Local teen Khomotso Manyaka had the international media eating out of her 13-year-old hand after yesterday’s successful screening of Life Above All at the Cannes Film Festival.
Plucked from the obscurity of Groblersdal in Mpumalanga, Manyaka’s stellar performance in the movie directed by Oliver Schmitz received a standing ovation after its screening at the world’s most glamorous film festival.
Speaking from Cannes, Schmitz said: “I was so nervous. I swear every time somebody coughed, I twitched because we all know the audience here is always very cynical.
“If they don’t find something funny they don’t hesitate to walk out immediately. So when the lights went up and we had people with tears in their eyes, it was a relief.
“I’m so happy for Khomotso too. I love this girl, I really do. She is not your typical in-your-face kind of actress. She is rather self-contained and serene. For such a young person, let alone somebody who has never acted before, she understood pretty well what I wanted from her. She deserves this,” Schmitz said.
Manyaka plays the role of Chanda, a teenager who has to deal with rumours in her village about her mother’s HIV status. These rumours force her mother to flee home, followed by Chanda quitting school to search for her mother and the truth.
Life Above All co-producer Greig Buckle said the atmosphere at the festival was “phenomenal”.
“The parties never stop, so even though its nice to attend some, you must pace yourself or you will get lost in it,” Buckle said.
In Canada, the Globe and Mail newspaper lamented the fact that the country had lost its claim on Life Above All, which is based on the book Chanda’s Secrets, written by Toronto-based author Allan Stratton. Originally intended as a German, Canadian and South African collaboration, the Canadians pulled out when they could not raise funding for the film.
