LOCAL DIRECTOR JAHMIL QUBEKA TO WORK WITH US STAR

Filmmaker Jahmil Qubeka speaks about his next project that will be shot in Cape Town. PICTURE: M&G

LOCAL director Jahmil Qubeka is breaking the mould of his film genres and taking on a new adventure in supernatural thriller The White Devil - a film he says is "something that could not be associated with me culturally".

And he has managed to bag, Shameless actor Cameron Monaghan who is best known as Ian Gallagher on the American series currently airing on MNET Edge, who will play the lead of an American high school senior, who hopes to put his past behind him when he is enrolled by his father into a prestigious British boys’ academy. 

"It is a British film, when you look at it in every single way it has no connection with me except for the fact that it's a thrilling story I wanted to do something where I am not going to be judged by the colour of my skin but that is why I aimed for that story because you can't tell who the filmmaker is with such genres.

"I am very excited to be working with Cameron, I find him to be one of the most exciting young men who is coming into this industry, he's about to really break out. I see him as a young Sean Penn of sorts, I really see him going places," said Qubeka.

Qubeka, who is known for his works including series The Hustle on eTV, feature films A Small Town Called Descent and Of Good Report, has been working on script for the film for the past three years which is a book adaptation. The film has since been commissioned by a producer based in Hollywood Robert L Stein, who had had gotten the rights to this book called The White Devil which is not the same one as old play by Don Webster. 

"It is a story within a story about a group of kids who are performing the play The White Devil it's set in a prestigious school in England called Harrow - a ghost story about a 200 year old ghost that has come back to engage this young man. We are done with the script and now we going through a long process of casting... I am using some local actors but unfortunately it would be in peripheral roles, because the film is supposed to be set in the UK we going to be shooting it here in different parts of SA but it's not essentially set here," said Qubeka.

The film will be shot in various locations in Cape Town next year with hopes to head to cinemas by 2018. - article was published in The Times (08/11/2016)