Skin (2009 film)
Encyclopedia
Skin is a British-South African 2008 biographical film directed by Anthony Fabian
, about Sandra Laing
, a South African woman born to white
parents who was classified as "coloured" during the apartheid era. Skin premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
on 7 September 2008. The film was released to a limited number of US cinemas on 30 October 2009. It started showing in South Africa on 22 January 2010, and in Australia
and New Zealand
25 July 2010.
By the time she is 17, Sandra realises she is never going to be accepted by the white community. She falls in love with Petrus, a black man and the local vegetable seller, and begins an illicit love affair. Abraham threatens to shoot Petrus and disown Sandra. Sannie is torn between her husband's rage and her daughter's predicament. Sandra elopes with Petrus to Swaziland
. Abraham alerts the police, and has them arrested and put in prison. Sandra is told by the local magistrate to go home, but she refuses.
Now Sandra must live her life as a black woman in South Africa for the first time, with no running water, no sanitation and little income. She and Petrus have two children, and although she feels more at home in this community, she desperately misses her parents and yearns for a reunion. After many more years of hardship and struggle, the chances of that reunion ever happening seem remote.
(Audience Award), Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival (Audience and Jury Awards), AFI Dallas International Film Festival
(Audience Award), Palm Beach International Film Festival
(Jury Award, Best Film), Rochester High Falls International Film Festival (Audience Award), Tri-Continental, South Africa (Audience Award), Bordeaux Cinema Science Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize, Best Film), Mediterrante Film Festival (Bari), Italy (Best Film), Belize International Film Festival (Audience Award), Moondance International Film Festival
, USA (Best Score, Hélène Muddiman), Accolade Award For Excellence (Original Score Hélène Muddiman), United Nations
Time For Peace Award (Voted by 21 UN Abassadors), Amnesty International
Humanitarian Award (Italy), Griffon Environmental Award, Giffoni Film Festival
, Italy, Orange Film Prize, Ability Media International Awards, MAE Moseac Award for Best Independent Film, MAE Moseac Award for Best Actress (Sophie Okonedo
), Bahamas International Film Festival
, Rising Star Award, Sophie Okonedo
.
2009, Best Actress (Sophie Okonedo
)
NAACP Image Awards 2010 (Outstanding Foreign Film and Best Actress, Sophie Okonedo
)
Black Reel Awards
2010 (Sophie Okonedo
, Best Actress)
Political Film Society
, (Best Film)
Ivor Novello Awards
(Best Score), Hélène Muddiman
Anthony Fabian
Anthony Fabian is a British producer and director of feature films, shorts, documentaries and classical music programmes made through his company, Elysian Films. His first feature film, Skin, has won 22 international awards...
, about Sandra Laing
Sandra Laing
Sandra Laing, is a woman who was born to white parents but reclassified as Coloured during the apartheid era in South Africa as she has dark skin...
, a South African woman born to white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
parents who was classified as "coloured" during the apartheid era. Skin premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on 7 September 2008. The film was released to a limited number of US cinemas on 30 October 2009. It started showing in South Africa on 22 January 2010, and in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
25 July 2010.
Sypnosis
The year is 1965, and 10 year-old Sandra has distinctly African-looking features. Her parents, Abraham and Sannie, are white Afrikaaners, unaware of their black ancestry. They are shopkeepers in a remote area of the Eastern Transvaal and, despite Sandra's mixed-race appearance, have lovingly brought her up as their white little girl. Sandra is sent to a boarding school in the neighbouring town of Piet Retief, where her (white) brother Leon is also studying, but parents and teachers complain that she doesn't belong. She is examined by State officials, reclassified as coloured, and expelled from the school. Sandra's parents are shocked, but Abraham fights through the courts to have the classification reversed. The story becomes an international scandal and media pressure forces the law to change, so that Sandra becomes officially white again.By the time she is 17, Sandra realises she is never going to be accepted by the white community. She falls in love with Petrus, a black man and the local vegetable seller, and begins an illicit love affair. Abraham threatens to shoot Petrus and disown Sandra. Sannie is torn between her husband's rage and her daughter's predicament. Sandra elopes with Petrus to Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
. Abraham alerts the police, and has them arrested and put in prison. Sandra is told by the local magistrate to go home, but she refuses.
Now Sandra must live her life as a black woman in South Africa for the first time, with no running water, no sanitation and little income. She and Petrus have two children, and although she feels more at home in this community, she desperately misses her parents and yearns for a reunion. After many more years of hardship and struggle, the chances of that reunion ever happening seem remote.
Cast
- Sophie OkonedoSophie OkonedoSophie Okonedo, OBE is a British actress, who has starred both in successful British and American productions. In 1991, she made her acting debut in the British critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama, Young Soul Rebels...
