The strain front-line health workers have been under during the pandemic takes centre stage in new local documentary Zero to Zero.
The one-hour documentary was filmed over 15 months at Zuid-Afrikaans Hospital in Muckleneuk, Pretoria. It is scheduled to premiere on October 4 on M-Net.
Radiologist and filmmaker Prof Leonie Scholtz, who works at the hospital, captured the documentary.
“When the pandemic started, I immediately realised that this is one catastrophic event where no photographers were allowed,” said Scholtz.
“Being a photographer myself, and also having access to the inner sanctum of the front-line, I felt obliged to document it.”
Scholtz collaborated with co-directors Christa Lategan and Shem Compion.
“We dealt with people going through real life and death situations, so our focus remained on the human spirit. The constant changing narrative was immensely difficult, but the personal journeys delivered a wonderful and authentic story,” said Lategan.
Director for M-Net channels, Jan du Plessis, said: “What’s special about Zero to Zero is that it is told from the perspectives of those who have been battling this pandemic daily since it began.
“It humanises the front-line workers, showing us a fraction of what they have had to face. It also puts faces to some of the Covid-19 stats — there are interviews with former patients about their experiences at the hospital, as well as with their families about the impact that this has had on them.”
Streaming platform Showmax will also broadcast Covid-19 documentary United Apart SA — Lockdown Remembered.
Produced by Ochre Moving Pictures and directed by Anton Burggraaf, the film looks at SA’s lockdown approach as well as the ramifications of the pandemic on society and the economy.
Video clips from Sunday Times’s #UnitedApartSA campaign will also be featured with commentary by Sowetan editor Nwabisa Makunga; Sunday Times editor S’thembiso Msomi; Business Day editor Lukanyo Mnyanda; president and CEO of the SA Medical Research Council, Glenda Gray; deputy governor of the SA Reserve Bank, Rashad Cassid and more.
“We are delighted to have sold United Apart to Showmax,” said Debbie McCrum, MD at Arena Holdings, which funded the documentary.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.