Writing
An elderly goat herder falls victim to a scam promising long-awaited reparations for her father's WWII service. Structured as a series of recurring visual 'variations', Variations on a Theme is a portrait of endurance and loss.
When a car accident claims his mother's life and his father withdraws from life in a clinic, seventeen-year-old Gabriel Lombard is uprooted from his green, leafy suburb on Table Mountain and sent to live with his aunt Lotta and grandmother Lenie in a cramped house in Woodstock. Determined not to collapse like his father, he buries his grief behind a cool facade, wild lies and an overactive imagination.
In a quiet village, a young woman is pushed by her grandmother to apply for a job opportunity on a new golf estate being developed in the mountains. However, when she learns that the estate will be built over her estranged grandfather's rooibos tea lands, she is confronted with a difficult choice.
A night watchman’s surprise at the sight of a lone figure on the train platform at dusk leads to many questions. As the night darkens, many of them remain unanswered.
