Kirsty Du Toit
Deborah Lettner is an actress, producer and speaker. Besides her commercial work, she is currently shortlisted for a major international film shooting in London in the last quarter of 2017 alongside 2 Hollywood actors.
She’s also been cast as a lead in a new South African drama series called ‘The Crossing’, where she will play Lilly Hathaway, a character loosely based on Anna Wintour. And the feature film ‘Comatose’ where she played an American character is set for release in South African cinemas later in 2017.
But it is her latest project that’s got us talking. Her 48-hour film project.
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– Tell us about the 48-hour film project?
The 48 Hour Film Project is a global competition, where filmmakers are given a genre, a character, a prop and a line of a dialogue at the onset of the weekend. These elements MUST all appear in the final product. They then write, shoot and edit, handing in the finished 4-7 min film at 19:30 on the Sunday evening. Shortly after, the films are screened at cinemas in the respective cities around the world, and local winners are then sent to the global festival called Filmapalooza, which is taking place in Paris in March 2018 (It’s a different city every year). In 2009, apparently nearly 40,000 filmmakers made about 3000 films in 76 cities around the world.
– How did the film concept come about, and what is the title?
This year, the line of dialogue was ‘Any suggestions?’, the character was a doctor called Martha Lee, and the object was a glass of milk. Our team was given the genre time travel / film de femme. While I wasn’t actively involved in the brainstorming of the concept this year, it was mostly the genre that lead to the film ‘A Glass Half Full’, which is the story of a woman who commits suicide and is then given the opportunity to time travel into other lives.
– What can we expect from your film?
Expect a diverse combination of different and interesting characters woven together in an intriguing narrative, that takes you on one woman’s journey through different lives. While there is some very serious subject matter in the form of suicide, which is sensitively portrayed, it is seamlessly balanced with quite a bit of humour in some of the following other life sequences. Essentially it’s a film with a strong message.
– What was the overall experience like, shooting this film?
This was the third time I’ve been involved in 48HFP, after vowing ‘Never again’ two or three years ago, and I must say, this was by far my favourite experience. Two days is not a lot of time and can lead to a lot of stress and intensity, which can certainly show cracks in personalities. In previous years, I’ve witnessed writer/directors not bother to show up at the last minute, editors sabotage the film to suit their own vision as opposed to that of the team, writers unwilling to yield to a group view, etc. It can be a pressure cooker of egos. However, this year, it was blissful in comparison. Just a smooth machine, where everyone got behind the idea and did their part to make it happen to the best of their ability. I have never witnessed shooting starting on the Friday night, testament to how well this team worked together and how quickly they were able to agree on the concept. I’m grateful to have been a part of it.
– How long is the film?
Our film is 8 minutes long (7 is the duration + 1 minute for credits)
– How many films are included in the overall project?
It varies every year, and from city to city. In Johannesburg for 2017, 70 teams entered the competition, there were 64 at the kick off event on Friday the 22nd of September, 58 films were handed in by the deadline on Sunday the 24th of September, all of which will be screened in cinema, and of those, 45 fulfilled all of the criteria in order to be eligible to compete. I’m not sure of the numbers for Cape Town, who also take part, but their 48HFP weekend was a few weeks ahead of Johannesburg’s this year.
– Who did you work alongside in the film?
My scenes were with Natasha Tarryn, who plays Rachel and James Pilkington of SABC 2’s Skeem Saam, who plays one of the re-incarnations. Karla Bosch, fashion editor and Stylist at Bloss Magazine did my wardrobe and it was the charm of director Nicho Barnard, that convinced me to agree to doing another 48HFP. We’re going to be working together in an upcoming series, but I can’t say too much about that yet.
– What character do you play, and how do you relate to her in your own personal life?
I got to play Dr. Martha Lee, which was really fun for me, because she was just an interesting kaleidoscope of traits. She was initially described to me as kind of an ethereal fairy-godmother type, but once I got to set and they had reworked the script, she had morphed into more of a pragmatic, matter-of-fact type of woman, who, while genuinely wanting the best for all she encounters, has little time for their naivety and victim-mentality. It is Dr Martha Lee who offers Rachel the chance of living these other lives after committing suicide. There’s nothing she hasn’t seen before, and it’s this all-knowingness that informs the amusement with which she observes the unfolding of Rachel’s experiences.
I would say, there’s quite a strong parallel between me and this character in so many ways. She’s just a little less polite and pushes buttons a little harder. And I really like that. I think we potentially waste a fair amount of time in this life being polite. We hold back on opinions or thoughts, that may serve someone, because we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But does that really serve them?
– Where can we catch this?
All of the eligible Johannesburg films will be screened at Ster Kinekor, Mall of Africa from 9 to 12 October. Our film ‘A Glass Half Full’ is showing on Thursday October 12th at 8pm. The awards evening then takes place on Sunday 15th of October, and the winner will then get screen time at the Filmapalooza festival in Paris next year.
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Deborah’s passion for the film industry has extended beyond merely being in front of the camera and she has a long history of working in casting, and also spent a number of years in production, where she swiftly worked her way up from cast co-ordinator to line-producer in the TV commercial field.
