"This great film by Anthony Fabian tells this story through the eyes of a happy girl who grows into an outsider. This isn't one of those potted stories of uplift and doesn't end quite the way we expect, although we do get to see the real Sandra Laing right at the end." Roger Ebert CHICAGO SUN TIMES "Of the innumerable, untold family tragedies that followed the imposition of the racist restrictions of the apartheid regime, the story of Sandra Laing is one of the most devastating. Skin tells her story with deep compassion and, for all its starkness and tragedy, it is a work of great beauty and inspiration." Barry Ronge THE SUNDAY TIMES (South Africa) "The journey to racial tolerance, which some people take for granted, has not been easy and over the years many people have struggled with the idea of accepting others as equals. It is within this context that all South Africans should be happy that a movie has been made that tells this story of race and racial tolerance which, thankfully, is slowly taking root in our society." Edward Tsumele THE SOWETAN (South Africa) "We've all seen movies and TV shows based, or supposedly based, on true stories, but I can't remember the last time one of them affected me quite like the South African movie, SKIN." Leonard Maltin's SECRET'S OUT REPORT

"To get a sense of just how deep the lingering effects of institutionalized racism must run, take yourself to Anthony Fabian's Skin, a powerful and compelling drama based on a true story that still resonates." Marshall Fine HUFFINGTOM POST REVIEW "In the end, SKIN isn't a movie about skin at all, but the indomitability of the human spirit." Michael O'Sullivan WASHINGTON POST REVIEW "If ever there were a true-life tale that laid bare the laws of South African apartheid in all their arbitrary lunacy, it's the one dramatized in Anthony Fabian's straight-ahead biopic of Sandra Laing." Ella Taylor VILLAGE VOICE REVIEW "A South African family is divided by race." Betsy Sharkey LA TIMES "It isn't just the inhumanity of apartheid that's illustrated in "Skin," but the out-and-out lunacy of laws and classifications intended to keep blacks and whites apart." Walter Addiego SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE REVIEW

The Inside Story From Anthony Fabian Anthony Fabian, first heard the story of Sandra Laing in July 2000 on BBC’s Radio 4. British journalist Peter White had gone to South Africa to interview Sandra and her testimony left me stunned. For days afterwards, I had a lump in my throat when I thought about her story and realised it had the potential to touch people around the world as a feature film. I also felt a tremendous sense of outrage that, after all she had been through, Sandra was still living in abject poverty, while her white family had prospered. I felt compelled to make some kind of reparation, and thought a film might help provide her with long-term financial security. The first step was to secure Sandra’s life-story rights. With the help of a couple of journalists in South Africa (Karien van der Merwe and Karen Le Roux) I managed to get Sandra’s neighbour’s telephone number in Tsakane township, East Rand (Sandra herself did not have a phone). I explained what I hoped to do, and asked whether she would consider assigning her life-story rights to me. She would be paid option fees, and eventually a reasonable sum of money if the film were made. She agreed to meet me. Six weeks after I had heard her interview on the radio, I was on a plane to South Africa: a country I had never visited before. My trip was brief and the goal simple: to gain Sandra’s trust and hope that she might allow me to dramatise her story for the big screen. I met her family: her husband, her five children and her mother, Sannie who was still alive then (I took Sandra to see her, in a nursing home outside Pretoria; she hadn’t been for several months because she couldn’t afford the transport). When I boarded the plane back to London, armed with the rights to bring her story to the widest possible public, I knew this was the start of a very exciting adventure. What I could never have imagined was how long it would take to develop the script: how many writers and stages we would have to go through to get it right; such a complex story, spanning so many years and begging so many questions. Around this time, I also conceived the notion of selling the publication rights to Sandra’s story: people kept asking me, "Is there a book?" and I realised there probably should be. I was very lucky to have got the book commissioned from the first publisher I approached: Talk Miramax Books. Miramax Films had just set up an imprint for books they thought might make interesting films, so it seemed a natural port of call. The writer of the book, Judith Stone: an American journalist based in New York (contributing editor to Oprah Magazine); was chosen to give an 'outsider’s perspective' on the story, which was primarily intended for an American readership, unfamiliar with South African history. The job of the book and the film is very different: one being factual, the other dramatic; and Judith Stone proved a very determined, hard working biographer, whose book, "When She Was White" was finally published in April 2007, to excellent reviews. The other happy outcome of the book’s publication is that the contract I negotiated gave Sandra a generous advance and enabled her to buy her first home, in a peaceful suburb of Johannesburg. I also encouraged her to start her own business: a spaza shop in her converted garage; something sustainable. (Running a shop is in her blood.) So part of the dream was coming true: Sandra was better off, much happier and more confident in herself. Meanwhile work began on the screenplay which was developed over several drafts written consecutively by Helena Kriel, Jessie Keyt, Helen Crawley and myself. We auditioned over ninety actors, chose fifteen and it was a tremendously exciting and creative process. Casting director Susie Figgis ("The Water Horse") has a strong relationship with South Africa (her husband was born and brought up there ) and she agreed to help us cast the stars, and eventually led us to Sophie Okonedo, who committed to playing the adult Sandra in July 2005. Sophie had just been nominated for an Oscar for Hotel Rwanda and it was quite a coup to have her attached to Skin. Not long afterwards, I met with Alice Krige: born in Uppington of Afrikaner parents and brought up in Port Elizabeth; who had made a career for herself in Hollywood ("Chariots Of Fire" & "Star Trek: First Contact"). From the moment I met Alice, I felt I had come home: she fully embodied the role and I knew there was no need to look further. In November 2006, Margaret Matheson approached the LA-based international sales agent Robbie Little (who had very successfully sold the Oscar-winning film "Tsotsi"), to sell "Skin". Robbie took the project to the Berlin Film Festival and achieved an encouraging number of presales, including a cornerstone sale to France’s UGC PH (Philippe Hellmann). All this arose from the strength of the script and Sophie Okonedo’s commitment to the project. The other stars: including Sam Neill; had not yet come on board. The presales subsequently gave confidence to investors such as the IDC and Aramid, who eventually financed the film. Production started in September 2007 with the usual indie movie fears of too little time, not enough money. The first task was to find a location that could serve as a unit base for the majority of the shoot. Things began well: I was taken to Remhoogte (the Laing Compound, as we renamed it) by the production designer, Billy Keam ("Critical Assignment" & TV'S "The Diamond Hunters"), on the first day of location scouting. Northeast of Johannesburg, about fifteen minutes from the Hartebeespoort Dam, which serves as a weekend retreat for townies, we travelled down a long, rutted road, leaving clouds of red dust in our wake. We reached the crest of a hill, at the bottom of which sat a grove of pine and eucalyptus trees surrounding a complex of single-storey buildings. The hairs went up on the back of my neck: it looked exactly like the original Laing farm, three hundred kilometres away in Mpumalanga (then known as the Eastern Transvaal), but this location was infinitely more practical, as our crew and equipment would be coming from the big city. Another massive challenge for the production was the sheer number of people on screen: seventy-seven speaking parts, babies of various ages (and colours), including a newborn (only twelve days old), and the hundreds (on one occasion nearly a thousand) extras we had to call on an ad hoc basis. The most daunting scene for me, as a first-time feature director, was the forced removal scene, which involved hundreds of extras, animals (goats, dogs and chickens) period bulldozers, general mayhem and destruction, and a collapsible set. Experienced First AD, Mary Soan ("Bridget Jones's Diary") made it possible for us to film the entire sequence in just a day and a half. The film has an epic quality, thanks to the boundless and ancient landscape of South Africa. Although the story spans thirty years, the film compresses time. The script’s flashback structure releases the narrative from the usual strictures of traditional biographical films. A tale of mythic proportions, it tackles the eternal human question: 'who am I and where do I belong?' It now feels like something of a miracle that, despite all the challenges posed by the number of locations, the large cast and the crazy weather, we managed to finish the film pretty much on time and on budget and: survived to tell the tale. What's It All About?

