Aspiring film director, Llewellyn Breda, from Arcadia in Humansdorp, has worked hard to gain experience as a filmmaker, and fortunately, after receiving a bursary from the Kouga Wind Farm, he is one step closer to reaching his dream of changing the narrative of his community through film.
As a young boy, while watching the Disney Channel, Breda loved daydreaming about creating a world of his own.
When he was 15 years old, he realised that there was a career that specialised in creating a fictional world which drew him to learn more about filmmaking.
“I fell in love with the idea of creating and controlling how a narrative unfolds.
“Just the idea of creating a believable world with a crew of like-minded individuals sounded like a dream,” said Breda.
Without the necessary finances he needed to study towards becoming a filmmaker, he soon realised he would have to work hard to accumulate enough money to fulfil his dream.
“After passing matric, I told my mother that my dream was to become a filmmaker and her response was that she did not have the money I needed to study towards my dream,” said Breda.
Realising that his family would not be able to help him financially, he took it upon himself to work hard and in 2014, two years after he completed Grade 12, he bought his first camera and one year later he saved enough money to buy other equipment.
“Since I did not know anyone who had R80 000 lying around for film school, the plan was to gain so much exposure as a filmmaker that no film school or sponsor could deny me. If I were denied, I would still have enough experience to get an entry level job, where I could work my way up to get where I needed to be,” said Breda.
With his new camera, he began taking videos and pictures of the people in his community to gain more experience. During this time, he collaborated with various local artists, such as Ghetto Prophet and Die Twaalf, who had the same love for making a difference in their community through music videos.
In addition, he also worked with social workers in Joubertina to create a gender-based violence awareness video to highlight one of the many issues which plagued their community.
As he continued to gain experience as a photographer and video-grapher, he began researching and applying for various bursaries, but he soon realised that most bursaries mainly catered for academic courses.
“Each time I applied for a bursary I received a response that they did not fund film courses, which left me with a bitter taste in my mouth,” said Breda.
“I could not see myself doing anything else. I worked for six years at various places, but always found myself daydreaming about creating certain films that could change the narrative of my people.”
Fortunately, Breda’s dedication to his dream did not allow him to give up and after attending an open day, hosted by the Kouga Wind Farm for young people who were interested in furthering their studies, he applied for a bursary with the company and in 2019, he was fortunate enough to receive a fully funded bursary.
“Receiving confirmation that I would receive a bursary from the Kouga Wind Farm changed my life and immediately alleviated a great burden for me,” said Breda.
With his bursary he went on to study film at AFDA in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) in January 2020, which he said had been an awesome experience.
Looking towards the future, Breda hopes to become a film director or cinematographer and ideally establish his own media company, which would allow him to create narratives which agreed with his morals.
