Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions, which recently wrapped the suspense thriller “G20” for Amazon Studios and Cape Town’s MRC Film, plans to return to South Africa to film the true story of a young African refugee’s unlikely journey to the United States. , Melanie Clarke, the company’s head of film production and development, revealed this week at the Joburg Film Festival.
The production team of Davis and Tynon, who developed the film under the title “Refugee,” are “actively working on it with some local partners and are in the process of figuring out how to shoot it” in South Africa, Clark said, adding that “we plan to shoot that here.”
The veteran production director described the project as “a true story of a young Sierra Leonean boy who lost his mother in (the country’s civil war) and found himself alone, because no family would accept him in any refugee camp. He had felt for some time that his mother was still alive and was determined to “He will find her.”
The boy was a soccer prodigy who was discovered by UN aid workers in a refugee camp and eventually invited to try out for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy. “He thought, ‘If I become visible and known playing my favorite sport, my mother will see me and we will find each other.’ And that’s what happened,” Clark added.
In “G20,” Davis plays an American president who must use all her political and military experience to defend her family, fellow leaders and the world when terrorists take over the G20 summit in Cape Town. Patricia Riggen is directing, with Davis and Tennon producing for JuVee Productions, along with Mad Chance’s Andrew Lazar.
The production chose the Western Cape region of South Africa in part because of “the range of locations that were available,” according to Clark. “We could shoot certain locations that could be read as Europe, because we had some European scenes,” she said. “My personal feeling is that I’m not interested in trying to imitate Europe… when we’re shooting in Africa, but for this movie, that’s what we need.”
The film marks the return of four-time Academy Award winner and nominee Davis to South Africa, where she filmed the historical action epic “The Woman King,” which tells the true story of the female warrior unit that protected the West African kingdom. Dahomey from the 17th to the 19th century.
During her masterclass on Friday, Clarke teased several projects that Davis and Tennon’s production company hopes to film in South Africa, noting that the company is intent on raising the level of talent above and below the line from the country.
“Our focus will always be on who we think we can support locally. That’s intentional for us,” she said. “So you’ll see that moving forward with us more and more as we come back here to film, which we intend to do a lot.”
She emphasized her desire to “highlight the diaspora as much as I can, and find ways to connect us across the diaspora,” adding, “For us at JuVee, it’s about being able to use some of the ‘power’ that we have in Hollywood to highlight a lot of local talent.” … (and) to be able to bring what we stand for to the continent, and then elevate other really talented people.
“For us, as a company led by prominent Black actors, we are clear about our priorities moving forward, and we are very intentional about who we will hire.”
The Joburg Film Festival runs from February 27 to March 3.