Five Fingers For Marseilles is a South African thriller that is influenced by American westerns. Brought to us by South African duo Michael Matthew and Sean Drummond, the film was shot on location in the rugged landscape of the Eastern Cape. The film explores social and political themes that are relevant to the current South African experience.  The action takes place over a period of twenty years and it is in Setswana.

 

“The community of Railway, attached to the remote South African town of Marseilles, are the victims of brutal police oppression and only the young “Five Fingers” will stand up to them. Their battle is heartfelt but innocent, until hot-headed Tau kills three policemen in an act of passion. He flees Marseilles, fearing for his life, but his action has triggered what will become a violent war between the police and his remaining Five Finger brothers. Twenty years later, Tau is released from a Johannesburg prison. He has become a feared and brutal gang leader, but scarred and empty inside he renounces violence and returns to the community of his childhood desiring only a peaceful life. In a new South Africa, Marseilles is indeed free, but to his dismay, Tau finds that rather than the haven he hoped for, the town is a community now caught in the grip of cross-border gangs and corruption. Struggling to reconcile with his bitter past, he can keep his head down only so long. When violence spills into his own life he is reluctantly compelled to act. Railway and Marseilles need a champion to fight for their freedom once and for all. Calling in old prison-mates and with new blood at his side, Tau forms a new Five Fingers, standing against old friends and new enemies alike in a thrilling escalation of battle,” explains a synopsis by Shadow & Act.

The cast includes brilliant South African actors such as Vuyo Dabula (who plays the lead role of Tau), Warren Masemola, Zethu Dlomo, Mduduzi Mabaso and the legendary Jerry Mofokeng. The film was featured at the Toronto International Film Festival, and it was awarded Best South African Film in Development at the Durban FilmMart’s finance forum in 2013.

“A deftly-constructed, Western-inspired drama, whose thrilling and intensely raw tone is made more breathtaking by the stunning backdrop it unfolds against…With its excellent cast, led by a superb central performance from Vuyo Dabula, Five Fingers for Marseilles is a tension-driven drama, building inexorably towards a climactic, High Noon-style showdown”
– BFI London Film Festival


Five Fingers For Marseilles will be hitting our screens in 2018.

For more information on Five Fingers For Marseilles, check out the film’s Facebook page.

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