Debuting on CityPress.co.za on 12 October, the Cape Town hip hop group's video has since racked up 32,000+ views on Youtube. Comments, mostly in the vein of racist ramblings and vitriolic venting from all sides, have escalated just as swiftly.
Begging the question of whether the video draws on freedom of expression or hate speech, we interviewed the 19-year-old director, Dane Dodds, to get his thoughts on the Dookoom backlash saga.
Dane Dodds: No, I don't think we have done that. I believe that a music video should stay true to the expression of the artist. Or any other client for that matter.
When you are working with an artist of this nature, it's not a surprise when the shit hits the fan. And as part of the intention was to provoke a difficult conversation, I was prepared for the reaction.
I see it very differently.
Well, as for the submitted claim, that is a legal matter and for the lawyers to figure out. The intention is not to incite violence and I don't believe the video does that. I believe that suppressing emotions is more likely to result in violence than expressing them through art.
Yes. This song and video has shown that there are a lot of emotions left over from the past that we need to deal with. For a dialogue to start someone has to speak up. Dookoom has done that.
At the end of the day it is up to the people who run the country to deal with social issues. All artists can do is shine a torch at what is lurking in the shadows.
People are far braver when sitting at home behind their computers. I think most people are better than their comments online. That being said, I think the comments show that there is a lot of anger and fear out there. I think it's better to take the lid of the steaming pot before it explodes.
I found the song pretty challenging. It made me feel uncomfortable and I felt that it expressed something that should not be real, but probably was. The song is balancing between the real and the surreal and that is interesting.
I am a filmmaker, not a farmer or a farm worker, so I don't want to speak for any of them. You don't have to see a music video to know farm workers are living a hard life, but that doesn't mean I am against farmers. Again, my hope is that the people running the country will take care of those who live in it.
He thinks it's a catchy beat ;) I'd rather not speak for him.
We are a new production company based in Cape Town. We believe in letting the story define the medium and not the other way around, so we work with many different forms of expression. Our company consists of a few like-minded people from different backgrounds in media and business and also from different countries. Check out our website for things we have made so far.
I started playing around with cameras and making films when I was five, and I have never given it up. I wanted to work in a production company where I grew up, but there weren't any, so I started my own when I was 13. Since then I've been taking every opportunity to be around film sets and do whatever related work I could find, both to get experience and to have a creative outlet. After high school I became a resident artist at Fly on the Wall, which gave me even better possibilities to develop my skills. If you are asking if I am ready, I guess time will tell.
My goal is to shoot the first feature film on the moon. However, in the meantime, we are working on a few international jobs while keeping our main project running in South Africa. It's a pretty challenging thing, but keep an eye out for it! We are open to forming new relationships with interesting people.
Photos by Bryan Little
