Felix, created predominantly by an all-girl team, was voted the best feel-good South African family movie at the 34th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). The recipient of the audience award was announced at the closing event on 27 July at the Suncoast CineCentre Cinema.
In the movie, 14-year-old Felix Xaba dreams of becoming a saxophonist like his late father, but his mother Lindiwe thinks jazz is the “devil’s music’. When Felix leaves his township friends to take up a scholarship for grade eight at a private school, he defies his mother and turns to two aging members of his father’s old band to help him prepare for the school jazz concert.
DIFF manager Peter Machen called Felix “a South African equivalent of Billy Elliott… a lovely, vibrant, feel-good film about a young township boy intent on following his dreams.’
Felix’s all-star cast includes Jo’burg-born Oscar-nominee Dame Janet Suzman in her first South African film; South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) Best Actress winner Linda Sokhulu (Isidingo, Generations) in her feature debut; and newcomer Hlayani Junior Mabasa, who was cast in the title role from over 400 auditions across the country.
Felixwas created by a mainly female creative team with SAFTA Lifetime Achievement winner Roberta Durrant directing; Natalie Haarhoff as DOP; Shirley Johnston as screenwriter; Kate Schalk as line producer; Surisa Surisa as art director; Ayesha Khatieb as wardrobe stylist; Islyn Goliath as hair and makeup artist; and Maryke Kruger as editor.
Johnston’s acclaimed script won Sithengi’s Writer’s Forum Award, was a finalist in the US Specscriptacular Competition, and was a quarter-finalist in both Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest and the Moondance Screenwriting Competition.
Musical director Murray Anderson, who has recorded Gold and Platinum records for the likes of Abdullah Ibrahim, worked closely on the jazz soundtrack with former Standard Bank Young Artists of The Year Mark Fransman and Bokani Dyer, as well as triple 2012 South African Music Awards nominee Lwanda Gogwana.
Felix is a Penguin Films production for Sabido Productions, distributed by Crystal Brook Distribution. The film releasesin 40 cinemas across South Africa on 13 September 2013.
Watch and embed the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XC2YXTxuhQ.
Listen to the music at http://www.felixthemovie.com/cape-jazz-soundtrack/.
For more information, visit http://www.felixthemovie.com, Like felixfilm on Facebook and follow @felixmovie on Twitter.
