South Africa breaks the record for the fastest film ever made

It started with the idea of making the worst film ever made. It’s not. It then became the challenge to make the fastest film ever made.

Ten days and under 12 hours later, it was done. South Africa has unofficially broken the world record for the fastest feature film.

Shotgun Garfunkel, which premiered at Johannesburg’s The Bioscope on Saturday night, was shot in four days and from scripting to premiere, broke the record set by India’s Sivappu Mazhai with time to spare.

Actress, producer and writer from production company Localala, Tiffany Jones Barbuzano, said it was a silly meeting at Doppio which got the seed planted.

“From wanting to make the worst movie ever made, it snowballed and we couldn’t find a reason not to do this.”

Meren Reddy, also an actor and writer from Ghost Sheep said: “We were restless, and we really wanted to do something.”

Actor Bryan Van Niekerk from production company Team Best said it was a dream to make a film that pushes boundaries and even touches on the realm of the impossible.

“Anyone can make a shit film in 10 days,” said Eduan van Jaarsveld, also from Team Best. “You get it in Nigeria where they churn out films and don’t pay anyone.”

Reddy said they had nothing to lose and no time to create unnecessary problems, which usually happens with making a film in a ‘normal’ time frame.

“You think yourself into a corner and we had no time for this. We solved problems as they happened.”

All cast and crew said it was about just going for it and doing it proactively, rather than sitting and “faffing around”.

“It was tight,” said Van Jaarsveld, who plays Ed. “We had to get rid of any insecurity and just dive in. We didn’t have the time or energy to not trust what we were doing, and working as a team helped a great deal.”

Team Best’s Asher Stoltz said they were averaging 45 minutes a day, which was phenomenal. “That kind of shooting requires having guts and trusting in our director and everyone involved when they said ‘that’s good’.

“It was almost a total rethinking of the model on which we make films. Johnny [Barbuzano – the director] had to take the reigns, innovate all the time and bring out quality in all of us in four days.”

Reddy said it was about making split-second decisions and going with it.

“We had to find a new location and lost about three hours of shooting and we just had to run with the new idea… the key is that the script allowed for that.”

Reddy, the screenwriter who also plays Tim in the film, said the script gave a lot of leeway for shooting on the fly and changing ideas at the drop of a hat.

Johnny Barbuzano, who was busy editing while the rest of us were having a drink, said it was a frantic experience, and it seemed crazy – something his colleagues agreed with wholeheartedly.

“You couldn’t ease into the project. I had to believe in the first take and as much as it’s dangerous, it’s almost liberating in a sense that you just trust that your team has done the best they can.

“Courage of conviction – that is something I learned to have a lot more of… because it was about doing rather than talking.”

Stoltz, who plays Jono, said it was a crash course in making films on the fly. Reddy reckons it was a learning curve.

Ryan Norwood-Young, who has been documenting the film’s progress, said the fact that it was done so fast does not detract from the art of filmmaking.

“This just takes it to the next level in seeing how far we can push ourselves.”

Stoltz said the response from the public was amazing.

“Johannesburg pulled through for us in ways for which we can’t thank them enough.”

Van Niekerk, who plays Robbie, said people pulled through with all sorts of help and it was sometimes overwhelming to see how positive people were about this.

Social media helped greatly and when the team tweeted that they needed anything, the help was there.

Actor Trevor Gumbi cancelled comedy to be there in a cameo role.

“It’s a true testament to what South Africa can do, and we did it. South Africa did it,” said Norwood-Young.

Mike Sharman from communications company Retroviral, who also makes a cameo in the film, said when he saw the trailer, they knew they had done something great. “And we want this to be judged as any movie would, not just the fastest film ever made.”

Reddy said the film is about universal themes and he didn’t want to write a typically South African story.

“We’re tired of having the South African flag in every shot and stories about apartheid and Aids, even though those are important.

"We wanted to tell a story of friends that could be anywhere in the world.”

Tiffany, who plays Pippa, said it truly is a universal story that everyone can relate to.

“It’s a South African story without being overtly South African.”

The film, which tells of four friends on a night out, a taxi driver with a love dilemma and a whole lot of drinking and music, is a truly relatable story about friendship, craziness, jealousy, love and fun, based on the famous last words of ‘let’s go jolling. It’ll be fun’.

Shotgun Garfunkel has broken the record, but still awaits certification.

Reddy said it’s a platform for the next step in South African filmmaking.

“It’s about the knowledge that we could do it, and we did it with a 15-man team, backed by this amazing city. We could do it, and we did. We fucking did it.”