Felix!

A Penguin Films production for Sabido Productions, distributed by Crystal Brook Distribution. Script by Shirley Johnston. Directed by Roberta Durrant. Director of photography: Natalie Haarhoff; Line producer: Kate Schalk; Musical direction and soundtrack by Murray Anderson, with Mark Fransman, Bokani Dyer, Lwanda Gogwana, Wesley Rustin and Kevin Gibson.

Starring

Hlayani Junior Mabasa, Linda Sokhulu, Thapelo Mofokeng, Royston Stoffels, Elvis Mahomba, Janet Suzman, Adrian Galley, Joseph Hughes, Joshua Wyngaard, Okwethu Banisi, Nicholas Ellenbogen and André Jacobs.

Equally brilliant is Dame Janet Suzman as Felix's favourite teacher, Mrs Cartwright, with great support from André Jacobs as the stalwart music teacher, and Adrian Galley as the Headmaster. Thapelo Mofokeng is sensational as Bra Joe, Felix's music mentor who instils a passion in the aspirant jazz player, with Royston Stoffels in top form as the enigmatic Fingers who helps to shape Felix's dreams. There are also solid performances from Felix's best buddies, played with fervour by Joseph Hughes and Joshua Wyngaard, and his siblings, delightfully performed by Elvis Mahomba and Okwethu Banisi.Nicholas Ellenbogen is an absolute delight as Mr Soames, an affluent wealthy compassionate supporter, with memorable support by his canine friend Horace.

Synopsis

Shirley Johnston's script won the Sithengi’s 2004 Writer’s Forum Award; was a finalist in the US Specscriptacular Competition; and was a quarter-finalist in both Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest and the Moondance Screenwriting Competition.

13-year-old Felix Xaba dreams of becoming a saxophonist like his late father, but his mother Lindiwe thinks jazz is the devil’s music.

When Felix leaves his township friends to take up a scholarship for grade eight at an elitist private school, he defies his mother and turns to two aging members of his father’s old band to help him prepare for the school jazz concert.