sunrise (04h50) with Elihle Mfenqa and Fezeka Mthembu (Mtho's students).

Before our professional stars arrived on location our Gaffer - Thabani Dlamini and our talented Key Grip / Camera Assistant - Nkosikhona Mchunu, got to work in setting scenes before moving our talent from make-up to set. These men were integral to the efficiency of our production.

Zazi and Minnie delivered amazing performances and showed instant chemistry between their characters, for whom they'd only learnt the scripts in the hours before - while flying in to Durban. It was such a pleasure working with such professionalism and willingness to develop their characters in such a tight schedule - one of which I'm grateful to say that we stayed ahead of, for most of the day.

After 8 takes (for different angles) of our main dialogue scene with Minnie, we were able to release her in time for her mid-day deadline and everyone got in on some celebrity pictures (myself included). What a privilege to work with her.

But our filming was no-where near done. With half our shot list accomplished, we still had many scenes to check off the list and multiple costume changes for Zazi, who took it in her stride and brought so much energy to her parts.

We filmed on the beach and on the local road, close to our arranged location. We filmed in a quick hand held approach, allowing time for our lighting magician, Thabani, to start building our night scenes, around the pool and two of the bedrooms. And having our staircase scene ready for our return.

Around 20h30 we wrapped on filming and continued to push into the edit as our crew members started packing down.

Mtho and I sat with the edit until around 02h30 on Sunday morning until we both decided to grab an hour of sleep. At 03h30 our alarms got us up and back into the edit. By around 08h30 on Sunday morning we were able to send the first draft of our film to our composer Garth Strydom.

Mtho and I believed that bringing a unique score to our film would elevate the story and bring a final polish to our short. Referencing a scene from one of my favourite films 'The Legend of 1900', Garth landed on the movement and emotions we had envisioned against our imagery.

By Mela's guidance the crew went about getting our rented location back in order and all equipment loaded back in the truck for an 11h30 check out.


Mtho and I reconvened at my studio to discuss revisions with Garth, finalise release forms and do the final grade on our edit. By 16h30 we had our graded film with mastered audio and score, to upload to the 48Hour server by 17h55.

We feel that this has been a collaborative effort, representative of what we can accomplish together. With our incredible actresses and crew, we've brought to screen a story that needs our society's attention.

The genre really took us out of our comfort zone. But we were delighted to see the result of all our preparation. We thrived in working with the team who brought their energy to production and our vision to life.

Thanks to everyone who played their part and we hope for successful results in November.