It’s about two unlikely companions who find friendship through cardboard walls…
South Africa (21 October 2025) – We love it when South African stories make it to the world.
It happened again this month, when South African director Liza Ludick won an award for her short film, Noise & Neighbours, at the Chelsea Film Festival in New York.
It’s every bit as worthy of its title as the best international short film.
Starring the legendary Tobie Cronje alongside the young and vibrant Olwetu Kunene, it has no dialogue. Instead, it grips you visually, and with music composed by Cape Town’s Wesley West.
The story follows two unlikely companions brought together by sound. First is Bolelo, a young girl often left to her own devices while her single mother works. Downstairs lives Helmut, an older man who’s quietly let life pass him by, spending most of his days in front of the TV.
When Bolelo receives a piano for her birthday, she starts to fill the silence of her days after school with music. For Helmut, the sound is nothing but a nuisance. He bangs on his ceiling with a broom, desperate for quiet.
But what begins as irritation slowly, over many years, grows into something good. They find connection, comfort, and a sense of belonging in each other’s presence, through cardboard walls.
The idea for the film came to Lisa in Vietnam, where she and her screenwriter partner Fraser du Toit are currently based. Walls are thin in their apartment block, and neighbours tend to have higher tolerance for noise. It was out of this symphony of sound that the idea first arrived. Lisa asked Fraser to help her bring it to life, and that’s how the story first took shape.
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Now, it’s an award-winning short film about acceptance and grief. In the process, talented creatives joined on production, including Art Director Jaclyn Maistry, Director of Photography Vincent Boonzaaier, as well as collaborators at Filmscape SA, Breadbin Productions, Looped Pictures, Idea Candy and kykNET.
At the Silverskerm Festival last year, the film was nominated in every category available and was highly rated. Now, it’s earned some well-deserved international attention too.
It’s really beautiful, and it’ll make you cry. We did. Watch it on Showmax.
Here’s the trailer:
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