(Leli
Maki Esq, director of “Table Manners”)
World Premiere of Leli Maki Esq.’s Table Manners takes place at this year’s
DIFF on 23 July at Suncoast at 20h00.
Table
Manners is a film about loss, love and finding
oneself through one’s passion. Megan (Diaan Lawrenson) loses everything when
her husband, Lloyd (Neels Van Jaarsveld), gets arrested for tax fraud and has
to rebuild herself by rediscovering her love for cooking and the flavours of
life. With the help of her best friend Lindiwe (Renate Stuurman), she learns
that the path back home begins with realizing that she is enough and all she
needs is her family, food and love. Life’s 3 courses made easy.
The script was written and produced by
SAFTA Award winning writer and actress Nkuli Sibeko who drew from her own love
of cooking and family as the inspiration for the script. This is the director’s
theatrical debut, and Leli Maki Esq. drew inspiration for the film’s visual
aesthetic from the connection that food has to emotions.
“In Table
Manners the challenge was to channel Megan’s emotions through her
relationship with the food; visually representing the sensation of her anger
through burnt chocolate proved a challenge for us which my team and I met head
on and with gusto. We’re proud of our film” says Maki.
Diaan Lawrenson and Renate Stuurman headline
this visual feast for all the senses. Neels Van Jaarsveld, Thabo Malema, Fiona
Ramsey and John Lata round off the strong cast as they all take turns tasting
and learning from Diaan’s tasty yet wise creations.
Table
Manners is the third film from the Jack&Jill
Productions company which has had past successes at both Durban International
Film Festival and the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles. The company
self-funded its first two feature length projects: Freedom Mixtape, a documentary which was at Durban International
Film Festival 2014 and Winsome, a
romantic comedy which was in competition in the Best First Feature Narrative
category at the Pan African Film Festival 2015.
Table
Manners will screen on July 23 at Suncoast at 20h00
with further screenings on July 24 at 17h00, at Gateway and on July 27 at 18h30
at Suncoast.
For the full DIFF programme go to
https://durbanfilmfest.co.za/images/DIFF2018/diff-2018-programme.pdf
View the trailer here:
https://youtu.be/9kWzAqlWDXM
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