Emile Smit

The Burgess family is a typical modern, culturally blended South African family in the northern suburbs of Cape Town, on top of a hill, under a cross. Eric is secular, but his wife, Juleigha, who prefers to be called Julie, is a non-practicing Muslim. They have two children. Dean is a professional online gamer, and Leila, a medical student, celebrates her Muslim identity, which she recently rediscovered – something that irritates her mother greatly. When Julie suddenly dies of a heart attack, Leila undertakes to arrange a Muslim funeral for her with the help of Julie’s mother. This upsets the whole family. Everyone must now navigate years of conflicts and undercurrents within one tumultuous day so that Julie can be buried before sunset, as Muslim custom requires.

A feared gang leader is released on parole after seven years. Has Map Jacobs changed, or is he still the bully? A family and community drama that takes place against the forced relocations from the Cape to the Plains. This piece gives a look at the way of life of the uprooted, their love and pain and the desperate longing for a better existence in a system that especially fails the defenseless.