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SA movie invited to premiere at acclaimed film festival after Aussies fall madly in love with it

Cape Town - The much anticipated Afrikaans film Die Windpomp has been selected to participate in the Australian Gold Coast Film Festival, where it will premiere in April alongside acclaimed films such as The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson.

"Die Windpomp is wonderfully written and incredibly touching," says Mitch Ziems, Programme Director of the GCFF. "There is a large Afrikaans community in Australia, and Die Winpomp is the perfect fit. We are thrilled to have the film in this year’s lineup."

In a surprise twist, and to the film’s credit, Die Windpomp was not submitted to the GCFF for consideration. GCFF’s festival director heard about the film and after viewing the trailer requested it.

"It doesn’t happen often that a festival calls a producer and requests a film," says Die Windpomp producer Chris Roland. "We usually submit films to festivals along with thousands of other submissions and hope we get noticed. It’s fantastic when we get asked."

Reviewers in Australia are calling Die Windpomp "poignant", and have rated it with a $16 ticket price, a rating system they use to determine how much they would pay to see a film from $1 - $20, says Roland, "That equates to about R150, impressive when you consider the average ticket in South Africa is R55!"

The film is being submitted to several film festivals as part of its international marketing strategy, and includes the Cannes and Toronto International Film Festivals in France and Canada.

Written and directed by Etienne Fourie, Die Windpomp revolves around a summer romance between Hendri and Margot, two young people living in a retirement village, with a very unexpected twist.

Die Windpomp releases nationwide in South Africa on 25 April.

Watch the trailer here:



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