Finders Keepers is a brand new South African comedy that features a host of big name actors and comedians. It’s the pilot film project of the Emerging Black Film Maker initiative, run by the NFVF and the IDC. The film is the third film to be directed by Maynard Kraak, and the fourth that he has produced.
On the cast list are Dalin Oliver (pictured right), Neels van Jaarsveld, Lise Slabber, Grant Swanby, Stuart Taylor, Irshaad Allie and Tyrel Meyer. Finders Keepers is due to be released in August.
Strip clubs, horse races and a big fat fish
The storyline is full of twists and turns, and promises a high speed comedic experience.
Lonnie November works at a Russian-owned Cape Town strip club as a janitor. The house rule is Finders Keepers, but when Lonnie discovers a hidden box containing a watch and cash, he would never have imagined the repercussions of keeping the loot.
Lonnie befriends a patron called Brian, a trust fund kid who has failed to really grow up. Brian is in love with Sonja, a dancer at the club, but the house rules forbid relationships being fostered with the dancers. When Sonja dances for other guys, Brian is fraught with jealousy and drinks excessively. Lonnie is his designated driver, and he takes the watch box and hides it at Brian’s house.
However, Brian finds the watch and bets everything on a big horse race. Meanwhile, the Russians unwittingly kill Lee, the son of a local mobster, Jackie Jardine. Lee was in possession of a watch box in which the Russians were smuggling illicit diamonds, and Lee had hidden it in the club toilet. When Jackie finds out his son has been murdered, he is set on revenge, and he believes the murderer has Lee’s new watch.
Both the Russian brothers and Jackie’s gang are after Lonnie and by association, Brian. The two unlikely buddies are on the run, whilst hatching a plan to repay the Russians. They learn of a valuable fish at the aquarium, and decide to steal it. They then have to keep the fish alive while evading their pursuers for two days until the big horse race.
However, Jackie kidnaps Sonja and blackmails Brian. Will Brian throw his new found friend Lonnie under the bus to save the woman of his dreams?
It’s all about the Cape
So, lots of fun and games. Finders Keepers is set predominantly in the City Bowl area of the Cape Peninsula, with the club location being in Green Point, and plenty of the action happening in Woodstock. Constantia and the Strandfontein coast on False Bay are also featured.
What: Finders Keepers
When: From 18 August
WS
