South African born director Pia Marais recently finished shooting her new feature film Layla Fourie in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Germany.
Layla Fourie, described as a classic suspense thriller, is the third film from Berlin-based director Pia Marais who garnered critical acclaim for her previous films The Unpolished (Die Unerzogenen) and At Ellen’s Age (Im Alter von Ellen).
Her new film is produced by German-based Pandora Film Produktion in co-production with Johannesburg-based Dv8 Films, Cape Town’s Spier Films, Topkapi Film in Amsterdam, Paris-based Cinema Defacto and WDR/Arte.
According to co-producer Jeremy Nathan from Dv8 Films, they’ve had a long working relationship with Marais and Pandora, having worked together on two previous projects. This includes At Ellen’s Age, which was partly shot in South Africa three years ago. “Pandora also came on board as co-producers of Oliver Hermanus’ Shirley Adams, and we’ve been involved in the development of Layla Fourie for about four years,’ he notes.
In the film, written by Marais and her regular co-screenwriter Horst Markgraf, polygraphist Layla Fourie is given the opportunity to work for a company specialising in lie-detection and security. As a single mother she is forced to take her son Kane with her into the country where she hopes to find the beginning of a “real life’. An accident occurs that puts the trust of the mother and her son to the test as the truth threatens to tear them apart.
“It’s basically the story of a single mother and her son whose lives change dramatically because of a traumatic event,’ explains Nathan. He describes it as “a South African story told by a South African filmmaker, but with a European perspective.’
Shot in English the film stars South Africans Terry Norton (Spud) and Rapulana Seiphemo (Skeem), as well as German actor August Diehl (Salt, Inglorious Bastards) and Rayna Campbell as Layla Fourie.
Production took place from December 2011 in Tongaat, Verulam and Ballito north of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as various places in Johannesburg, including the city centre and some suburbs. Additional scenes were shot in Germany at the end of May.
Director of photography Andre Chemetoff shot the film on an Arri Alexa. Says Nathan: “The footage we have seen so far looks brilliant, and the actors were all great.
“Pia is very organised, very thorough and very detailed. The shoot went according to schedule, according to plan and according to budget.’
Post-production is currently being done in Germany and the Netherlands, with plans to finish the film at the end of the year to target the big international film festivals in 2013.
They are also working towards a commercial theatre release. “The film will have a very strong art house appeal; it also has break-out ability because of the stars,’ notes Nathan.
Because of the European co-production partners the film has guaranteed distribution in the Netherlands, France and Germany, and is being distributed by Indigenous Film Distribution in South Africa.
Layla Fourie received funding from all the European countries involved, as well as South Africa’s Spier Films and The Department of Trade & Industry.
Screen Africa magazine – June 2012
