Cape Town - Toorbos, René van Rooyen’s adaptation of renowned writer Dalene Matthee’s 2003 best-selling novel of the same name has been selected as the closing film of the ninth kykNET Silwerskerm Festival presented at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay from 21 to 24 August 2019.
Toorbos investigates the uprooting of a young forest woman during the time of the final forest dwellers in the South African Knysna forests of the 1930s.
The film tells the story of a strong woman, Karoliena Kapp’s intimate connection with the tree heart of the forest, and how it becomes a stumbling block in her experience of the man she loves.
Scriptwriter and director, René van Rooyen first read Toorbos in 2012 and immediately identified with Dalene Matthee’s honest and raw portrayal of the female psyche. The universal theme of the uprooting of people and societies is especially relevant to her as the phenomenon is still happening worldwide to this day.
She crossed paths with producers André and Dries Scholtz, and Toorbos was filmed in the Knysna forests with Elani Dekker and Stiaan Smith in the lead roles as Karoliena Kapp and Johannes Stander, respectively.
Toorbos also won the award for the ‘Works in Progress’ (WIP) programme at the Cape Town International Market and Film Festival (CTIFMF). The film was chosen as one of five films out of 54 entries from 15 Africa countries.
This year Toorbos, an exploration of female characters and writers, receives the honour to close the ninth kykNET Silwerskerm Festival during Women’s Month on 24 August in Cape Town.
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