Variations on a Theme opens for a limited one-week run in select cinemas from Friday, 8 May 2026, over the Mother’s Day weekend.
Set in the mountains of Kharkams in the Northern Cape, the 65-minute film follows Ouma Hettie, a 79-year-old goat herder who is taken in by a scam promising long-overdue reparations for her father’s World War II service.
It’s the second feature from 2026 Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year Jason Jacobs and co-director Devon Delmar. The duo debuted at Venice with Carissa and went on to win the top prize at Rotterdam with Variations on a Theme. Two-time Oscar winner Christopher Nolan similarly won the Tiger Award at Rotterdam for his debut feature Following.
“My great-grandfather fought for the Allies in World War II,” says Jacobs, who narrates the film. “He was 19 when he signed up. Like many others, he must have returned with his head full of nighttime terrors: of artillery fire and screams heard in dark and foreign lands, of bombs, falling planes and burning cities. His payment after four years of service? At the harbour in Cape Town, before heading home to his goats, he received a pair of boots and a bicycle.”
“While our film is fictional, it’s based on lived experiences,” says Delmar. “This includes the scam. In many ways, this is yet another variation on a theme: that this community is still waiting, hoping and persevering, just as they’ve been since 1945.”
At this year’s SAFTAs, their production collective, KRAAL, received the Outstanding Provincial Contribution Award for their work in the Northern Cape.
Local community in cast
Variations on a Theme is cast entirely from the local community. The lead role of Ouma Hettie is played by Jacobs’ own grandmother, Hettie Farmer, making her film debut at 80 to critical acclaim, including in Variety.
Gladwin van Niekerk, one of the breakout stars of Carissa, features again and travelled from Kharkams to Rotterdam to collect the Tiger Award with the directors.
Variations on a Theme won Best African Film at the Joburg Film Festival. In April 2026, the film’s international festival run continued at Hong Kong International Film Festival as well as New Directors/New Films, an annual collaboration between The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Film at Lincoln Center in New York.
What: Variations on a Theme
Where and when: The Labia and Ster-Kinekor V&A Nouveau in Cape Town | The Bioscope and Ster-Kinekor Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg from 8 May 2026 for one week
WS
