Shot like an intimate family portrait in a photo album, the film Barakat (meaning blessings) captures an important moment in the life of the estranged Davids family.
The film, directed by Amy Jephta, was screened at the Neelsie Cinema on 13 October as part of the 2022 Toyota Woordfees Neelsie Cinema film festival.
Written by Ephraim Gordon and Jephta, the film follows the family as they navigate loss, grief and reconciliation – two years after the death of their father, Abdullah Davids.
Widower and mother, A’ishah Davids, finds love with Dr Albertus Meyer and brings together her sons, Zunaid, Zaid, Nur and Yaseen, to tell them about the news on the holy day of Eid-ul-Fitr (the day signifying the end of Ramadaan).
The sons put aside their differences and band together when they vow to break up their mother’s engagement. However, the characters (and the audience) learn a difficult lesson: Blessings, family and the love people have for one another, should never be taken for granted.
Approximately 40 people attended the screening of Barakat (blessing) at the Neelsie Cinema on 13 October, as part of the Toyota Woordfees Neelsie Cinema film festival. Danie Marais, media officer and manager of digital content for Woordfees, said that the film was fantastic and incredibly important for film festivals. “When people do theatre at the Woordfees, they have to think about this big amount of money that they’re investing in something – they have to play it a little safer,” said Marais. “Whereas I can put something on the film festival programme that’s really [radical].” PHOTO: Supplied/Danie Marais
A community
Barakat offered the audience a glimpse into the lives of the Cape Muslim community, where words such as pwasa (fast), boeka (breaking fast), koeksisters and daltjies (savoury food) form part of the day-to-day vocabulary.
The film further offers the audience a glimpse into the Davids household, with objects such as the kassies (furniture), Tupperware and Cape Malay cookbooks having as much screen time as the characters themselves.
Barakat (blessing), which premiered in 2020, tells the story of the Davids family. In the film, mother and widower A’isha Davids brings together her estranged family to tell them about her new engagement. The family learns lessons about blessings, the importance of family and that the love people have for one another should never be taken for granted. PHOTO: Na’ilah Ebrahim
‘I see me’
The film, set in a Cape Muslim community and told entirely through the language of Kaaps, is an incredibly important film in festivals such as Woordfees, said Danie Marais, media officer and manager of digital content for the festival.
“Film and theatre have the soft power to expose people to different ideas and radical things,” he added.
“It’s a necessary and long overdue film,” said Rafiek Mammon, who viewed the film at the Neelsie Cinema. “I have been living in this world [the Cape Muslim community] for 58 years already, and only now I’m seeing myself on the silwerskerm.”
“I loved it. I love what they’ve done,” said Mammon, who added that he trusts both Gordon and Jephta to tell stories such as Barakat. “Why have we been waiting so long to tell our own stories?”
It is necessary to do films such as Barakat, said Rafiek Mammon, who recently viewed the film at the Neelsie Cinema. Speaking on the importance of having a film in Kaaps, Mammon, who is also an author, told MatieMedia that there are many people that speak the language. “We all grew up like that. Why are we being marginalised and why are we not being represented?” PHOTO: Supplied/Danie Marais