AFDA Durban lecturer, film director, producer and AFDA Master of Arts (MA) graduate, Richard Green’s Masters degree outcome horror film, ‘Tokoloshe The Calling’, has been officially selected to screen at the Durban International Film Festival this year.
‘Tokoloshe: The Calling’, co-written and produced by AFDA Durban Head of Business Innovation and Technology School, Arish Sirkissoon and Richard was shot in Durban, South Africa. The film’s diverse cast includes AFDA alumni Shezi Sibongiseni and Angela Balkovic, AFDA Durban Registra Lloyd O’Connor and Head of Live Performance School Roel Twijnstra.
The film, renamed ‘Tokoloshe: An African Curse’ for the American market, was recently released on VOD in the USA. The news was broken on the popular “Horror Society” website by their international sales agents. The press release stated the following: LOS ANGELES, CA.- Reel Nightmare Films has announced the February 14th Prime Video USA release of Tokoloshe: An African Curse, “an intriguing & atmospheric new horror feature with plenty of scares and high production value,” says Armand Petrikowski, Head of Operations of the horror/thriller distributor.
Based on the legend of the Tokoloshe, an urban myth that has terrified Africa in a similar way Americans fear the Bogeyman, the Tokoloshe is a sinister creature that haunts people’s dreams and possesses them to commit evil acts.
The film’s synopsis states that a novelist, pressured to write a new bestseller, travels with his family to an abandoned hotel in South Africa, unaware that it’s haunted by a demon known as the Tokoloshe. When the writer becomes possessed and begins terrorizing his family, a young woman experiencing supernatural visions linked to the hotel sets out to help the family and defeat the Tokoloshe.
Richard and Arish are enjoying great international recognition with the film. It seems the world has a fascination with horror films coming out of South Africa. When asked what they thought their winning formula was, they both agreed that it was presenting and defending “unique narratives that promote escapism”.
The Tokoloshe premiered in South Africa to celebrate the launch of the movie on Prime Video on Valentine’s Day 2020.
A massive shout out to all the AFDA Durban staff, alumni and students below that make up the cast and crew on ‘Tokoloshe – The Calling’!!!
Cast:
Sibongiseni Shezi – Lead Actress
Lloyd Grant O’ Connor – Lead Actor
Angela Balkovic – Lead Actress
Sir Roelof Twijnstra – Actor
Ndabenhle Christopher Tabo – Actor
Rio Notra – Actress
Crew:
Director – Richard Green
Producers – Richard Green and Arish Sirkissoon
Writers – Richard Green and Arish Sirkissoon
Executive Producer – Arish Sirkissoon
Cinematographer – Damien Tomaselli
Line Producer – LX Seth PTY LTD
Doll Design – Genie Lagrange
Associate Producer – Resham Bansee Joshua Symons
Assistant to LX Seth and Richard Green – Edwin Chetty
1st Assistant Camera – Alice Mdluli & Nick Bartlett
2nd Assistant Camera – Katya Stacey Johnson
Still Photographer – Alice Mdluli & Stacey Johnson
Gaffer – Alice Mdluli & Stacey Johnson
