The new docudrama, Hartstog, will be broadcast tonight at 20:00 on kykNET (DStv 144) to mark the 50th anniversary of the first heart transplant in South Africa that was done by dr Christiaan Barnard exactly half a century ago, today.
The docudrama, written by Deon Opperman with Andre Velts as director, doesn't tell the story of Chris Barnard, but the human drama around the factors and the very dramatic events that took place 24 hours before, during, and after the first successful heart transplant in the world.
By using parallel narratives unfolding between the Darvalls, the Washkanskys, the car accident and the heightened stress, difficult decisions and choices amidst the medical drama in the hospital corridors and operating theatre, the film focuses in on the human stories and drama that played out around the first heart transplant.
Hartstog, an Afrikaans pun meaning "heart's passion" but also "heart's journey", is in Afrikaans and English.
Louis Washkansky (played by deur Russel Savadier) and his wife Ann (Camila Waldman) and his sister, Ann Taibal (Tiffany Barbuzano) are standing on the receiving end as Louis is in urgent need of a heart transplant due to medical conditions.
Viewers will see the Washkansky family's futile search for a heart donor while they're clinging to hope.
The Darvalls is a happy family of four, whose lives intersect with the Washkanskys when Myrtle Darvall (played by Corine Broomberg) and her daughter Denise (Caitlin Kilburn) are involved in a car accident just a few blocks from the hospital when they tried to cross the road. Carel Nel plays Chris Barnard.
Heart wrenching scenes in Hartstog not only tell the tale of how the family's lives were ripped apart, but also of how Denise (25) became Louis' (53) new chance on life.
Viewers will be kept spellbound by the tension between the various doctors and medical personnel to not just try and save a life, but to also do the first heart transplant, together with the ethical values and dilemmas at play, as well as sadness, hope, life and death factoring into the equation as time is running out.
"It was an extremely moving process to rework the remarkable events in the 24 hours around Chris Barnard and his team's first heart transplant into a script," says Deon Opperman.
"Before I started my knowledge of the events, like most, was limited to 'Chris Barnard did the first heart transplant'. And that was basically it. As my research advanced, the full drama and remarkableness of everything that happened during those 24 hours astounded me and deeply moved me".
"That's where the title from the script of Hartstog comes from because Chris Barnard and his team, and Edward Darvall who agreed to donate his daughter Denise Darvall's heart, and Louis Washkansky who received the hart, as well as Louis' wife, were all together on an unbelievable journey where the holy grail was the first transplant of a heart from one person to another".
After Sunday night's broadcast Hartstog will be available on Naspers' Showmax video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service from Monday.
