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• Berlin EFM 2020 (Debut)

Year of production : 2021

Director(s) : Ian GABRIEL
Writer(s) : Gabe GABRIEL
Cast : Niza Jay NCOYINI

Producer(s) : Shant JOSHI (Fae Pictures), Roelof STORM (Marche Media)

Set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1980s Johannesburg, a white Afrikaans mother IRENE, has just lost her teenage son to AIDS. Her grief turns into a hatred of and desire to punish the man who infected and killed him.
To trace her son’s footsteps, Irene befriends an elderly white woman, Granny Lee, who has been volunteering in support of the underground gay community in the “whites-only” community of Hillbrow. As these two women journey through Johannesburg searching through Billy’s last year of life, they grow to rely on each other’s friendship.
Their journey soon leads them to the African township of Soweto where Irene discovers that her son’s lover was a Black teenager and is HIV-negative.
Upset that she has hit a dead-end, Irene reacts violently resulting in her and Granny Lee’s parting of ways. Before the two can reconcile, Irene learns of Granny Lee’s untimely death.
At the funeral, Irene learns that her friend was, in fact, born a coloured man. Reflecting on her journey with Granny Lee, Irene resolves to take Lee’s place to volunteer and care for and fight for the lives of young men and women who lived and loved like Billy did...