Jeppe on a Friday

A city can be seen in news reports, crime statistics or the backgrounds of post-apocalyptic Hollywood blockbusters. It can be explored through guided tours, from behind rolled up car windows or through politics and history. In ''Jeppe on a Friday'', Shannon Walsh and Arya Lalloo bring together a team of women directors to explore a different city: Johannesburg. The result is an intimate, quiet portrait of five people from Jeppestown, a decayed inner city neighbourhood. As they grapple with the existential and mundane over the course of a single day, these characters reveal the city’s specific textures, but also a universal human experience; familial love is behind restaurateur Arouna’s success, nostalgia binds Ravi to his dusty framing shop, ambition drives JJ’s ruthless property development, tradition is at the heart of Robert’s all-male Zulu choir, and everyday philosophy gives urban recycler Vusi his momentum. Part travelogue, part urban allegory, ''Jeppe on a Friday'' draws from a rich tradition of city-centred direct cinema, and offers a record of life in Johannesburg that demystifies the often maligned male-dominated metropolis.