…But only in South Africa.

** WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS **

Famous South African Classic “The Story of an African Farm” launching on the big screen on the 8th of October.

Rodini Films is thrilled to announce that after 14 years of preparation, they are about to premier the classic South African film The Story of an African Farm on Ster Kinekor screens country wide.The film’s based on the acclaimed novel by Olive Schreiner (currently prescribed reading for grade 12’s in SA).

SYNOPSIS
1870s. South Africa. Life goes on as normal at the farm on the slopes of a Karoo Kopje. Fat Tant Sannie (Karin Van der Laag) looks after her charges, the sweet Em (Anneke Weidemann) and the independent Lyndall, (Kasha Kropinski) with a strict Biblical hand. It was Em’s late father’s dying wish. Gentle Otto (Armin Mueller-Stal), the farm manager, runs the farm and cares for Waldo, his son. Waldo (Luke Gallant) is bright and is busy designing a model of a sheep-shearing machine that he hopes will make them all rich.

Things change when the sinister, eccentric Bonaparte Blenkins (Richard E Grant) with his bulbous nose and chimney pot hat arrives. This stranger believes that Tant Sannie is wealthy – after all she owns a farm -and it’s not long before he’s thrown the narrow-minded, but simple woman into an amorous whirl. But his motives are all too obvious to the children and he makes enemies of them. And, worst of all, he connives to get Otto fired by lying to Tant Sannie. Defeated, Otto returns to his room where he dies of a broken heart.

While Tant Sannie’s heart’s awhirl, he’s cruel to the children. He ransacks Otto’s room looking for the pile of money he thinks he has stashed away. He creates a reason to give Waldo a thrashing to within an inch of his life. He destroys the model of the sheep-shearing machine. However, Lyndall prepares for battle. She suggsts that their cousin, Trana (Elriza Swanepoel), comes to visit. She sets a trap for Bonaparte. Bonaparte is under the impression that Trana is even wealthier than Tant Sannie. He plans her seduction in the front room, without knowing that Tant Sannie is within earshot, He’s exposed as a fraud and has to make an undignified exit form the farm, chased by Tant Sannie, a delighted maid, Waldo’s dog and Oswald the ostrich who knew all the time that Bonaparte was a thoroughly bad egg!

BACKGROUND
The Film’s Writer/Producer, Bonnie Rodini, spent over a decade getting The Story of an African Farm on the go. She wrote the screenplay in 1990 while she was living in New York. It took five years to raise 40% of the budget, but she just couldn’t close the deal. She attributes this to the fact that she was too young, and didn’t have the track record and expertise to handle deals. Some years later she decided to resurrect her project. This time it gained momentum. From approaching Richard.E.Grant to be Bonaparte to finding the farm, it all began to fall into place.

The film will be released countrywide on Friday, 08 October 2004

For any further information please contact Ster-Kinekor Local Department.

Eugene Mametse
Independents Local Films
(011) 445 7734

Thanks to Sue W for chasing up the news.