SA digs thrill of the chaste

17 April 2014 - 09:18 By Nivashni Nair
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Video screenshot: "First Kiss" by Tatia Pilieva
Video screenshot: "First Kiss" by Tatia Pilieva
Image: AFP Relaxnews ©All rights reserved - Tatia Pilieva / Wren

Kissing a total stranger on camera is just too intimate and shameful for South Africans.

A group of The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance students took to the streets with an odd request last week.

"Would you kiss a complete stranger on camera?" they asked shoppers at Durban's Gateway Theatre of Shopping.

After the initial horror and red faces, the replies were simply "no".

Two young men confidently agreed but disappeared before their kissing partners could be found.

Even couples, some married, refused to lock lips.

The few who did kiss, smooched awkwardly.

The students embarked on the test ahead of shooting a short documentary based on a YouTube video, First Kiss, that went viral with more than 77 million hits.

The video is a clothing ad

American filmmaker Tatia Pilieva created the video as an advertisement for a clothing company, but when it was discovered the "strangers" in her clip were in fact models and musicians, several aspiring filmmakers around the world decided to do a real take on her concept.

Durban film student Michael Leclezio said the video aimed to feature diversity, but the students discovered that South Africans of all races were not open to starring in the documentary.

"They didn't give reasons but it was interesting to see the reactions. Everyone seemed awkward," he said.

Leclezio said the group planned to approach more people in Florida Road and Umhlanga Rocks, where mostly young people and couples are found.

Clinical sexologist Leandie Buys said an "open-mouthed kiss is never just a kiss".

"Most people were reluctant because an open- mouthed kiss is sexual, therefore they would see it as too intimate to do with a stranger and on camera," she said.

Buys said it could be the same awkward feeling that some couples experienced when sharing their bedrooms with a baby.

"Kissing is private. Couples who have a baby in the bedroom find it awkward to have sex because they feel another person is there.

"In the case of the documentary, people would feel awkward because a camera is bringing someone into their intimacy."

She said the reluctance was also based on a fear of what society would think.

"Society tends to view anything of an intimate nature in a negative light.

"Although it is two consenting adults, it won't go down well with the public. We all have a fear of what others will think."

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