In 2018 then cricket captain, 26 year old Steve Smith was at the center of a ball tampering scandal that shook international cricket. When he arrived back in Sydney after the debacle (which reached it’s Zenith at Cape Town’s Newlands stadium), he had to face a room full of journalists and apologise. At the press conference Smith valiantly stumbles through a prepared statement and then he falls apart . It’s the perfect performance of arrogance chopped off at the knees. These four minutes of footage have been recreated by Jemma Kahn, with an astounding mimicry of the withered Smith by De Klerk Oelofse. Together they have created a loving and mocking portrait, in the style made ubiquitous by TikTok and Drag Race – the lip sync. Jemma Kahn has always enjoyed a lo-fi aesthetic and her film making continues in this tradition – shot on an iPhone 4 with prestik as a tripod and edited herself – she takes a simple technology and then pushes it, creating something scruffy, charming and utterly original.
Film by Jemma Kahn
Starring De Klerk Oelofse
Featuring Albert Pretorius
Art & lighting by Jemma Kahn and Rocco Pool