A powerful and poignant drama based on real events, “Skin” is the true story of a black child born in the 50s to white parents in apartheid South Africa.

Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo) is distinctly black — in appearance at least — despite the fact that both her parents, Abraham (Sam Neill) and Sannie (Alice Krige) are white Afrikaners.

Store owners in a remote area of Eastern Transvaal, South Africa, Abraham and Sannie are unaware of their own individual black genetics and have lovingly raised Sandra as their white little girl. Things soon drastically change when she is sent to an all white boarding school in the neighboring town of Piet Retief.

Ridiculed and shunned by her classmates, she’s finally examined by State officials after several complaints pour in from other parents and teachers. After being classified as ‘colored,’ she is expelled from the school and the story soon becomes an international scandal as her parents tackle the Supreme Court to have the classification reversed.

This true story follows Sandra’s story to present day.

SKIN: The movie opens on National circuit here on 22 January at Cinema Nouveau around the country. (Read the review)