Do not miss this film, and watch the trailer : filmfestivals.com founder Bruno Chatelin wishes best of luck on the festival circuit to his friends, Gary Springer and Marco Orsini, producers of this gripping movie about the invisible in your streets which premieres this week- end in Durban . A Portrait Of Resilience, A Meditation On Memory, And An Unflinching Gaze Into The Unseen Lives Of Those Discarded By The World.
GOD’S WORK A FILM BY MICHAEL JAMES PREMIERING JULY 20TH AT THE 46th DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN SOUTH AFRICAN COMPETITION 17-27 JULY 2025
A haunting and visually arresting South African debut feature God’s Work, by Durban-based award-winning director Michael James, has been selected to be in competition for Best South African Feature, and will have its SA Premiere at this year’s Durban International Film Festival on Sunday 20 July.
In the heart of Durban, a crumbling building offers a fragile sanctuary to a group of unhoused men surviving on society’s margins. Bound by quiet loyalty, they navigate a world of addiction, poverty, indifferent authorities, looming violence and the lure of fleeting fame. Simphiwe (SAFTA award-winning actor Thobani Nzuza) fights demons only he can see. His friends Thobani (Mbulelo Radebe) masks his pain with warmth and wit. Khaya (Zenzo Msomi) dreams of reuniting with a daughter who may not want him back. Lucky (Nduduzo Khowa), known as The Preacher, finds dark poetry in the Book of Job. Malusi (Omega Mncube) sees more than he says, and Sizwe (Siya Xaba) is just beginning to understand the hustle.
These men have nothing—but they have each other. A cigarette passed between fingers. A whispered song. A joke under a shattered sky – fragments of life that hold back the darkness, if only for a moment. God’s Work is a raw exploration of survival, brotherhood, and the human desire to be seen before disappearing.
Inspired whilst filming a documentary about homeless shelters during the pandemic, God’s Work blurs the lines between reality and fiction. It doesn’t ask for pity, it demands attention. It confronts the viewer with the brutal poetry of life on the margins—and the stubborn humanity that persists there. “My intent is to engage with both the internal and external worlds of the characters,” says James, “and to allow the audience deeper access into the surreal and often troubling recesses of the human mind.”
“The film considers what it means to be human in an unjust world,” says Producer Sithabile Mkhize. “It hopes to contribute to the current conversations within the zeitgeist regarding income inequality, the failures of capitalism, racism, police brutality, class consciousness, and ultimately how all these ideas intersect with the existential realities of life within the African context. This is not just a film about homelessness, it’s a story about power, loss, resistance—and what it costs to stay human in a world that’s abandoned its soul.”
God’s Work is written and directed by Michael James, and Produced by Sithabile Mkhize (SA), Co-Produced by Marco Orsini (USA), Executive Produced by Toni Monty (SA) and Gary Springer (USA). A Maverick Resistance production in association with the KwaZulu-Natal Film and Tourism Authority, the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa, Amafrika Films, and Mojo Entertainment LLC, supported by the Durban Film Office. Award-winning composer, music producer, musician and film producer, West-African born George Acogny has created a deeply emotive score for the film.
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