?Free State? releasing soon at local cinemas and abroad

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Free State releasing soon at local cinemas and abroad --

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 15:24

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Bosbok Ses Films and Utkarsh Entertainment, in association with Indian production company Parnam Entertainment, have produced the South African film Free State, to be released in 2016.

The film is set in 1979 and tells the story of a forbidden love affair between Jeanette a white Afrikaans girl and Ravi an Indian man. The film is written and directed by filmmaker Sallas de Jager, and features a respected cast of actors including Leleti Khumalo, Deon Lotz and Rolanda Marais. Free State will also mark the first international appearance for Bollywood star Mangesh Desai. The lead characters are played by former supermodel Nicola Breytenbach (Jeanette), and former Mr South Africa and Top Billing presenter Andrew Govender (Ravi).

The production team includes Tom Marais (cinematographer), Waldemar Coetsee (production designer) and Danie Bester (line producer). The music design was done by Dawie de Jager and features exclusive performances by Grammy winner Wouter Kellerman, and musicians Mauritz Lotz, Ashish Joshi and opera star Stefan Louw.

Free State will be released in India through the involvement of production company Utkarsh Entertainment and producer Rajiv Terwadkar. According to director Sallas de Jager, it was a challenging story to tell and he is extremely proud of the actors and technicians responsible for blowing life into the script.

The film explores the predicament of a parent and child relationship within three families when they are confronted by the ripple effect of the forbidden love affair between Ravi and Jeanette, de Jager explains. The parents are confronted by the need of a parent for your child to find true happiness, versus the need for your child to uphold the way of life taught to him/her from childhood in order to fit into a community as an adult. The ruthless punishment for breaking society s rules is something that every parent wants to protect his/her child against.

The possibility of true happiness of which love is the foundation, will always outweigh the sanctions of society, governments and religion therefore making one person s love towards another the most powerful human experience. Not even the tragic nature of forbidden love is enough to stop good people from risking everything just for a taste of something that is bigger than them, de Jager said.

The film has been selected to screen at the 13th Chennai International Film Festival in India, in December 2015. Free State was also picked up by the San Francisco-based international sales agent Wonderphil Entertainment and was included in their line-up of films for the American Film Market (AFM), in November 2015. Additionally, it will also be presented to international buyers during the Berlin and Cannes Festivals in 2016.

In South Africa, the film will be distributed by Times Media Film.

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