Dad Went Fishing

Dad Went Fishing (2011)

UK/Poland/Germany, Documentary, 76 min.

Afrikaner Juan van Tonder, Bon vivant of Cape Town is pushed to change his life following a traumatic experience involving a vision of Jesus Christ. Juan is so profoundly moved by this experience that he sells everything he owns and moves to Pomfret, a former military base for Angolan soldiers and establishes an orphanage for black children. Pomfret is a village of outcasts who have lost the revolution; it represents a microcosm of a society in disarray after a tumultuous political transformation. The collapse of the old regime has left an ideological void with religion becoming the only form of solace for those left abandoned, lost and without guidance. As we trace both Juan’s evolving character and his inspiring story, the motivations which inspired his new way of life become intertwined with ideas of sainthood, regret and redemption revealing with it a story of a new South African nation.

Director Grzegorz Pacek

Producers Anna Baumgart, Grzegorz Pacek

Co-producers Monika Braid, Anna Wagner, Jerzy Murawski

Cinematographer Bogumil Godfrejow

Production Companies
Wytwornia Filmow, Handmade Pictures, Strefa Dzwieku, Bogumil Godfrejow, TVP and Braidmade Films 

Funding MEDIA, Polish Film Institute