“In Your Shadow is vital because it makes visible something that exists in so many families and societies: the silence that grows around trauma,” Dutch producer Renko Douze (Een van de jongens) tells BDE of Thabi Mooi & Tom Fassaert’s work-in-progress, presented at NLWave26. In the feature doc, after thirty years of silence, filmmaker Thabi takes her father on a journey to confront his past as a soldier in the South African liberation struggle.
“Together they face an evil dilemma,” the synopsis stresses. “Staying true to the freedom movement or to each other. In Your Shadow is an intimate investigation into the mechanism of silence and an ultimate attempt to find reconciliation.”
“All my life, I have felt the weight of my father’s past, despite his silence,” Thabi explains. “After emigrating from Angola to the Netherlands at the age of five, I learned to leave my roots and questions about the past behind. As the eldest of four, I learned to navigate my father’s instability, protect my siblings and suppress my own emotions.”
“After giving birth to my daughter, the distance between my father and I became impossible to ignore,” she adds. “ I realised I had to break down those walls before I could fully open up to her. This film is an attempt to understand how my father’s trauma and silence have shaped me, and to mend our relationship. Returning with him to places from his past, we uncover a silence that is also connected to the history of the ANC and South Africa. Together, we explore whether love requires speech, or sometimes remaining silent.”
Back in 2025, producer Douze articulated to BDE the respective strengths of both directors, and why be believes In Your Shadow is a solid vehicle for investment.
“Thabi has the courage to enter spaces most of us avoid: the unspoken, the uncomfortable, the deeply personal. As a filmmaker and daughter, she creates access that is both intimate and raw, while never losing sight of the larger historical and social context,” he said. “Tom brings the cinematic eye and narrative precision to transform that intimacy into layered storytelling.”
“From a business perspective, the project stands on solid ground. We have strong co-producers in South Africa and France, Sundance backing, confirmed broadcasters (ARTE and Dutch EOdocs), and a strong Dutch theatrical distributor (Bantam Film). Together, this provides both financial stability and the reach the film deserves.”
Co-production partners on the 90-minute film are French outfit Les Films d’Ici and the South African production company Long Story Short. Finance has been sourced via the Netherlands Film Fund (NL), Film Production Incentive (NL), NPO Fund (NL), CoBO (NL), Pictanovo (FR) and Sundance (US). Confirmed broadcasters are EOdocs (NL), ARTE (FR). At NLWave 2026, producer Douze is looking to entice a sales agent, secure a premiere and generate streamer, broadcast and theatrical interest.
Filmmakers Mooi and Fassaert have settled on a rich and nuanced array of visual to tell the story. “In Your Shadow alternates between tender, observational moments of father and daughter, and wider, reflective images of the landscapes of [father] Kenneth’s past. Silence and stillness are just as important as dialogue. The camera doesn’t force but lingers, allowing emotions to surface in their own rhythm,” says Douze.
“Equally important are the animations, created by Naomi van Niekerk in close collaboration with Thabi and Tom,” he continues. “Rather than illustrating the story, they emerge from a collective creative process; three voices searching for a visual language for memory and trauma. These images are fragile, layered and at times unsettling, adding a poetic dimension to what cannot be directly filmed. The result is a film that is both grounded in reality and alive with metaphor.”
Dutch production company Een van de jongens, which Douze runs with partner Hasse van Nunen, is aiming for a major international premiere (ETA January 2028) followed by a long international festival trajectory, and theatrical releases in the co-producing countries and beyond.
“With earlier films, such as My Father, Nour and I (2023) we developed campaigns around dialogues that are often avoided in families or communities. That experience will feed directly into this project,” Douze adds. “Together with South African and European partners, we are designing an outreach programme that uses the film to open dialogue within families and between people who carry comparable silences, creating encounters that might not otherwise happen.”
Co-director Tom Fassaert explains both the significance of the project, and the personal undertow he feels in its telling. “In Your Shadow is a film I have wanted to make since film school, when my relationship with Thabi began,” he says. “For years, the timing was never right. I watched her increasingly distance herself from her father, while he seemed to long for connection. Sometimes he told me things he had never told Thabi, but I felt powerless to interfere in their relationship. The birth of our daughter changed that, making Thabi feel that something had to change and be documented.”
“Their story is intimate yet universal, touching on South Africa’s history and the lasting impact of trauma, inequality and silence,” Fassaert adds. “I take on several roles: as co-director, cinematographer and witness. My relationship with both allows me to be present without threatening them, while my presence also influences their conversations. As Thabi’s husband, I can act as a mediator, helping bring unspoken feelings into the open while preserving her intimate perspective.”
