Career
Shongwe-La Mer first started working as an independent music video director and rock n roll photographer for South African local acts before transitioning to filmmaking. [5] His first notable international film festival exposure was with the self funded low-fi production Territorial Pissings that was screened as a "Work-in-Progress" at the 2013 70th Venice International Film Festival (La Biennale di Venezia). [6]
In 2015 he released his debut feature film, Necktie Youth [7] which premiered in the Panorama section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. [8] The film screened at other festivals including Tribeca Film Festival, [9] Sydney Film Festival [10] and the Durban International Film Festival where it won "Best South African Feature Film" and "Best Direction" that same year. [11] Necktie Youth went on to win other awards including "Best Achievement in Cinematography" and "Best Achievement in editing" at the 2015 South African Film and Television Awards and, [12] Best Film at the World Cinema Amsterdam Film Festival, and Audience Award at the AFI Film Festival. [13] The film was theatrically released in South Africa in 2015, [14] on the iTunes Store [15] and DStv Box-office the following year. [16] The film was later released in the Netherlands, Brazil & American VOD over the course of 2016 and 2017.
In 2016, Shongwe-La Mer signed representation contracts with the London film literary agency Casarotto Ramsey & Associates, LBI entertainment and CAA. [17]
In 2016, Shongwe-La Mer made the selection for the Berlinale Talents program. 2017 brought the director back to the festival for a third consecutive year with a feature film in development selected for the "Berlinale Directors" category of the Co-Production Market (European Film Market ) with the screenplay for the South African drama The Color Of The Skull.
Later that year Shongwe-La Mer had a third feature project selected for the Paris Co-Production Village at the 2017 Champs-Élysées Film Festival, [18] where he presented The Sound Of Animals Fighting screenplay. That October, Variety reported the feature had Emile Hirsch and X-Men star Alice Braga attached to the project.
In 2018 Shongwe-La Mer participated in the Cannes Film Festival where he took his screenplay Color Of The Skull to l´Atelier de la Cinéfondation. Shongwe-La Mer took the top prize winning Le Prix ARTE International for most promising cinematic vision. [19]
