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director Mark Dornford-May
screenplay Mark Dornford-May, Andiswa Kedama, Pauline Malefane
country South Africa
year 2005
duration 86 minutes
media 35mm
color Color
language OmeU
producer Mark Dornford-May
production "Spier Films 42 Vicarage Crescent Battersea London SW11 3LE Fon: +44 207 326 8461 Fax: +44 207 326 8448 (Fax) christina@spierfilms.co.za info@spierfilms.co.za "
cast
"Andile Kosi
Andries Mbali
Pauline Malefane
James Anthony
Joel Mthethwa
u.a."
cinematography Giulio Biccari
editor Anne Sopel, Ronelle Loots
music Charles Hazlewood, Pauline Malefane, Sibulele Mjali
distribution
"Spier Films
42 Vicarage Crescent
Battersea
London SW11 3LE
Fon: +44 207 326 8461
Fax: +44 207 326 8448 (Fax)
christina@spierfilms.co.za
info@spierfilms.co.za "

"In the state of Judea in southern Africa, violence, poverty and sectarianism are endemic. The neighbouring Alliance has invaded to restore ?peace? at gunpoint. Bloody street battles accompany the neighbouring dictatorship?s incursion into its weaker satellite. Promises of a transition to open democratic rule accompany summary executions and brutal massacres.
As the civil war reaches a new level, a divine child is born to a lowly couple. As he grows and witnesses the inhumanity of the world he lives in, his angelic guardians offer him an escape to the heavens. He refuses. This is his world and he must try to save it from the work of evil men and from the darkness working through them.
As an adult, he travels to the capital, gathering followers from the armed factions of rebels that crisscross the land. He demands that his followers give up their guns and confront their corrupt rulers with a vision of non-violent protest and solidarity. Inevitably, he attracts the attention of the Judean tribal leaders who have struck a power-sharing deal with the aloof Governor Pilate. The Son of Man must be brought down and destroyed. It should be another simple ?disappearance? like any other?
Son of Man was filmed in the township of Khayelitsha and on the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This new and adventurous interpretation of the New Testament was filmed by Mark Dornford-May in collaboration with the pioneering Dimpho Di Kopane theatre troupe and choir network. As with his first film, U-Carmen eKhayelitsha? the classic Carmen opera translated into the Xhosa tongue?the original yet traditional dance, songs and rhythms infuse this film with the life and spirit that really cuts its own voice to speak. "
biography
"Mark Dornford-May worked in theater in England for 25 years and founded Broomhill Opera. Mesmerized by the talent he had witnessed in South Africa, he returned in 2000 with Charles Hazlewood to create a new theatre company in Cape Town. That troupe would become Dimpho Di Kompane
U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, Dornford-May?s first film, won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival 2005.
Son of Man is Dornford-May?s second film"



