Jenna Bass

Jenna Cato Bass (born 1986) is a South African film director, photographer and writer. She has written stort stories under the name Constance Myburgh, one of which was shortlisted for the 2012 Caine Prize.[1][2]


Life

In 2011 Bass founded Jungle Jim, a genre fiction magazine. Issue 6 featured her noir detective story 'Hunter Emmanuel', featuring an investigation into a dismembered prostitute. The story was shortlisted for the [[Caine Prize for African Writing] in 2012.[1]

Bass's first feature film, Love the One You Love, was shot on a 'nano-budget' using hand-held consumer cameras and a partly improvised script. The film told the story of a sex phone operator negotiating her relationship with her boyfriend and considering a move to Korea.[3] The film won Best South African Feature Film at the 2014 Durban International Film Festival.[4]

High Fantasy (2017) was a satirical thriller about a group of young travellers who mysteriously exchange their bodies on a camping trip. Once again shot on iPhones using improvisation, the film explored "the messy tangle of race, class and gender identity in modern-day South Africa."[5]

Flatland (2019), an all-female "South African kitsch-western genre mashup", was shot on a larger budget.[6] It was chosen as the opening film in the 2019 Berlinale Panorama.[7]

Works

Short stories
  • (as Constance Myburgh) 'A Hole in the Ground', Jungle Jim, No. 2
  • (as Constance Myburgh) 'Hunter Emmanuel, Jungle Jim, No. 6

Films

References
  1. Alison Flood, 'African Booker' shortlist offers an alternative view of continent, The Guardian, 1 May 2012.
  2. Caine Prize (2012). The Caine Prize for African Writing 2012. New Internationalist. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-78026-075-4.
  3. Tymon Smith, Movie Review: 'Love the One You Love' is a cinematic treat, The Sunday Times, 18 September 2015.
  4. Baldwin Ndaba; Therese Owen; Masego Panyane (2019). The Black Consciousness Reader. OR Books. p. 341. ISBN 978-1-68219-172-9.
  5. Christopher Vourlias, South Africa’s Jenna Bass Explores Race, Class and Gender in ‘High Fantasy’, Variety, July 21, 2019.
  6. Andrew Gutman, Berlinale first look: Flatland is an intriguingly kitsch South African western, Sight & Sound, 27 August 2019.
  7. Sophie Mayer, Berlinale 2019 Review: Flatland, Berlin Film Journal, February 2019.
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