Growing up in the ’80s, best friends Jeffrey and Brad, try to navigate the growing pains of being teen boys in the hilarious new SA movie ‘Just Now Jeffrey’.
South Africa (03 May 2024) – Local, coming-of-age comedy Just Now Jeffrey is set to have South Africans in stitches when it’s released at cinemas countrywide on Friday 3 May.
Update: The film is now available to watch online by clicking here.
After years in the making, the movie was snapped up on completion by international film festivals in Toronto, Beverly Hills and Poland; as well as Ster-Kinekor, Nu Metro, the Labia and Bioscope theatres locally. It’s been praised for its world-class production, beautiful cinematography, art direction, and catchy soundtrack.
Toronto Film Festival Director Stuart Hands says, “People always ask what is it that festivals look for in a film, and we say something we’ve never seen before. And Just Now Jeffrey is just that. We’d never seen a coming of age film set in South Africa in the 1980’s, with world class production values”
While the world was radically changing around him, teenager Jeffrey Greenbaum (Julian Robinson) hardly noticed. He just needed to get laid. Jeffrey convinces his best pal Brad Berman (Dino Vavatzanidis), to help devise a strategy to lose their virginity before they finish high school.
But things don’t go as planned and Jeffrey and Brad soon become entangled in a crazy web of love, lust, videotape piracy, rugby violence, political protest and pornography. This unique and edgy coming-of-age story will touch your heart … and your funny bone.
From writers / directors Brett Morris and Hylton Tannenbaum, and featuring an all-star ensemble cast including Rob van Vuuren, Nicky Rebelo, Nik Rabinowitz, Natasha Loring, Frances Sholto-Douglas, Mila Rayne and Meghan Oberholzer, and introducing newcomers Julian Robinson and Dino Vavatzanidis, the comedy is set in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1989.
Hylton Tannenbaum and Brett Morris have been best friends since they were 12 years old. After more than 25 years of working in advertising, and winning several international awards, they have finally realised their lifelong dream of making a movie.
“Just Now Jeffrey has been several years in the making. It was our intention to create a unique coming-of-age comedy that represents and normalises our youths as teens growing up in 1980s South Africa. We have also always wanted to give a voice to a generation that grew up in South Africa towards the end of apartheid. We found that South Africans were generally painted with the same brush, and we wanted to show all of the complexity and nuances across the political spectrum during that time: from right to left and everything in between.” shared the Directors
Bioscope Films, one of South Africa’s most established and awarded production companies, teamed up with Moonlighting Films, a successful local film services company, to create a unique, world-class production. Filmed on location in Cape Town during 2023, Just Now Jeffrey was produced using an all-South African cast and crew.
The rich and layered soundtrack of the film is made up of a combination of original music scored by Alun Richards, and a wide range of local and international 1980s hits by artists including Twisted Sister, Soft Cell, Joy, Petit Cheval, Cinema, Sweatband, Wonderboom and Sipho Hotstix Mabuse.
Watch the trailer below. The movie premiers the 3rd of May 2024 and is available to watch here.
Sources: Press Release
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