The Lost City
Qumra Series
/ TV Series / South Africa
In English
Genres: Drama, History
Rated: This film has not been rated.
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Synopsis
1979. Apartheid South Africa. On the night of her eighteenth birthday, Frances "Franki" Nzo steals away from her rural village home to audition for the Grand Opening of the Sun City Resort & Casino. Despite her undeniable talent, she is relegated to a chorus role supporting a white singer. Arriving as an ingénue, Franki soon learns how to play the game. Developing a relationship with the resort owner’s son, Seaton, she realises he could be her ticket out of South Africa and on to a life of freedom. As her star rises and she becomes one of the resort’s main attractions, Franki knows she is little more than an ornament—another one of Sun City’s exotic objects to be fetishised.
When Franki meets and falls in love with Winston Gwala, a recruit of the armed resistance movement, she begins to sing in the shebeens of his township. Far removed from the fantasy and extravagance of Sun City, and grounded in the harsh reality of life under apartheid, Franki discovers that her voice has the power to rally her audiences towards resistance. But a future beyond apartheid comes at a painful price. As Franki becomes a target of the regime, she faces an impossible choice—whether to escape into exile to pursue her dream of a better life, or stay and fight for her country?
Credits
- Screenwriter
- Chantel Clark
- Producer
- Cait Pansegrouw