The Award winning director and executive producer of the critically acclaimed South African neo-noir "Of Good Report" (winner of 7 SAFTAs in 2014), Jahmil X.T. Qubeka and Lwazi Manzi, have joined forces with Spier Films to develop and produce a number of new films through both Spier Films and a new joint venture called Mercurial Pictures.

Films include:

– "The White Devil" – a supernatural thriller which Spier Films hopes to shoot in March next year in the UK.

– "Dead By Dawn" – a US set cop thriller to be financed and shot in South Africa in collaboration with Justin Cohen’s Picturescope. The screenplay is being written by Sean Drummond who previously received the Videovision 2013 Award for Best South African Film Project for his African Western "Five Fingers for Marseilles."

– And "First Man" – a Science Fiction odyssey selected for Locarno Open Doors 2014.

“We believe that Jahmil is one of the most interesting directors in South Africa at the moment,” says Spier Films MD Michael Auret. “And we have had an extremely positive and creatively exciting process working with him and with Lwazi Manzi who is an incredibly talented emerging producer, so it makes sense for us to develop a joint slate.”

Spier Films aims to work with more South African talent and use the strong combination of creative and strategic experience in this partnership to launch feature films into the international market.

Spier Films has also joined forces with director Vincent Moloi on his debut project "Tjovitjo," the story of a township dance troupe, which has received support from the National Film & Video Foundation and the Hubert Bals Fund.

By the way, as I announced earlier today, "Of Good Report" is now available in the USA via Indieflix.