South Africa’s Best Foreign
Language Oscar Submission
“Life, Above All”
Gets US Release Date!
South Africa’s entry for this year’s Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category, titled, Life, Above All, will open in limited USA release next month, beginning on July 15th.
Sony Pictures Classics acquired all North American distribution rights to it last summer, soon after it screened out of competition, in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, which was when we initially profiled it on Shadow And Act.
At the time, no release date was given. But it now officially has a date! July 15th.
Directed by Oliver Schmitz, the dramatic story goes… Just after the death of her newly-born baby sister, 12 years old Chanda learns of a rumor that spreads like wildfire through her small, dust-ridden village near Johannesburg. It destroys her family and forces her mother to flee. Sensing that the gossip stems from prejudice and superstition, Chanda leaves home and school in search of her mother and the truth.
I’ll let you take a wild guess at what that “rumor” about her family is… but don’t let that spoil your appetite for the film, as it’s been well-received by critics who’ve since seen it, including our own MsWOO who saw it at the London Film Festival . You can read her thoughtful review HERE.
Life, Above All stars first-time-actress Khomotso Manyaka. It’s based on the award-winning novel Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton.
I’m scheduled to see it next week Friday, the 10th, so I’ll share my own thoughts afterward, before its official July 15th theatrical release date.
Check out the good-looking trailer below: