EXCLUSIVE: MAD World, the global sales arm of Cairo-based MAD Solutions, has secured world sales rights to Michael James’s South African drama God’s Work.
It marks the second South African title picked up by MAD World in collaboration with Mojo Entertainment, following the company’s partnership on Zamo Mkhwanazi’s Laundry (Uhlanjululo) – MAD Solutions’ first acquisition of a non-Arab title.
The company will introduce God’s Work to international buyers at the inaugural TIFF: The Market, which launches on Thursday (September 10).
The film is set on the streets of Durban, where six unhoused men find refuge in a crumbling building while navigating violence, indifferent authorities and a society that has pushed them to its margins. Blending social drama with psychological and surreal elements, the film moves between the characters’ external reality and memories, visions and inner worlds.
The cast includes Thobani Nzuza, Mbulelo Radebe, Zenzo Msomi, Nduduzo Khowa, Omega Mncube and Siya Xaba.
Produced by Sithabile Mkhize for Maverick Resistance Productions, the film received its world premiere at Durban International Film Festival and was selected for Luxor African Film Festival.
It was written and directed by Durban-based filmmaker James and marks his second feature after 2021’s Dreams of Gomorrah.
God’s Work emerged from his experience working with unhoused communities in Durban during the Covide-19 lockdown. Initially invited to document people living in government-established camps, the filmmaker began participating in weekly workshops with a group of young people who identified themselves as filmmakers. The experience ultimately led him away from a conventional documentary approach and toward a fictional narrative that could explore the intersection of reality, imagination and memory.
The film is produced by Maverick Resistance in co-production with Marco Orsini and was made in association with the KwaZulu-Natal Film and Tourism Authority, the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa, Amafrika Films and Mojo Entertainment, with support from the Durban Film Office.
No comments yet