WHAT IT S ABOUT:
A matriarch aims to bring together her fractured, dysfunctional family over Eid-al-Fitr to break the news about her new romance.
WHAT WE THOUGHT:
Having just concluded our second Ramadaan amid the pandemic,
I couldn t help but feel nostalgic watching the very familiar scenes of Cape
Town s Muslim community on my screen. Barakat is a beautiful, local film that
achieves precisely what Amy Jephta and Ephraim Gordon set out to do: To
portray the richness of what it means to be from the Flats, but seen through a
different lens.
Barakat sees Aisha (Vinette Ebrahim) find love two years
‘Skemerdans’: A mal interpretation of Cape Flats nightlife
Glenn Fortune (Kevin Smith) is up against everything. Suave and old-school, dressed in white, the businessman is meant to be celebrating with friends and family at his club, the Oasis. But people are on his neck, loans are falling due, he is on the brink of divorce and family members are turning against him as the sharks circle to take over his club.
Fortune is a good man facing difficult choices. It’s a kak situation and he needs to find a way out.
These are some of the opening scenes of the first episode of
The Daily Vox
Skemerdans is a neo-noir murder mystery set on the Cape flats, set for release on Thursday, 28th of April. It is set at the Oasis jazz club and follows a struggling businessman Glenn Fortune, his family and various cohorts. Skemerdansâs literal translation is dusk dance; as you watch you will see how this plays out.
I went into the first episode apprehensively. I was expecting a stereotypical depiction of the cape flats and gangsterism; with some styling and better lighting. I was wrong.
Skemerdans opens with shots of Klipfontein road at night. The neon lights shimmer, and it sets the tone that all that glitters is not gold. Glenn Fortune is played expertly by Kevin Smith from Isidingo fame. He is perfectly cast as the patriarch of the Fortune family. His Oasis jazz club is not just about the music and drinks, and we get the feeling something else is brewing. He has a cool demeanour, and you can tell he is the
Photo: Craig Whitehead on Unsplash
Australia s Goalpost Pictures and South Africa s Quizzical
Pictures are teaming up to co-produce a new detective series for M-Net.
Detective Cooper will be adapted from the award-winning
Detective Emmanuel Cooper book
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla
Nunn.
The story centres on a white detective in apartheid-era
South Africa with a dangerous secret: he is, in fact, mixed race.
British/Australian writer James McNamara is creating the
series for television in partnership with South African writer Amy Jephta. M-Net is excited to partner with Quizzical and
Goalpost Pictures on the production of Detective Cooper. Set against the
Goalpost, Quizzical Team Up for Australian-South African Crime Series Detective Cooper (EXCLUSIVE)
Christopher Vourlias, provided by
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Australia’s Goalpost Pictures and South Africa’s Quizzical Pictures are teaming up on the crime series “Detective Cooper” for South African broadcaster M-Net, marking the first TV co-production between the two countries.
The series will be adapted from the book “A Beautiful Place to Die,” part of the multi-award-winning Detective Emmanuel Cooper book series by Australian-South African writer Malla Nunn (
pictured). Goalpost Pictures are the producers of the worldwide hit “The Invisible Man” and the acclaimed television series “Cleverman.” Quizzical Pictures produced the Peabody Award-winning “Intersexions.”