Do you keep your video and photography work separate or does one feed the other?

Moving in separate directions but together forever, heavily influenced by each movement. Like Siamese twins I suppose. They feed each other every day.

Your latest piece for Diesel involves live action, graphics, music, dance and puppetry – did the original brief include all these elements?

The bulk of it was in the brief from Vice. I introduced a few elements in the pre-production phase.

How did the puppetry come about?

Some two-timer recorded the puppeteer on their cell phone out on the streets of Johannesburg. We then tracked him down. He is brilliant at making the puppets squeak takkie.

You’re no stranger to music videos, having won several top accolades for your promo for Die Antwoord a couple of years ago when you were a new director. How do you think your filmmaking has evolved since then?

I am more of a liquid snake now than a ravenous ape.

How much does living in South Africa impact on your work?

In my tween years I wanted to escape South Africa and this is evident when I started taking photos in 2007. Since travelling and working over the seas, I have come to realize that South Africa is in my blood – the good the bad and the strange – I prefer this force running through me than anything foreign.

Although there’s a lot of cultural references, whether tongue-in-cheek or not, it is work that easily translates on an international level. Would you like to work abroad?

I wouldn’t mind trying to work on a smorgasbord.

Did you study at film school or are you self-taught?

Film school in Cape Town taught me how to do it myself through the lack of enthusiasm, in general.

What are you working on now?

Skeef Reenboog – A forever incomplete photographic project featuring South Africa on borrowed and disposable point-and-shoot film cameras. (See in Related Content).

Street Melodies Eternal – Three separate videos shot in Cape Town, London and New York. Released 2013.

Noupoort – I voluntarily spent two months in 2010 and 2012 at a rehabilitation centre in order to understand why people abuse substance. Going back for another two months as soon as I can. Photographs and interviews. Released 2014.

Learning Xhosa.

Sean Metelerkamp