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Oliver Hermanus is a multi-award winning South African born film director, writer and photographer.
Oliver Hermanus is a multi-award winning South African born film director, writer and photographer who completed his Master of Arts degree at the London Film School and has since made bracing, urgent films that are both poetic and visceral, cementing him in the contemporary arthouse canon.
Hermanus has written and directed three feature length films since his debut 'Shirley Adams' premiered at Locarno in 2009 setting the tone for a career marked by global critical acclaim.
'Beauty,' his follow up, premiered in Un Certain Regard Competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was awarded the Queer Palm Award. His third, 'The Endless River,' premiered in competition at the 72nd Venice Film Festival - the first South African film to ever be invited to the official competition.
His latest feature 'Moffie' premiered in the prestigious Orizzonti competition at the 2019 Venice Film Festival to standing ovation and was hailed 'a masterpiece' in VARIETY. The story of a gay conscript in the army in the 80s gave one critic a panic attack - but Hermanus says it sheds light on the nation's toxic masculinity.
"A raw tangle of violence and violation...mitigated by moments of aching tenderness and desire.... Gripping." -HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
"Moffie is measured, remorseless; it crawls right under your skin." -THE GUARDIAN
"South African auteur Oliver Hermanus makes his masterpiece with this brutal but radiant story of young gay desire on the Angolan war front." -VARIETY