Familiar face brings Hollywood to Mokopane
Nerina de Jager, is the co-producer and director of the international film, Amandla, which is currently being filmed in the country.
LIMPOPO – Despite her law degree and studies in computer programming her love for the arts followed her and today she is living her passion by doing what she was born to do.
Nerina de Jager (42) is a child of Africa where she sat under a thorn tree on the farm Moorddrift outside Mokopane on her director’s chair. She is a well-known television host in Hollywood and also the writer and director of Amandla, an international film which is currently being filmed in the country.
She matriculated at Pietersburg Hoërskool in 1992 and at school she participated in Eisteddfods and cultural activities. As one of six children, she loved her childhood in the bushveld where she was hunting birds with a slingshot and playing clay ox.
“It was with the family’s Volkswagen Combi that we discovered Africa. During those years, the Angolan war was in full force and our friends were always concerned for our safety. I will forever thank my parents for teaching me to face fearlessly towards tomorrow.
“They guarded us, but gave us enough space to just be kids and grow up with healthy measures.”
She completed her law degree cum laude from the University of Pretoria and after further studies in computer programming, the great wanderlust intrigued her. “I set out to explore the world. I have traveled to 65 countries, five of which I have lived in for extended periods of time.”
Her fairytale began in London in 2006 when she saw a newspaper advertisement for a position as a television host. “I can still hear the count-off before going on air and at that moment all I wanted to do was flee, but luckily I didn’t. Since then my life has changed completely. I realised I have a lot to learn, but I also discovered my wings.”
Nerina continued her career in Vancouver where she hosted FMA, a lifestyle and entertainment show that aired in Canada and the United States. In 2010 she became a Red Carpet Correspondent in Los Angeles for TV Guide Network where she rubbed shoulders with big Hollywood stars like Bradley Cooper, Jack Nicholson, Ashton Kutcher and Quentin Tarantino. “They are just ordinary people like all of us.” Today she does what she enjoys most – to write stories and share her inspiring work. She is excited about Amandla. She wrote the script for the film in 2011 and that is where she realised this is what she wanted to do. “Africa is in my blood and thus this film had to be shot here in my country. The local film crew is fantastic and they have helped me to reconnected with mother Africa again.”
Tale of two brothers in Amandla, the movie
Amandla the movie portrays the tragedy of two inseparable brothers who are violently orphaned at a tender age. Their lives assume different directions and the oldest falls into a life of crime to ensure their livelihood while the youngest pursues justice in a career as a policemen. When a savage crime drives the final wedge between them, brotherly love is put to a heart-wrenching test.
It tells a tale of love, loyalty and the true meaning of power. The film is slated for a June 2017 release worldwide.
redakteur.bosvelder@nmgroup.co.za
