Dir:John Barker. South Africa. 2006. 90mins.

Ahopeful signal of change in the new South Africa, Bunny Chow is an exuberant hop in the hay, a bonk in the back seatand a flamboyant middle finger to the nation's apartheid past. The title is a referenceto a South African fast-food specialty, a hollowed out loaf of bread filledwith a rich, many flavoured stew, and a metaphor for the racial and culturalsalad of contemporary Johanesburg. A world premiere at the Toronto filmfestival, the film should enjoy strong festival support that should lead tospecialised releasing in major centres.

JohnBarker has the directing credit but this is clearly a collaborative affairbetween him and compatriot stand-up comics David Kibuuka, Salah Sabiti and JoeyRasdien, all of whom share the screenwriting credit. Not there would have beenmuch of a script: Bunny Chow shows to great effect the advantage of havingimprovisational comedians as actors, not to mention talented young actresses astheir foils.

Kibuukaplays David, a middle-class black guy who should be an accountant but haschosen comedy under the misapprehension he is funny. This makes him a bull'seye for Rasdien's Joey, a coloured (in the argot of apartheid) and KagisoLediga's Kags, experts of the trade who mercilessly skewer his ambitions andoffer useful if unwanted advice in smartly-observed comic exchanges. In anutshell: how to get laid and keep getting laid without getting stuck. Joey hasone technique with his Asian girlfriend Angela (Chow): buy her things. Kags'technique is charm, and his white girlfriend Kim (Engelbrecht) keeps lettinghim back in. David is hapless, perhaps because he keeps trying to make girlslaugh.

Shot ina black-and-white in an intelligently kinetic style, the camerawork is equallyimprovisational. Whether or not Barker is making a political statement, byshooting in black and white, it heightens the contrast of inter-racialrelationships.

Thethree pals travel to the Oppikoppi music festival planning to perform on a secondstage devoted to comic acts but their various plans are thrown askew by theiridiosyncracies. Joey is a casually observant Muslim - he doesn't drink but helikes dope, so much so that he spends the entire weekend in a spectral haze ofimagined funerals. Kags never gets on stage: Kim makes a surprise appearancejust when he's swooping on another girl. As for David, he finally finds a girl,a white Jew, who is more interested in him than his funny bone.

Productioncompany
Dog Pack Films

International sales
Dv8 Films (27) 11 880 0191

Producer
John Barker
Kagiso Lediga

Executive producers
Jeremy Nathan
Joel Phiri

Screenplay
David Kibuuka
Salah Sabiti
Joey Rasdien
John Barker

Cinematographer
Zeno Petersen

Editor
Sakkie Berg

Production designer
Kezia Eales
Christal Rees-Gibbs

Music
Joel Assaizky

Main cast
Kagiso Lediga
David Kibuuka
Kim Engelbrecht
Joey Rasdien
Keren Neumann
Angela Chow