bios

an interview with Eldon van Aswegen, director of FOSTA

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FOSTA follows both the story of DJ Fosta and Bridges For Music, from Fosta's time in prison to his discovery of Bridges, playing at Glastonbury, and building the Bridges For Music School in Langa. Along the way it takes in Fosta's musical legacy, embedded in the jazz traditions of Langa.

Following our review, van Aswegen talks to us, via email, about the film's journey to screen.

bios: Did you set out to make this film? That is, when you first started shooting, was the intention to capture the story of DJ Fosta?

No, the initial intention was not to capture DJ Fosta's story. My intention in the beginning was two-fold: to prove myself as a filmer, visually, and to do good with the medium — telling stories of meaning. What presented itself was way beyond my expectations.

The second catalyst was experiencing a low at the same time as Fosta. From there it snowballed. Do you give up? “No” was the answer. Throw in Valentino's die-hard passion and vision, and the youthful energy of Siphe, and the opportunity to tell the rich South African story, and the power of music, and you have the film.

So in a nutshell, no. It really just told itself, and Fosta was kind enough to open up and facilitate the much-needed story.

bios: What is your background as a filmmaker?

This was my film school. Prior to this I had done a few productions for TV and worked a lot on various Red Bull productions. We cut our teeth in the Canon 5D days, and I learnt a lot about storytelling through that journey, with an emphasis on always diving deeper while keeping things real and authentic. This project took things to a new level — understanding narrative and the strength of the story as the backbone. I was always a visual person first, so self-taught is the answer there.

bios: Electronic music performance is notoriously unvisual, often compensated for with visual hijinks on stage, which can detract from the actual music-making. Was this a concern during shooting?

No — I think electronic music as a scene and a form of entertainment has done well to bring a very rich visual aesthetic to the scene. There is so much energy in these performances, it is quite easy to capture.

bios: There were two visual elements used as placeholders for footage — the animations, and the visuals projected onto faces near the end. Was this planned during production, or did it come about in the edit?

The animation came from the simple idea that the stories these segments carried could not be justified with simple archival footage, and deserved something more. Much like the filming, I was always looking for excuses to do creative things, and this aligned in that regard. Not having any budget, and not being an animator, the simpler the better made sense — it lets the story carry itself.

The projections came from a very similar place. How do you capture the entirety of the stories shared in one visual? Portraits are powerful, but portraits portraying the entirety of a journey, even more so.

bios: There's no direct bridge between Brenda and Siphe, but from the Brenda histography the implication is that he is related. What exactly is the relationship there?

Siphe is Brenda's nephew. More than that, music flows in that Fassie name for sure!

bios: With thirteen years of footage to work with, what did the edit process actually look like? How did you decide what stayed and what got cut?

It was a laborious and at times painful process. I wanted everything to come through as I experienced and heard it, so essentially no stone was left unturned. We started with a two-hour proof-of-concept cut. I had told a hundred stories and wasn't always sure which way it was going, so it became a process of elimination. At that stage we had a multitude of short stories stitched together, and I learnt a great lesson here: that the passage of time is not a story. Through the Rough Cut Lab process with Khalid Shamis, we identified the way to go was to lean into Fosta's story — it was undeniable, already captured, and by far the strongest vehicle to tell the myriad of tales and lessons we wanted to pass on.

From there, we did a ninety-minute cut and concluded it deserved this time to be told, while being well aware that you don't want to waste your audience's time.

We then did additional filming and interviews to bring the story to the current day, and wove that in as the backbone of the film, jumping between then and now.

Massive thanks to Matthew James, the editor who went through this process with me.

bios: The footage with Hawtin and Skrillex visiting for the first time, and the sheep's heads — how well did you know Fosta at this stage of the journey?

Not at all. It was only after that whole tour that I went and met him, Siphe and Vincent, with the idea to see if there was something more. And there was.

bios: What cameras did you shoot on?

Using the experience and opportunity to do everything I wanted was always at the fore. Owning your own gear is key in this regard — you can go and shoot whenever you feel the need, but at some stage budget and gear become limited.

At the time I owned a Canon C300 Mk I and a 5D. Over thirteen years, for obvious reasons, this world has exploded. With no funding it was hard to keep up, but I kept going and upgraded to the C300 Mk II.

In the final leg, with some funding through the PESP initiative, I wanted to end strong — we shot on the RED, owned by my assistant, along with some cine primes.

bios: How big was your crew, and did that change over the period?

A lot of the film was shot by me alone. For segments I'd have one assistant or second operator. In the latter stage it was a team of three to finish things off for “current day.”

Yes and no — I started with an assistant, as it was a paid gig, maybe five days, and ended with three, maybe ten days. The rest was man alone, mostly.

bios: How closely did you work with Fosta on the planning and editing phases? How much input did he have into the final cut?

None. His trust in me has been unbelievable.

bios: The story of Bridges For Music continues. Are you planning to continue to cover that story?

Their story is ingrained in the film. Valentino — his vision and his initial idea — was the catalyst for this.

Bridges Academy's story will continue to evolve, uplift and inspire in multitudes. I look forward to seeing that.

For the moment I'm not documenting, but I believe there's an opportunity to tell their story in more detail — in terms of modules, impact, and the depth of untapped talent.

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