Variations on a Theme

TIFF.25 - What's Up, Doc?

af

TIFF 2026

Section: What's Up, Doc?
Director: Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar
Cast: Hettie Farmer, Gladwin van Niekerk, Regan Nontas
Duration: 1h 05m
Country: South Africa, Netherlands, Qatar
Language: af
Year: 2026

An elderly goat herder in the mountains of Namaqualand, South Africa, falls victim to a scam promising long-overdue reparations for her father’s WWII service. As she waits for money that will never come, the disruptions of her 80th birthday threaten to strip away the last of her independence. Structured as a series of recurring visual ‘variations’, the film transforms repetition into revelation to frame a portrait of waiting, endurance, and loss.