World Cinema Amsterdam | Internationaal filmfestival | 18 – 27 Augustus 2016

SIBS SHONGWE-LA MER | SOUTH AFRICA, NETHERLANDS | 2015 | 93' | ENGLISH, AFRIKAANS, ZULU WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Apartheid is gone and for the first post-apartheid generation of young people Nelson Mandela is no more than a great icon; racial differences play no role in the South African "Rainbow Nation". Definitely not for the kids growing up in Sandton, a posh suburb of Johannesburg, the wealthiest part of Africa. Here's where these kids spend their time having parties, where there's no shortage of drugs and alcohol. And here's where 19-year-old Emily hangs herself in her parents' garden - for everyone to see on internet through her own live stream.

In striking monochrome, debuting South African director and multimedia artist Sibs Shongwe-La Mer shows how Emily's friends react to her suicide. Friends such as Jabs and September (Shongwe-La Mer), two black guys who seem to have enough money and time to do what they like best: binge on pills and booze. Or the Jewish girls discussing issues of circumcised versus uncircumcised men or the drug dealers one of whom always shows up wearing a wedding dress.

Shongwe-La Mer depicts a world free of material poverty, but where spiritual emptiness is all the more staggering. Boredom, booze and antidepressants dominate the lives of these poor rich kids.