Oliver Hermanus

Oliver Hermanus

Birth : 1983-01-01, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa

History

South African director and writer, born in Cape Town in 1983. After graduating in film, media and visual studies, he worked as a photographer for a news agency. He then completed his studies at the London Film School, making his first film, Shirley Adams (2009). He later directed Beauty (winner of the Queer Palm Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival), The Endless River (first South African film in competition at the 2015 Venice Film Festival), Moffie (2019) and Living (2022) with Bill Nighy.

Profile

Oliver Hermanus
Oliver Hermanus

Movies

Living
Director
In 1950s London, a humorless civil servant decides to take time off work to experience life after receiving a grim diagnosis.
Moffie
Screenplay
Moffie (a derogatory Afrikaans term for a gay man) follows the story of Nicholas van der Swart: from a very young age, he realises he is different. Try as he may, he cannot live up to the macho image expected of him by his family, by his heritage. Set during the South African border war against communism, this is a long-overdue story about the emotional and physical suffering endured by countless young men.
Moffie
Director
Moffie (a derogatory Afrikaans term for a gay man) follows the story of Nicholas van der Swart: from a very young age, he realises he is different. Try as he may, he cannot live up to the macho image expected of him by his family, by his heritage. Set during the South African border war against communism, this is a long-overdue story about the emotional and physical suffering endured by countless young men.
The Endless River
Writer
A young waitress welcomes her husband home to the small South African town of Riviersonderend (Endless River) after his four-year jail sentence. At first it appears their plans for a new life together are finally being realized. But when the family of a foreigner living on a nearby farm is brutally murdered, the young woman and the grieving widower begin gravitating towards each other. Trapped in a cycle of violence and bloodshed, the two form an unlikely bond seeking to transcend their mutual anger, pain and loneliness.
The Endless River
Director
A young waitress welcomes her husband home to the small South African town of Riviersonderend (Endless River) after his four-year jail sentence. At first it appears their plans for a new life together are finally being realized. But when the family of a foreigner living on a nearby farm is brutally murdered, the young woman and the grieving widower begin gravitating towards each other. Trapped in a cycle of violence and bloodshed, the two form an unlikely bond seeking to transcend their mutual anger, pain and loneliness.
Skoonheid
Writer
François van Heerden, a mid-40s Afrikaans family man, has become devoid of any care or concern for his own measure of happiness, and so convinced of his ill-fated existence, that he is wholly unprepared when a chance encounter unravels his clean, controlled life.
Skoonheid
Director
François van Heerden, a mid-40s Afrikaans family man, has become devoid of any care or concern for his own measure of happiness, and so convinced of his ill-fated existence, that he is wholly unprepared when a chance encounter unravels his clean, controlled life.
Shirley Adams
Director
Shirley Adams spends her days caring for her disabled son, Donovan - he was shot in the back of the neck on his way home from school one afternoon over a year ago. Since then the Adams family has lost all their worldly possessions to medical bills. Shirley has no money, no job and no husband - he left. The shooter is one of Donovan's childhood friends. Her reaction to the betrayal is so overwhelming that she chooses not to tell Donovan in fear of further damaging his already unstable emotional state. Determined to make a change in their lives, Shirley actively decides to embrace their new circumstances, hoping that Donovan will follow her example.
The History of Sound
Director
Follows two young men, Lionel and David, who, during the WWI period, set out to record the lives, voices and music of their countrymen. In this snatched, short-lived moment in their young lives, and while discovering the epic sweep of the USA, both men are deeply changed.