INSPIRATIONAL STORY: From a Gqeberha bus stop to Spike Lee’s desk, a friendship becomes acclaimed film

Since its global premiere at the Tribeca Festival in New York four months ago, the hype around the animated short film APART has skyrocketed.

In four short months it has featured on the official selection of several film festivals across North America, and conversations around its potential as an Oscar contender have grown beyond rumours and whispers.

Later this month, the story of Joel and Themba – two young boys navigating a perilous friendship across the racial divide in apartheid-era South Africa – will be coming home, making its South African premiere at the Fame Short Film Festival in Cape Town.

But long before the story landed on the desk of legendary filmmaker Spike Lee and animators brought the story to life, there were two boys at a bus stop in Bluewater Bay, Gqeberha, waiting for their ride to school and bonding over their love of football – Tim Jones and Lubabalo “Lubhi” Mtati.  

Golden thread of love

“So often Hollywood tells South African stories and it’s not quite authentic, but Lubhi and I lived it. APART is not a paint-by-numbers of our background, it is a story inspired by our friendship. It is the collective story of what it was like being a young boy, growing up in apartheid South Africa,” Jones said.

Both born in 1987, Jones and Mtati spent their respective early childhoods in Durban and New Brighton, but their paths first crossed in the mid 1990s when their families moved to the same neighbourhood in Bluewater Bay, on the outskirts of Gqeberha.

“Our paths mostly crossed at the bus stop and it took us some time to warm up to each other. Walking to the shops I saw some white kids playing football, and I thought: but hey, I also like football so we should be friends,” Mtati laughed.

From there the two boys realised how much they had in common, and their friendship grew throughout high school and when they both enrolled at the Nelson Mandela University (NMU) to become graphic artists.

They subsequently moved to Cape Town where they worked for advertising agencies before Jones moved to London.

However, their friendship stayed strong and they found themselves reminiscing about their childhood a few months ago when Mtati visited the UK for Jones’ wedding.

“We were lucky to be raised in a similar way that racial differences were not taught, and for many years I didn’t even know what my race was. It was only when I went out into the world and noticed we were treated differently, even post-apartheid, that the reality actually sank in.

“Tim and I were told we were different, and other people kept trying to reinforce it by telling us that we can’t be hanging out. Luckily, none of that nonsense really affected us,” Mtati said.

He referred to “the golden thread of love and friendship” that kept them close, and Jones reflected on how they were ahead of the curve and could watch the world adapt to the way they had lived since childhood.

Spike Lee picks up the story

Being two creatives, Jones and Mtati said they always had the idea of turning their experience into a story, but it was not until two years ago when the concept of APART really started taking shape.

They agreed that Nelson Mandela Bay is still a place of humble beginnings where only a handful of people make a name for themselves. And while their goal was never fame, they wanted to create something that they hoped would inspire others to pursue their dreams.

“Lubhi and I have been telling each other stories our whole lives, and about two years ago we eventually sat down and started coming up with a real outline for this story,” Jones said.

He added that they teamed up with talented screenwriter Jeff Leisawitz who assisted with the correct formatting, and the whole process became a pinch-yourself moment when a colleague from another project they were working on managed to get the script in front of award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee.

“It was madness. Tim and I are big dreamers, and we were always manifesting something like this, but actually getting on a video call and seeing Spike Lee’s face on the other side was surreal. I really felt imposter syndrome kick in,” Mtati said.

Jones said Lee’s spin on their story gave it much more “gravitas” and elevated the story by not shying away from the harsh realities of that period in time, but rather highlighting the divides and darker themes.

Jones also gave credit to the team of animators who worked on the film, bringing the characters and the locations to life in a way they could never have imagined.

“We spoke about the bus stop where Lubhi and I met, which is brought to life in the opening scene. And they truly captured the essence of Walmer in an overhead shot, a neighbourhood which still today is such a clear visual divide between the haves and have-nots.”

APART became a melting pot of talented individuals. Jones and Mtati were thrilled when Nelson Mandela University graduates Pola Maneli and Laduma Ngxokolo came onboard as director and wardrobe designer, while Black Coffee brought the music to match. 

From premiere to acclaim

The entire film runs less than 20min, but that has proven more than enough to tell a compelling story that captured the imagination of audiences and critics alike.

Following the premiere at the Tribeca Festival in June, APART has been featured at a growing list of industry-leading shows, including the Nashville Film Festival, the Calgary International Film Festival, and was named Best in Show at the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Show.

And next week APART will premiere in South African at the Fame Short Film Festival in Cape Town, which starts on 30 October.

Many of these events are qualifiers for the much bigger awards, and while there were whispers of possible Oscar nominations after the premiere, those whispers became much louder when The Hollywood Reporter released its list of Academy Award frontrunners last month, featuring APART on a short list of contenders in the Animated Short Film category.

Mtati and Jones agree that this is an adventure they have never been on before, and seeing their story’s name featured so prominently and so widely still feels unreal.

“There are so many amazing and talented productions out there, and to be among those names in The Hollywood Reporter is already an incredible achievement. Anything beyond that is gravy,” Jones said. DM