"We are thrilled at the privilege of being selected for Panorama – the Berlin Film Festival is the perfect launch platform for the film," says writer/director, Ralph Ziman. Other films invited include Madonna's directorial debut, and Transsiberian by Brad Anderson with Woody Harrelson, Ben Kingsley and Emily Mortimer.
Inspired by true events, Jerusalema takes a realistic and unwavering look into the gritty underbelly of crime, corruption and transgression in the new South Africa.
The film chronicles the rise and fall of Lucky Kunene (Rapulana Seiphemo), who from a young age always wanted a BMW and a sea view, but coming from a poor family in Soweto, the odds were stacked against him. Carjacking or "affirmative repossession" as it's called, gives him a glimpse of a brighter world.
When a heist goes wrong, Kunene and his childhood friend, Zakes (Ronnie Nykale), move to Hillbrow, the inner-city Johannesburg slum. Years later Kunene's home is a decaying tenement, strewn with prostitutes and junkies. The landlords are collecting rent whilst the tenants live twenty to an apartment, in decay and squalor. Fed up, Kunene "persuades" the tenants into a better deal for their rent. Holding back the money Kunene ruthlessly negotiates with the landlords, effectively taking the buildings from under their noses.
When all else fails, force is used to secure his empire. But with local drug lord, Tony Ngu (Malusi Skenjana) on the warpath, and an embittered cop, Detective Swart (Robert Hobbs) after him, Kunene must use all his street-smart to survive.
