''Fanie Fourie's Lobola'' is a 2013 South African

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

based on the novel (of the same name) by

Nape 'a Motana Nape 'a Motana (born 1945) is a Pretoria-based South African writer, known for the novel ''Fanie Fourie's Lobola'' (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007), which was subsequently made into a Fanie Fourie's Lobola, film of the same name. His play ...

. The film features a culturally diverse cast of actors as well as a production team. The main focus of the film is cross-cultural relationships and the challenges associated with such relationships. The film was shot in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, both in

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It was a commercial success, grossing more than $3.6 million against the production budget of $1 million.

Plot summary

Fanie and Sarel are young Afrikaners; Fanie a custom car designer, Sarel a successful pop star. On a dare, Fanie invites a beautiful Zulu woman, Dinky Magubane, to come as his date to Sarel's wedding. Dinky agrees, provided Fanie pretend to be her boyfriend so she can evade her family's pressure towards marriage. Despite the deceitful intent, the two begin to genuinely fall in love.

Cast

Critical reception

* Daniel Dercksen from The Writing Studio awarded Fanie Fourie's Lobola a rating of 5/5 in his review. Daniel sums the film up in the following brief conclusion

aken directly from his review written on the web Aken may refer to: *Aken (god), in Ancient Egyptian religion *Aken (Elbe), a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany *Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the Lis ...

"It is one of this films you can share with others who might not see the world you do, and at the end of the screening it is guaranteed that you will have made new friends. Fanie Fourie's Lobola is a film that everyone can enjoy with its English subtitles and message that transcends our borders." * Nontsikelelo Mpulo from The Drum had the following brief conclusion in her review: "The film does not shy away from dealing with the racial prejudices that still thrive in South African society. Fanie is a stereotypical boere seun who knows very little about Zulu culture and so he blunders into situations that have the potential to create serious offence but the script is so well written that you’ll find yourself laughing out loud at some of his ludicrous antics." * The website SPLING awarded the film a 7/10 in their review that came to the conclusion: "Fanie Fourie's Lobola is a crowd-pleaser - a romantic comedy that's fresh, entertaining, heartwarming, street smart and sweet. It's bold to tackle an interracial romance, it's bolder to turn it into a comedy. Henk Pretorius and his team have really turned Nape 'A Motana's story into a fun-loving and well-balanced feature film that proudly showcases our music, our diversity and our people. The bottom line: Charming" * Reney Warrington from Litnet came to the following conclusion in her review: "FFL pokes fun at our cultural differences, and at how little we know about the different cultures in our country, but it does so with respect, without an accusatory tone. 10 out of 10 just for that! It goes beyond poking fun. It asks questions around racism, patriarchy and sexism and even goes so far as to suggest we should give the younger generation some room to start their own traditions."

Awards

* 2013 Golden Space Needle Audience Award, Best Film,

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

. * Audience Choice Award at the second annual

Jozi Film Festival Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alone and over 14.8 million in the ...

References

External links