Skin

Skin is based on the true story of Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo). Born in 1955 during South Africa's Apartheid era, Sandra is the daughter of white Afrikaner parents. However, due to a genetic anomaly, Sandra was born black (many Afrikaner bloodlines contain black genetic material).

Sandra's stubborn father, Abraham (Sam Neill), fights the State to get her classified as officially ‘white'. Despite this, the white community refuses to accept her. Sandra eventually finds solace in a black man and elopes with him to Swaziland. Abraham disowns her and forces his wife (Alice Krige) to cut all ties.

Anthony Fabian heard Sandra's story ten years ago in a radio interview and was instantly inspired. Knowing very little about South Africa's past, he had to lot to read up on. "This film goes to the heart of every aspect of South African history over the last 60 years and in that sense it was a very big lesson - a PhD in South African history," he says.

Making his research a little easier, Fabian was able to sell the publication rights of Sandra's story to Miramax Books. The company hired Judith Stone to write Sandra's biography and she generously shared her findings with Fabian.

Laing was also an active consultant on the film. "I think she found it very cathartic and quite therapeutic to see the scenes from her life being acted out and certainly the process of sharing her story with the world has been a very healing one for her," he says.

The process of getting the film noticed has been a slow burn though.

"Casting was tricky because there are very few black actresses that mean something to financiers and distributors," he recalls. Assuming that it'd be an easier task, Fabian decided to cast the parents first. While there were plenty of name actors to choose from, there were few that were willing to play supporting roles to an unknown African actress in a low budget, independent film.

For the role of Sandra, therefore, Fabian needed a name that meant something in the industry. He noticed the UK actress Okonedo, who had been nominated for an Oscar for her part in Hotel Rwanda. Fabian approached her and she committed to the film within weeks of reading the script.

The script itself took five years to perfect. For Fabian, the central narrative was about dynamic between Sandra and her parents - the issue of racial discrimination was just a backdrop. "The thing that makes the film most universal is that fact that we all have parents and I think that that cycle of rejection-acceptance that Sandra goes through is something that many of us go through with our families," he explains.

Nonetheless, the touchy topic of racism made the film difficult to find distribution for. "A racist subject matter is considered something of a taboo and difficult for people - it takes films like Samson and Delilah to actually break through and prove that there are audiences that are wiling to deal with difficult subjects; subjects that involve non-white people," says Fabian.

Fabian persevered and proved the cynics wrong - Skin was one of most popular films during the Perth Film Festival and is now due to open in at least eight Australian cities.

It has now won 18 international awards and opened up many doors for the American-born Fabian, who started out as an opera director before moving on to short films and documentaries.

"I'm not going to just make films with a message - not just for it to be medicine that's good for you. I want it to be in some way engaging as well," he says. Emily Cheng