In this bonus episode of The Screen Podcast, we speak to director Imran Hamdulay and star Keenan Arrison about crime thriller The Heart Is A Muscle, which has been selected by South Africa as its Oscars submission. 

Hamdulay, making his feature directing debut, told Screen’s senior US critic Tim Grierson how he tried to portray the poverty-stricken Cape Flats region of Cape Town in a more nuanced way than other films, even turning to the area’s local gang leaders for help.

Watch the interview above or listen below:

The Heart Is A Muscle debuted in the Berlinale Panorama strand in 2025, and follows a man whose five-year-old son goes missing at a barbecue, with the father’s violent reaction setting off a chain of events and unearthing past secrets. MMM Film Sales is handling sales.

Hamdulay, who is from the Cape Flats region, said: “The area we shot in was were where people of colour were forcibly removed to during apartheid. In some places gangsterism and drug use has taken hold, but it’s such a big area with a vibrant mix of races and religions, that for me it is frustrating the way my community has been portrayed within South African cinema. I felt a responsibility to re-represent that narrative. To show that there is deep historical violence that we’ve inherited, but there’s also deep defiance. I just thought it deserved a level of dignity.”

The film was shot on location, with local gang bosses helping to facilitate the shoot in dangerous areas, according to Hamdulay.

“I held multiple meetings with the gang bosses in those areas and they were deeply knowledgeable about how the area has been [shown on screen]. They said: ‘We keep don’t want to keep being portrayed that way’. So I actually showed them my deck - they weren’t interested in reading the script! - and explained to them what we were doing. It was really moving to see this feared gang leader engaging in a conversation. The specific area we shot in with its [housing] blocks, no one had shot there before because it is deemed too dangerous. But all the gang leaders said: ‘You guys can come in, you have our full protection and full access, if anyone gives you trouble, we are there’. It was surreal.

Arrison added: “I remember standing on set and being surrounded by kids, in an area where there shouldn’t be laughter of playfulness, and it was around us the whole time. To represent Cape Flats in this way is a privilege.

This edition of the Screen Podcast was sponsored by The Star Film Co.

The Screen Podcast is produced and hosted by Wendy Mitchell and this episode was edited by Tigrane Minassian. New episodes every other Thursday.

For editorial enquiries about The Screen Podcast, please email matt.mueller@screendaily.com  and indiewendy@gmail.com; for sponsorship opportunities, please contact scott.benfold@screendaily.com.

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