Some people go to a film festival to watch a movie or two. For Cleveland Hopp, a MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) intern and young filmmaker, he arrived at the 14th kykNET Silwerskerm Festival in Camps Bay, Cape Town, with four movies in the programme, and a credit on everyone.
The festival, which ran from 19-22 August, brought together filmmakers, actors and industry professionals for four days of screenings, workshops and industry events.
Hopp was part of Al Wat Ek Weet, Variasies op ’n Tema (Variations on a Theme), ’n Poppy op die Heuwel and As Ek Kon Kies, but there was another interesting detail tucked into that list; Hopp did a different job on almost every production.
Four films. Several departments. One very busy year.
“This is a privilege I will never take for granted. When I think about where I started, watching Silwerskermfees on television and dreaming of simply attending it one day, it is quite overwhelming to now find myself being part of the work.” shares Hopp.
For Hopp, the festival was therefore less about one big credit than seeing several very different pieces of work come together in the same place.
His Silwerskerm run began with Al Wat Ek Weet, a Meria Productions film. It was directed by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar and adapted from Marita van der Vyver’s novel. The film also won the Audience Choice Award at Silwerskermfees 2026.
The coming-of-age drama deals with adolescence, family and the complicated business of growing up. Hopp worked as coordinator on the film’s pick-up shoot, stepping into the practical side of getting additional footage shot and making sure the production kept moving.
While the spotlight often falls on what audiences see on screen, the success of a film is equally shaped by the work happening behind the scenes.
Hopp’s role demonstrated the importance of bringing people, equipment, locations, and schedules together, ensuring that every element of the production worked in harmony. It was an opportunity to contribute to the collaborative process that transforms a creative vision into a finalised film.
Then came Variasies op ’n Tema,a Kraal Stories production, also directed by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar, and a much bigger set of responsibilities for Hopp.
Set in the Kamiesberge of Namaqualand, the 65-minute film follows 80-year-old goat herder Ouma Hettie as she becomes caught up in a scam involving promised wartime reparations. The film moves between memory, family and the everyday realities of life in a remote community.
Hopp wore several hats on the production, working as production manager, production designer and impact and marketing coordinator.
The film has since travelled considerably further than Namaqualand. It won the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and went on to screen at festivals including the Joburg Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival and New Directors/New Films in New York.
For Hopp, however, the experience was also a practical education in how the different sides of a production fit together.
If Variasies op ’n Tema gave Hopp the chance to move between departments, ’n Poppy op die Heuwel put him firmly in the engine room of the shoot.
Written and directed by Winford Collings, the short follows siblings Josh and Laila as they return to their family farm after the death of their grandmother, Poppy. Laila wants her grandmother buried beside her own mother, but the farm now belongs to someone else.
Hopp worked as 1st assistant director, helping to keep the production moving while the cast and crew worked through a story built around family, grief and a very specific piece of land.
His fourth film, As Ek Kon Kies, brought him back to production design.
Directed by Kanji Viljoen and Emilie Bardenhorst, the short centres on Kyleigh as she celebrates her engagement to Jayden at church, while her former partner Lara watches from the back.
It is a story about relationships and choices, but for Hopp, the job was to help create the physical world around those choices.
And that, perhaps, is the most revealing thing about his four-film Silwerskerm run. There is no single job title that tells the story.
He has spent time thinking about how a production works, how a set looks, how a shoot is organised and how a director gets a story from the page to the screen.
Hopp’s experience at Silwerskerm also extended beyond the films themselves. During the festival, he took part in a workshop on filmmaking from within communities alongside filmmakers including Annemarie du Plessis, Deirdre Jantjies, Devon Delmar and Jason Jacobs.
For a budding filmmaker, it made for an unusually full festival that consisted of four films in the programme, multiple production credits and the chance to spend several days around other filmmakers and industry professionals whose work he has been learning from.
But the number four is almost beside the point.
What stands out is how different the credits are.
One film required him to coordinate a pick-up shoot. Another put him across production management and design. Another put him in the 1st AD chair. And another sent him back to the art department.
That is a lot of set experience to pack into a young filmmaker’s CV and it comes at the beginning of Hopp’s MTF chapter. As one of the programme’s current interns, he is only starting out on the year-long experience, which places those four Silwerskerm credits in an interesting context.
The MultiChoice Talent Factory gives young creatives practical, on-set experience across film and television, with interns working alongside industry professionals while developing their skills in areas including production, directing, writing and post-production. For Hopp, that means the next part of his training is happening on real sets, with real productions and real deadlines.
With four very different credits behind him and an MTF year still ahead, the obvious question is what comes next.
“I don't know exactly what the future holds, but I know that I am ready to keep learning. I work hard, I am deeply grateful to be here, and to have the opportunity to do something that I genuinely love” says Hopp.
