Venice Horizons Drama ’Carissa’ Probes Traditional Way of Life in Rural South Africa

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias A traditional way of life in the rural hinterlands of South Africa is put to the test when an upscale development arrives on the region’s doorstep in “Carissa,” the feature debut of writing-directing duo Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar, which premieres Sept.

5 in the Horizons strand of the Venice Film Festival. The film is set in a small mountain village in South Africa’s Cederberg, where a multinational business conglomerate plans to build a luxury golf estate.

To the project’s developers — and to many villagers in the rural community — the resort represents a transformational opportunity that could lift people out of poverty.

But for the film’s titular heroine, played by Gretchen Ramsden, the arrival of Mont Royale presents an impossible choice: Should she head to the city for a chance at a “better” life, or should she stay in the small town of Wupperthal and take over her grandfather’s rooibos farm, which is itself at risk of being wiped off the map once the developers break ground? “Carissa” is produced by Jacobs and Delmar alongside Deidré Jantjies and Annemarie du Plessis for Cape Town-based Na Aap Prods.