OPENING today is Lien se Lankstaanskoene, a feature based on Derick van der Walt’s award-winning debut novel.
Directed by André Odendaal, the film stars Carmen Pretorius, Franci Swanepoel and Tiaan Kelderman and is produced by Spookasem Films. This is the second film this production company has made for kykNET based on a prescribed Afrikaans novel, the first being the popular Die Avonture van Hanna Hoekom.
A coming-of-age story, Lien se Lankstaanskoene is prescribed for Grade 12 IEB students and the film carries a 10-12 PG age restriction. This means the film is not suitable for anyone under 10. Children aged 10 to 12, deemed by their parents to be mature enough to watch the film, must be accompanied by an adult.
The film tells the story of teenager Lien Jooste (Pretorius, pictured) whose life is turned upside down when her father is arrested for fraud and her mother turns to the bottle to cope.
The once-affluent family lose everything and suddenly the young girl has to step up as mother to her younger siblings and cope with her alcoholic mother while still trying to have a normal life.
Lien struggles to earn money to keep the family afloat and eventually turns to begging on the streetcorner, where she learns that her life isn’t so bad when compared to those of others.
Filmed in Pretoria over five weeks, the film also has sequences shot at Hoërskool Garsfontein, which Lien attends, as well as a very busy intersection in Centurion.
• Watch out for an interview with Carmen Pretorius in Tuesday’s Tonight.