The suspense thriller, SERPENT, which opened the Durban International Film Festival, was awarded the African Critic Award – Paulin Soumanou Vieyra last night. Directed by Amanda Evans, SERPENT is produced by Enigma Pictures, Plastic Soldiers, and Videovision Entertainment.
The award, initiated by the African Federation of Cinema Critics, is coveted at major African film festivals including Fespaco, Carthage, Luxor, Marrakech and Zagora, and has been in existence since 2013. It was introduced into the programme of the Durban International Film Festival for the first time this year. Bearing the name of renowned film critic and pioneer of African Cinema, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, it is awarded to an outstanding African film which combines narrative and technique aesthetics to tell a story related to Africa in a universal language.
Commenting on the award, director Amand Evans said, “It is an honour to accept this prestigious award and a further honour to be acknowledged as an African story, thank you. The Opening Night at the Durban International Film Festival had an electric audience united on the edge of their seats which was both a celebration of cinema and an ovation to genre.”
Winner of the Los Angeles Film Festival’s Nightfall Award, SERPENT unwraps during a romantic escape to nature which turns into the ultimate moment of reckoning when a husband and wife are trapped in a tent, with a deadly snake. Unable to escape and with certain death looming, the tent becomes a heated confessional to a cataclysmic truth. The couple find themselves spiraling into a dark and dangerous space, of which only one can escape. SERPENT is a tightly wound, psychological time bomb that unravels with an intense, disturbing conviction.
SERPENT will be released in South African cinemas on 22 September 2017 by Videovision Entertainment through United International Pictures (South Africa).
Watch the SERPENT trailer at: https://vimeo.com/225562566.
