SILVER CHANNEL

Premiering on the Silver Channel on DSTV are Whale Rider and Almost Adult

July 14 at 20h00: Whale Rider. This New Zealand drama from 2002 with Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawirir Paratene and Vicky Haughton is directed by Niki Caro. Paikea is a 13-year-old girl who feels destined to become leader and chief to her tribe although that role has always been reserved for males. In part, the role is her birthright, as her twin brother died in childbirth, and she survived. However, her grandfather, Koro who is the current chief, stands firmly in the way of Pai's dream. He is extremely traditional and is superstitious that even Pai's curiosity in learning to be chief could upset the ancestors (who are the whales themselves). Pai's grandmother, Flowers defies Koro to support Pai and her uncle Rawiri trains her in the chants and battle techniques she needs. The rest is intuition and Pai has loads of it--enough to communicate with the ancestors, and call them to her for help and guidance. The film was nominated for an Oscar.

July 21 at 20h00: Almost Adult. A British drama from 2006 with Tracey Briggs, Cristina Catalina and Carl Coleman. Directed by Yousef Ali Khan, the story focuses on two teenage girls who come from different countries and speak different languages but still become each other's family. They meet at a bus station in Birmingham after arriving in the UK as unaccompanied minors in search of asylum. Mamie, the elder of the two, takes Shiku under her wing. The girls try to adjust to their new lives but Shiku in particular has real difficulty fitting in with her new family. She is suffering from the after affects of the loss of her family back home and the traumatic things that happened to her on her journey to the UK. No-one can properly understand what she has been through. No-one but Mamie.