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Chat and Chill with the Barakat Producers

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BARAKAT

From the Arabic ‘barakah’, meaning ‘blessings’. In Cape Malay culture, a barakat is a paper bag with cakes, fruits and sweets shared among friends and neighbours.

An aging matriarch aims to bring together her fractured, dysfunctional family over Eid-al-Fitr to break the news about her new romance.

How does a family move on after the death of a father? That is the question at the heart of South Africa’s first Muslim film in Afrikaaps. When matriarch Aisha Davids decides to accept a marriage proposal, she devises a plan to break the news to her four sons over Eid. The only problem is that the two eldest sons have been at loggerheads since their father passed away and refuse to be in the same room at the same time. Her big reveal is spoiled when the boys hear via the grapevine about their mother’s pending nuptials and come together to voice their disapproval of the match. Now it’s up to Aisha, her fiancé, and her daughters in law to bring the sons around to her way of thinking using the one thing they can all agree on – the barakat. Barakat, an Arabic word meaning blessings, is a story about celebrating life, culture, and the importance of family.

Join us on Thursday 20 January at 4pm – 5:30pm – RSVP to Tl********@ip*.za

Our Chat and Chill Participants:

AMY JEPHTA – Director / Screenwriter

Amy Jephta is a screenwriter and playwright from Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town. She has three feature film credits to her name including South Africa’s official 2018 Golden Globes submission, Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story (Rotterdam International Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, Toronto Black Film Festival, and others). As a playwright, her work has been directed by Danny Boyle for the Royal Court and played at The Bush theatre, Theatre 503 and the Jermyn Street Theatre in London and the Riksteatern in Sweden. She has held fellowships at the Orchard Project Episodic Lab (New York), the AfroVibes Festival (Amsterdam) and the Edinburgh International Festival. In 2019, Amy developed an hour-long original drama pilot as part of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Impact program. The Park is currently attached to be produced by Imagine Entertainment. Other recent work includes thriller- action series, Trackers, for M-Net and CINEMAX/HBO and Catch Me A Killer, an action-drama series pilot for eOne. She focuses on producing for film and television as the creative director of Nagvlug Films.

EPHRAIM GORDON – Producer / Screenwriter

Ephraim Gordon graduated from the University of Cape Town with a degree in Theatre, and as a young actor has been nominated for various theatre and television awards across South Africa. Ephraim has worked as a storyliner for local television and is currently on the development and production teams for two new South African series projects for the M-Net group. Behind the camera, he has worked as a casting director on Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story and has assisted and advised on critically acclaimed South African films like Number 37 and Noem My Skollie. Ephraim has to date directed over 120 episodes on kykNET’s daily soap, Suidooster, where he initially trained as a television director. He has since directed Sara Se Geheim S3, a local 13-episode series in its final season. In 2017, Ephraim was the producer of the award winning short-film Soldaat that won Best Short and Best Script at the Silwerskermfees in Cape Town. In 2019, Ephraim was a producer on two made for TV films (Rage and Somerkersfees) for M-Net and SHOWMAX. He is currently Head of Development at Nagvlug Films.

PAPERJET FILMS

Paperjet Films is a Cape Town based production company founded in 2015 by Amy Jephta and Ephraim Gordon. Their wide range of expertise includes the development, production, and casting of award-winning narrative content for the South African film and television market, with a special focus on serving the stories of minority audiences and creators. PaperJet strives to create platforms for emerging talent through collaboration and mentorship of up-and-coming writers, directors and crew and have serviced the writing, directing and casting of award-winning productions such as KykNET’s daily soap Suidooster, Ellen: Die Ellen Pakkies Storie, Noem My Skollie and Nommer 37 . Their current slate includes the funded development of four feature films (M-Net) and one short film (NFVF), as well as two completed short film projects (NamaSwaan and Soldaat: KykNET Silwerskermfees) and one theatre production. Through PaperJet Films, Jephta and Gordon aim to tell stories that change the narratives around the Cape Flats in South Africa and shift the focus away from the violence with which these communities are often portrayed.

NAGVLUG FILMS

Nagvlug Films is a joint venture between two dynamic young film companies: Cape Town-based Paper Jet Films and Johannesburg-based Nouvanaand Films. The company is a pooling of resources and expertise, with a focus on producing narrative content for the South African and International markets. Nagvlug is a registered entity that serves as an independent production arm which combines the concepts, resources, and skills of PaperJet and Nouvanaand into a one-stop-production stop. Nagvlug’s wide range of expertise includes the development, production, post-production, and casting of award-winning narrative content for the South African film and television market, with a special focus on serving the stories of minority audiences and creators. They strive to create platforms for emerging talent through collaboration and mentorship of up-and-coming writers, directors and crew and have serviced the writing, directing, and casting of award-winning local productions.