High-concept, anti-colonial sci-fi about rewriting history.
In the near future, nature has been all but destroyed. Lwando and Taro, a Cape Town couple, have won a prize: an expensive interchronological journey to 1647, where they can enjoy unspoiled landscapes from the safety of a modern bungalow in a restricted area. But Lwando has something up his sleeve…
South African director and screenwriter Jenna Cato Bass previously directed psychological thriller Good Madam, which explored the enduring legacy of apartheid. Her latest, Future Tense, shows how traumas from the past, which the Dutch helped to create, continue to shape the future. Despite its shoestring budget, the film manages to bring its ambitious concepts to the screen convincingly. Lwando and Taro are an interracial couple living in a near-future South Africa, where such relationships still cause tension. Future Tense’s speculative premise also explores neocolonial power dynamics: what if the wealthy people of today get to colonise the past as well?
