Manenberg

Synopsis

Manenberg is a coming-of-age story about two young ‘Cape Coloureds’ struggling to make sense in the ruins of a post-apartheid South African township. Manenberg is a suburb outside Cape Town, which was constructed during the apartheid-regime to house coloured families with low incomes. Today it is a worn-down and overpopulated ghetto-area with enormous social problems, where the chances of becoming a gangster are greater than the chances of creating something new in the ruins of the past – but it is also an area with strong ties between the inhabitants in the claustrophobic houses. Based on 5 years of ongoing anthropological research in the area, the film invites the audience behind the headlines and into the lives of Warren and Fazline and their families. It is an intimate film about coming of age amidst difficult surroundings, about families, about life and its conflicts. It is a film about everyday life and dreams of the future.