Global Flicks: ‘Indemnity’ Considered South Africa’s First Action Film; Zoya Akhtar Partnered With Netflix For Film Starring Children Of Bollywood Stars; U.S. Trailer for ‘1982’ Has Released
Travis Taute and Jarrid Geduld
Africa: Cannes has added the works of two South African women to their lineup this year. Bonita Sithebe has submitted her film The Valley Of A Thousand Hills. Sithabile Mkhize has entered her film God’s Work. Both are representing African films through the KZNFC (KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission) delegation at Cannes. Bonita Sithebe has written and directed a thrilling story of a Zulu woman who must choose between a perfect life and the love of her life. Sithabile Mkhize’s God’s Work follows four homeless people and their attempts to carve out lives worth living.
Indemnity is being considered South Africa’s first major action film. Written and directed by Travis Taute and starring Jarrid Geduld (Ellen: The Story Of Ellen Pakkies) the story follows an ex-firefighter with crippling PTSD who’s on the hunt for his sister’s murderer. The film has a variety of heavy stunts and high-octane action scenes that required Jarrid to take three months of extensive training before shooting began. It is now available to stream on Vudu and in theaters all across South Africa.
Asia: A.R. Rahman has announced his next VR film experience after the debut of Le Musk at Cannes this year. The Oscar-winning composer recently developed a VR sensory experience with his wife titled Le Musk that explored telling a story with beautiful music, visuals, motion, and smells all delivered from a high-tech chair at Cannes’ XR Program. It was a groundbreaking project that aimed to push boundaries of storytelling. Rahman was content with the film and has already begun working on the script for the next VR film titled Confessions.
Zoya Akhtar and Netflix are helming a new film about the children of Bollywood stars. Titled The Archies, the project features Sharukh Khan’s daughter, Suhana Khan, Abhishekh Bachchan’s son Agastya Nanda, and Sridevi’s daughter, Khushi Kapoor. The film is based on a popular comic series of the same title. The musical film will be set in the 1960s and follow the group as they navigate the trials of becoming adults. The trailer can be seen here.
Middle East: The U.S. trailer for Oualid Mouaness’s 1982 has been released. The story follows 11-year-old boy Wissam who tries to woo his classmate Joanna, unaware of the ongoing Israeli invasion outside his school doors. Nadine Labaki (Perfect Strangers) stars as their teacher. The film will be released in the US on June 10th.
Front Row Filmed Entertainment, the team behind the Arabic remake of Perfect Strangers, is now producing the comedy feature film Abdelinho. Starring Ali Suliman (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), the story follows a young Moroccan man obsessed with Brazilian culture and in particular, a telenovela star is known as Maria. He’s shocked to find out she will be visiting his home and does his best to impress her.
