COMMERCIALS

UBER SOUTH AFRICA

Created for Uber, this film took me back to my home country of South Africa to explore how the platform had impacted not just mobility, but the lives of the people and communities connected to it.

At the centre of the film is Mehboob, a real Uber driver from Cape Town, whose work through Uber created a more stable income while still allowing him to remain deeply connected to his family and community. We also featured photographer Trevor Stuurman, exploring his creative process and the freedom moving through the city gives him creatively.

Returning to South Africa to make this project felt deeply personal. Beyond the landscapes and aesthetics, I wanted the film to reflect something of the emotional texture of the country itself: the relationship between people, community, rhythm, generosity and the natural world. Reconnecting with South African crews, scouts and collaborators was a meaningful part of the experience for me.

Looking back, this project also became a major turning point in how I approach working with real people and scripted dialogue. While I still value a lot about the film, the voiceover ended up feeling stale: more constructed than lived-in, which revealed the limitations of imposing tightly written brand language onto real human stories and voices.

That experience fundamentally changed the way I direct. Since then, I’ve become far more collaborative in how I work with contributors, using scripts as frameworks rather than rigid instruction, creating space for people to reshape language into something that feels natural to them emotionally, culturally and rhythmically. The lessons from this project extended far beyond voiceover, becoming part of a wider philosophy in how I approach authenticity from development through to the final film: creating space for the magic of the world & collaborators to creep in and shine through.

Hero Film

credits

Client: Uber

Director: Brett de Vos

Producer Revolver: Klaudia Gainza

Producer Uber: Ingeborg de Boer

Editor: Tomas Kamphuis

DP: James Adey

Colorist: Richard Fearon, MPC

Creative Lead: Florentijn Diepeveen