Strangers to be broadcast by SABC

Strangers, the film based on the story Stranger written by Bonolo Cebe, winner of the international CIAK Junior 2006 story writing competition, will be broadcast on SABC1 at 6pm on Children's Broadcasting Day on 10 December 2006. Strangers received two trophies - for the film with best subject and best South African film - at the CIAK awards ceremony in Italy earlier this year.

The CIAK Junior story writing competition gives children aged between 10 and 15 the chance to write a story about anything in any language; the winning story is then made into a film that involves the winning story writer from beginning to end.

Cebe's story is about abandoned children. "We don't hear about abandoned children as much as we hear about Aids, but it is out there and happening. I'm not experiencing this ordeal but other children are and it affects me like it affects them because I too am a child of South Africa."

Strangers, produced by Mindpool Productions, is scary, gripping and heart wrenching. On a fateful rainy night, two sisters discover that their mother who they believed had died years ago in a horrific fire is still alive. Deciding to unravel the mystery, the girls embark on a journey to the 'city by the sea' where they confront their past that changes their lives forever.

Cebe, from Port Elizabeth, and Thobile Sibiya, from Ekhaya Multi Arts Centre Durban, play lead roles as sisters Khetiwe and Nkosi in 'Strangers'. Lindani Phumlomo, also from Ekhaya, plays the little street kid who helps the girls survive and search for their mother. Strangers is their first film experience, the children having never acted in front of a camera before.