Film News South Africa

#OnTheBigScreen: Die Stropers, Deep End and Fighting With My Family

There are two local films opening this week: the charming coming of age story Die Stropers (The Harvesters) and the surfing romance Deep End. Also releasing are the heart-warming wrestling-comedy Fighting With My Family and the animated adventure Wonder Park.

Die Stropers (The Harvesters)

In the isolated conservative farming territory of an Afrikaans white ethnic minority culture obsessed with strength and masculinity, Janno (Brent Vermeulen) is different, secretive, emotionally frail. One day his mother, fiercely religious, brings home Pieter (Alex van Dyk), a hardened street orphan she wants to save and asks Janno to make this stranger into his brother. The two boys start a fight for power, heritage and parental love. Written and directed by Etienne Kallos, a Greek-South African director.

Deep End

Set on the intoxicating shorelines of Durban’s Golden Mile, bringing one of the world’s most popular surfing sites to glorious life, this surfing-romance centres around a young woman’s (Carishma Basday) struggle for self-expression in a society that supports conformity and has to break free from convention to pursue her passion of surfing and undertake a conflicting journey of self-discovery even if it means defying her father’s wishes.

Written and directed by Eubulus Timothy.

Fighting With My Family

A heart-warming comedy based on the incredible true story of WWE Superstar Paige.

Born into a tight-knit British wrestling family, Paige and her brother Zak are ecstatic when they get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try out for WWE. But when only Paige earns a spot in the competitive training programme, she must leave her family and face this new, cutthroat world alone. Paige’s journey pushes her to dig deep, fight for her family, and ultimately prove to the world that what makes her different is the very thing that can make her a star.

The film brings together the unique talents of producer/actor Dwayne Johnson and director/writer/producer Stephen Merchant, who celebrate a young woman’s talent, drive and tenacity as she defies the odds to climb to the top of her profession.

Interweaving a true-life drama with comedy and heart, the filmmakers explore the triumph of an indefatigable spirit who finds unlimited joy in what she does.

Read more here.

Wonder Park

A young imaginative girl named June spent her childhood days constructing an amusement park filled with fantastical rides and inhabited by talking animals called Wonderland with her mother and her friends. After growing up, she lost her sense of imagination and wonder, until she finds the real Wonderland in the woods. She needs to team up with the animals to stop the destruction of Wonderland by Chimpanzombies and bring it back to life.

American-Spanish computer animated adventure-comedy film produced by Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies with Ilion Animation Studios handling animation.

Directed by David Feiss. Screenplay by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec.

Read more about the latest and upcoming films: writingstudio.co.za/lets-go-to-the-movies

About Daniel Dercksen

Daniel Dercksen has been a contributor for Lifestyle since 2012. As the driving force behind the successful independent training initiative The Writing Studio and a published film and theatre journalist of 40 years, teaching workshops in creative writing, playwriting and screenwriting throughout South Africa and internationally the past 22 years. Visit www.writingstudio.co.za
Let's do Biz