... Sandra LaingSandra LaingSandra Laing, is a woman who was born to white parents but reclassified as Coloured during the apartheid era in South Africa as she has dark skin... - Sam NeillSam NeillNigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
... Abraham Laing - Alice KrigeAlice KrigeAlice Maud Krige is a South African actress. Her first feature film role was as the Gilbert and Sullivan singer Sybil Gordon in the 1981 Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire...
... Sannie Laing - Tony Kgoroge ... Petrus Zwane
- Terri Ann Eckstein ... Elsie Laing (aged 19)
- Bongani Masondo ... Henry Laing (aged 20)
- Ella Ramangwane ... Young Sandra Laing
- Jonathan PienaarJonathan PienaarJonathan Pienaar is a South African writer, actor, voice-over artist and comedian who has been active for over 20 years. He has appeared in numerous South African and international films and television shows including Blood Diamond, Crusoe, and Wild At Heart.-References:Films Jonathan Pienaar has...
... Van Niekerk - Hannes Brummer ... Leon Laing
- Onida Cowan ... Miss Van Uys
- Lauren Das Neves ... Elize
Awards
Skin has won 19 international festival awards, including Santa Barbara International Film FestivalSanta Barbara International Film Festival
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a film festival and non-profit organization, established in 1985, that showcases independent American and international films. The SBIFF line-up includes 20 world premieres and 11 U.S. premieres, with newly expanded 11-day festival...
(Audience Award), Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival (Audience and Jury Awards), AFI Dallas International Film Festival
Dallas International Film Festival
The DALLAS International Film Festival, presented by DALLAS Film Society, is a film festival that takes place annually in the state of Texas, in the United States. It takes place in April of every year. The 2011 DALLAS International Film Festival will be held March 31-April 10, 2011...
(Audience Award), Palm Beach International Film Festival
Palm Beach International Film Festival
The Palm Beach International Film Festival is a film festival in the United States held in Palm Beach, Florida which showcases over 120 films annually in April for over 20,000 attendees...
(Jury Award, Best Film), Rochester High Falls International Film Festival (Audience Award), Tri-Continental, South Africa (Audience Award), Bordeaux Cinema Science Film Festival (Grand Jury Prize, Best Film), Mediterrante Film Festival (Bari), Italy (Best Film), Belize International Film Festival (Audience Award), Moondance International Film Festival
Moondance International Film Festival
The Moondance International Film Festival is an independent annual film festival and awards competition that takes place in the fall in Boulder, Colorado...
, USA (Best Score, Hélène Muddiman), Accolade Award For Excellence (Original Score Hélène Muddiman), United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Time For Peace Award (Voted by 21 UN Abassadors), Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
Humanitarian Award (Italy), Griffon Environmental Award, Giffoni Film Festival
Giffoni Film Festival
The Giffoni International Film Festival is the largest children’s film festival in Europe, and possibly the World. It takes place in the little Italian town of Giffoni Valle Piana in Southern Italy, close to Salerno. Over 2,000 children attend the festival from 39 countries around the world...
, Italy, Orange Film Prize, Ability Media International Awards, MAE Moseac Award for Best Independent Film, MAE Moseac Award for Best Actress (Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo, OBE is a British actress, who has starred both in successful British and American productions. In 1991, she made her acting debut in the British critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama, Young Soul Rebels...
), Bahamas International Film Festival
Bahamas International Film Festival
Bahamas International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in early December in the Bahamas, founded in 2004.The Bahamas International Film Festival is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the local community and international visitors with a diverse presentation of films...
, Rising Star Award, Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo, OBE is a British actress, who has starred both in successful British and American productions. In 1991, she made her acting debut in the British critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama, Young Soul Rebels...
.
Nominations
British Independent Film AwardsBritish Independent Film Awards
The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...
2009, Best Actress (Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo, OBE is a British actress, who has starred both in successful British and American productions. In 1991, she made her acting debut in the British critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama, Young Soul Rebels...
)
NAACP Image Awards 2010 (Outstanding Foreign Film and Best Actress, Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo, OBE is a British actress, who has starred both in successful British and American productions. In 1991, she made her acting debut in the British critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama, Young Soul Rebels...
)
Black Reel Awards
Black Reel Awards
The Black Reel Awards began in 2000 and were designed to annually recognize and celebrate the achievements of black people in feature, independent and television films...
2010 (Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo, OBE is a British actress, who has starred both in successful British and American productions. In 1991, she made her acting debut in the British critically acclaimed coming-of-age drama, Young Soul Rebels...
, Best Actress)
Political Film Society
Political Film Society
The Political Film Society is a nonprofit corporation that exists to recognize Hollywood films' ability to raise awareness in political matters in the world. Film makers are the ones who are awarded by this organization...
, (Best Film)
Ivor Novello Awards
Ivor Novello Awards
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Cardiff born entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They are presented annually in London by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and were first introduced in 1955.Nicknamed The Ivors, the awards take place...
(Best Score), Hélène Muddiman