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‘The Ellen Pakkies Story’ to be screened at LA film festival
The film, Ellen Pakkies will be screened at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles in February this year.
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Local film, Ellen Pakkies has been selected to screen at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles in February 2019.
The film will be showcased on 8, 12 and 13 February at the festival.
The film titled Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story, was released in September in South Africa last year and is based on true events.
The film tells the story of Ellen and the troubled relationship between a mother and her drug-addicted son – a relationship that will eventually drive her to the edge and lead to his murder.
According to IMDb, the death of 20-year-old Abie Pakkies created a stir in South Africa and the world in 2007.
“The most disturbing part of the case was that the murderer was his mother, Ellen. When advocate Adrian Samuels takes on the case, he is determined to prove that Ellen Pakkies had no choice. But what compelled her to stop seeking help? How does a mother become desperate enough to take her own son’s life? Told across two timelines, Ellen is the harrowing account of a woman put through the penal system, tried for murder and driven by an unflinching love for her son.
“It delves into the inner psyche of a family ravaged by drugs in one of the most dangerous communities in South Africa. A scourge that extends beyond the Cape Flats and highlights a systematic failure to protect the poorest of the poor.”
Jill Levenberg, who plays Ellen in the film, took to social media to express her gratitude towards the film being selected to play at the festival in Los Angeles:
She posted on Facebook: “Ellen Pakkies has been selected to screen at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles! Thank you for the blessings God!”
Earlier this year, the film was also nominated for a Golden Globe in the Foreign Film category. The film, directed by Daryne Joshua and written by Amy Jephta, also won big at the Silwerskermfees in April last year. Levenberg and Jarrid Geduld (who stars as the troubled Abie Pakkies) won the best actress and actor awards among others.
