Former ECR contributor Terrance Pillay's documentary to screen at Durban Film Fest
'Magdalene’s Lies' will make its way to the film festival in Durban.
The late Terrance Pillay will have his documentary, 'Magdalene's Lies', featured at the Durban International Film Festival.
Terence directed as well as produced the documentary, while award-winning journalist Julie Laurenz wrote it.
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Terrance, who passed away in January after a long illness, was known for his investigative journalism and passion for justice.
The short doccie looks at Laurenz’s investigation into how a woman from Wentworth in Durban tricked an American out of millions.
A mix between re-enactments and video footage interviews of the victims and the alleged culprit, Laurenz knew from early on in her investigation that the foreigner had been scammed.
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"After working for so many years on productions like ‘Carte Blanche’ and ‘Special Assignment’, you develop a gut feeling.
"So when the victim was telling me the story of all these tragedies that had come upon this woman and her family and how he helped, I kept on thinking, 'This ain't real, surely?'. However, you’ve got to give people the benefit of the doubt," said Laurenz.
Laurenz mentioned that it was difficult for her to finish the project without Terence.
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“It was and definitely still is really, really hard because he got sick before we finished it. We were busy with the final mixing. Terence and I started working together officially in around 1993. We knew each other so well. We loved working together," said Laurenz.
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Magdalene’s Lies will screen at the Durban International Film festival this week.
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