Cape Town actor Francis Chouler will represent South Africa on the red carpet at the 4th Annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Qatar later this month. 8 Billion, an independent film in which Chouler plays the lead, has been selected to premiere at the festival, sister to Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
Other guests invited include Silver Living Playbook stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and The Reluctant Fundamentalist cast Kate Hudson and Kiefer Sutherland.
8 Billion is a story about two South Africans who meet in the strange and surreal world of a Middle Eastern capital city. South African screenwriter Toby Hart and Syrian producer/director Riad Makdessi cast Chouler in Cape Town, along with co-star Casey Dolan, but the film was shot on location in Doha in February this year.
Set in a city of expatriates, amid a landscape of luxurious lifestyles and superficial perfection, the film follows two young people who find that they are not only lost within a foreign culture, far from their families, but more significantly, are lost in their own self-inflicted isolation. The film is produced by ADabisc Studio, Qatar.
This is a return to the east for Chouler, who’s breakout film role was as the bad guy in the Bollywood film, Crook, shot on location in Cape Town and Mumbai and released worldwide in 2010. Other credits include the recent hit Dredd 3D, BBC’s The Borrowers and M-Net’s Crimes Uncovered. While making strides in the international film arena, Chouler’s feet remain firmly in the theatrical roots of his home city; this summer he will take to the stage for his 4th season of Shakespeare at Maynardville Open-Air Theatre in Cape Town.