Ten year old Sandra is distinctly African looking. Her parents, white Afrikaners Abraham and Sannie, are unaware of their ancestry. They are shopkeepers in a remote area of the Eastern Transvaal and despite Sandra’s mixed-race appearance, have brought her up as their 'white' little girl. Sandra is sent to a boarding school in the neighbouring town of Piet Retief, where her white brother Leon is also studying. Soon parents of white students and the teachers, complain that she doesn’t belong. She is examined by State officials, reclassified as 'Coloured' and expelled from the school. Sandra’s parents are shocked, but Abraham decides he will fight the descision through the courts and have the classification reversed. The story becomes an international scandal and media pressure forces the law to change again. By then a disillusioned Sandra has begun an illicit love affair in love with Petrus.

The Verdict! "While "Skin" is an engrossing tale, my greatest fear is that, due to its limited release and very little publicity, many cinemagoers will overlook it. That would be real pity, as this film, based on the heart-wrenching story of Sandra Laing, has much to offer audiences. The main players, English actress Sophie Okonedo O.B.E. ("Dirty Pretty Things" & "Hotel Rwanda"), Ireland born New Zealand actor Sam Neill O.B.E. ("The Dish" & "Dean Spanley"), South Africa born actress Alice Krige (the Borg Queen in "Star Trek: First Contact" and "Star Trek Voyager: End Game" ) and Ella Ramangwane (who makes her debut) all give excellent performances. Neill's emotive performance as Sandra's father Abraham is highly emotive and totally convincing. You can feel the pain, anger and frustration that would have wracked real-life Abraham Laing who fought (against everything South Africa stood for at that time) to have his daughter declared, white. "Skin", like all good indie films, has that ability to make you feel a personal connection with these very interesting characters. Many women who see producer, writer and director Anthony Fabian's film, will certainly understand the anguish and longing that plays out between Sannie and Sandra. A highly rewarding experience. Highly recommended. 4 STARS." Who's Playing Who?

Sophie Okonedo Sam Neill Alice Krige Hannes Brummer Tony Kgoroge Graeme Bloch Zoea Alberts Ruaan Bok Ella Ramangwane Ben Botha Jeremy Crutchley Gordon Van Rooyen Carel Trichardt Kate-Lyn Von Meyer

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Sandra Laing Abraham Laing Sannie Laing Leon Laing Petrus Zwane Bailiff Shower Girl Young Henry Young Sandra Dawie WNN Reporter Judge Galgut Magistrate Young Elsie

The Crew Directed by Anthony Fabian Written by Helen Crawley/Jessie Keyt/Helena Kriel From a story by Anthony Fabian Produced by Anthony Fabian/Genevieve Hofmeyr/Margaret Matheson Original Music by Helene Muddiman Cinematography by Dewald Aukema/Nic Hofmeyer/Jonathan Partridge Film Editing by St John O'Rorke Casting by Christa Schamberger Production Design by Billy Keam Art Direction by Darryl Hammer Costume Design by Fotini Dimou Makeup Department Scott Wheeler Run Time 107 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Jour De Fete/Pinnacle Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.