null South African director Eric Miyeni, a well-known (and sometimes controversial) writer, actor, and radio & television personality, believes so much in his upcoming film Stolen Time, that he spent his life savings to get the film made.

According to Film Contact, the film's synopsis reads like this:

Stolen Time tells the story of Jody Williams (Faheen Khan) who, having inherited a house from his late political activist uncle, decides to create his own ‘rainbow nation’ and turns the house into a commune.

His rather damaged housemates include Tashenka (Theresa Luboya-Muanza), a prostitute on drugs, Samir (Katleho Sinivasan), a borderline con-artist who preys on other people and Vusi (Richard Armando Mayes), a serial killer. An event occurs that forces them all to confront who they are.

Miyeni revealed that Stolen Time "took up every last penny of my savings. You cannot put a rand value to that. Our plan is to take the film to international festivals and we hope to find an international distributor. We will also talk to UIP and other local distributors to see if we can get a theatrical release in South Africa."

Miyeni says that with this film he aimed to minimise costs without sacrificing the story. "Stolen Time is set in one location over the course of one night. When a member of a commune dies, the remaining residents go into self-quarantine overnight. The audience gets to know who they are and how they deal with the calamity."

"As for the tone and style of the piece, I wanted the film to feel like it was happening in real time. I want the audience to leave the cinema feeling like they have lived in that commune with these characters for a night."

Stolen Time is currently in post-production.

Eric Miyeni

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