21 August 2023

Stiekyt (2022)

Stiekyt (aka Stand Out) is the story of an actor, James (Paul du Toit), who secretly moonlights at a failing drag club. After being caught red-handed by his wife, he has to fight for his marriage as well as deliver the performance of his life to avert suspicion regarding the mysterious death of a colleague.

Produced by Homebrew Films for kykNET, Stiekyt had its international premiere at the prestigious PÖFF | Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, with festival programmer Edvinas Pukšta describing the film as “Hitchcock meets Almodóvar in a South African drag club.” Stiekyt also screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam, with Sophie Tupholme hailing it as “a film that dares to unashamedly be itself, in all its over-the-top, glittering glory.”

It’s now up for five SAFTA awards: Cinematography, Production Design, Make-Up and Hairstyling, Costume Design, and Sound Design.

“Stiekyt is more personal than anything else I’ve ever done and there’s a real sense of ownership in that,” says writer-director Etienne Fourie, who won a 2021 SAFTA for Tydelike Terminaal and also won Best Writer and Director at Silwerskerm for his debut film, Die Windpomp. “I had the opportunity to make something that was unashamedly odd, unapologetically itself, totally personal. In many ways, Stiekyt is a kind of coming-out for me, both personally and as a filmmaker.”

The film’s cast also includes Silwerskerm Festival Award winner Jacques Bessenger (Donkerbos), SAFTA winner Roberto Kyle (Arendsvlei), SAFTA nominees Albert Pretorius and Cintaine Schutte from The Seagull and Fynskrif, and Illse Roos (Troukoors, Vir Altyd).

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