It was clear that Semi-Soet held great potential for Vrede en Lust as a brand to get on board and become part of this new Afrikaans production as the main location for the film. As well-experienced the cast and crew were, I think we are still amazed at how excellent this entire project was executed and how well it has been received by the South African public to date.

The movie has enjoyed a great run in theaters. To date, nearly 300,000 people have seen the movie. According to the Alexanders,  the highlight for them as producers has been the overwhelmingly positive feedback. Film critics rated Semi-Soet highly and it is  clear that the South African audience  loved it too!

Semi-Soet’s attendance soon beat the previous Afrikaans success story Platteland  (released late November 2011): in the 3^rd weekend of Semi-Soet’s run , it surpassed Platteland’s attendances by 111,7%, setting it up for the 4^thweekend by 176,5%, the 5^th weekend by 402,7%, the 6^th weekend by 278,4% and the 7^th weekend by 301,8%! Semi-Soet is currently still showing at just over 30 theatres while in its 9^th week!

The latest box office figures showed that up until the 8^th week, Semi-Soet has generated a total of R8 million nett at Box Office. Typically, the DVD sales and Pay TV agreements are worth more than box office sales, so the Producers are rather excited to see what the lifetime holds for this Afrikaans romcom. The planned release date for the DVD is 30 April and currently it is the top DVD on pre-orders on Kalahari.net!

The cast included former Afrikaans soap 7de Laan stars like Nico Panagio and Diaan Lawrenson,  Paul du Toit (Binnelanders) and Corine du Toit. The talented Sandra Vaughn (from Getroud met Rugby) was both the scriptwriter and one of the main characters in the movie. Her character  falls in love with comedian Louw Venter. These two characters  caused lots of laughs in the movie.

The crew booked in on the 17^th of April last year and by the 5^th of May they had completed  the wine farm scenes that made up almost 70% of the movie. The weather, true to the Cape, gave them some  breathtaking summer days and some cold, rainy days, perfect for  their fireplace scenes.

Although some of the shots in the movie look  too good to be true, the director promises he did not edit the lighting and colour at all! It is one of the suprises of  the film and something that struck our consciousness – to see how beautiful our workplace is on the big screen!

Anel and James had a very competent team that came on board, like the Director Joshua Rous, who worked on a previous film with Anel and James, called “Discreet” where they co-starred. Scramble Productions is the Alexanders’ start-up production company.

We  accommodated most of the cast and crew on our premises during their shooting period. With them sleeping and shooting in the same spaces, it contributed a great deal to the feel and the experience they had and created on set.  The energetic, positive and kind group of people got the opportunity to truly experience our historic Manor House and Jonkmanshuis. Chef Duncan from Cotage Fromage prepared a delicious buffet every morning and afternoon.  Many thought it was the best on-set food ever!

In February this year we were involved in both the Johannesburg and Cape Town movie premieres. The Jo’burg premiere hosted 1,000 guests at the Montecasino Nu Metro theatres. The majority of guests were local celebrities, singers, actors, filmmakers, sponsors, media and corporates. Because of our partnership and wine sponsorship for these events and further marketing initiatives, we were also granted a certain number of complimentary invitations which we extended to our Gauteng-based Wine club members. They had the opportunity to be part of this classy, formal event and to share the red carpet with some big local personalities.

The Cape Town premiere was on a much smaller scale and hosted entirely by us, so we had the opportunity to invite  our Cape Town-based Wine club members, friends and family, the local media partners plus some cast’s friends or family that could not make the Jo’burg event. It was another classy event, but more intimate than the Jo’burg one, hosted at The Fugard Theatre in District six.

James from Salt & Pepper Catering added to a lovely evening with delicious canapés and of course all our passionate ladies in red were serving our Jess Dry Rosé, Sauvignon Blanc or Boet Erasmus wines. They looked just as elegant as the movie stars! To add to the romantic ambiance, we partnered with Lindt to provide delicious dark chocolate to pair with the Boet Erasmus!

There were a mix of Afrikaans and English-speaking guests and the feedback on the night was that it was greatly enjoyed and definitely exceeded everyone’s  expectations. It is a movie that portrays the Afrikaner in a more aspiring manner vs the slapstick movies of late.

In addition to the release of the movie, we launched a limited edition of the Boet Erasmus 2008. We named the wine “Vryersvoetpad” after the scene in the movie where Jaci (Alexander) and JP (Panagio) walk a lover’s lane of sorts and end up being chased by a pig into a dam and ended in a tree. The image on the label of the wine is synonymous with the imagery from the scene. Each bottle is numbered to a total of 1,400 and very little stock is still available from Makro and our tasting room. For Semi-Soet lovers, this wine can remain a collector’s item or serve well on a romantic date!

If you have not seen the movie, whether you are English or Afrikaans, we want to encourage you to go watch the movie, even if it is just to support a bit of local romantic-comedy. I am almost sure to say that you will be pleasantly surprised! And if you still don’t like watching Afrikaans movies (with English sub-titles), at least you will see how stunning Vrede en Lust looks on big screen!

We will have another movie night at Vrede en Lust for all the farm staff that has not yet seen the movie, pure with popcorn, Coke and a big screen!

We are very happy that Anel walked in here that day! James, Anel and the rest of the team, from our side CONGRATULATIONS on pulling together such a quality production and for making Vrede en Lust one of the stars in it!

Local is lekker!
To read more about the movie visit our website

A very succinct comment from a highly regarded local film critic! We participated in the Semi-Soet Johannesburg Premier at Monte Casino (2nd of Feb) and last night’s Cape Town Premier at the Atholl Fugard Theatre. “The best South African movie yet” was the typical response heard from most of the premiere guests. Both events were packed and the guests were in high spirits, mixing with many local entertainment celebrities. The main actors – Anel Alexander, Nico Panagio, Sandra Vaughn, Louw Venter, Diaan Lawrenson, Paul du Toit and Corine du Toit - were at both the premieres where they stayed till the last guests went home.

When we were first approached about Vrede en Lust being the wine farm in the movie we had a few concerns. Not least being that one’s brand could suffer collateral damage in the event of a poor movie. We watched the DVD of Anel and James’s movie Discreet, which convinced us that the risks on the downside were less than the benefits on the upside. We had high hopes for Semi-Soet, but I suspect the movie will do much better than our wildest expectations. Semi-Soet will launch at 70 movie theaters across South Africa on the 17th of February 2012.

Everyone agreed that it was very funny, classy, gripping, professionally produced and shows that Afrikaans movies can be successful without being slapstick and musician centric. Anel and James Alexander from Scramble Productions put their heart and soul into this project and made a great movie on a $ budget that would any producer in Hollywood’s mind! They put together a strong cast backed by a professional production team. Most importantly, they got everyone to believe in what was possible and that the movie would change the direction of local movies going forward.

A big thanks on our side to the cast and crew of Semi-Soet for the great job done and for allowing Vrede en Lust to participate to the extent we do! Thanks also to Janina Otto for all her work with Semi-Soet and the premieres, and to my wife Anneke and her team who worked so hard to ensure everyone had enough wine to taste and enjoy at the premieres. The photo above was taken at the Cape Town event with the cast and some of the Vrede en Lust team.

There is an interesting connection that goes back to 2003, with Corine du Toit, one of the stars of Semi-Soet. Corine was the model we had selected for the very first Vrede en Lust advertisement! We used the ad for about a year, by which time Corine had moved on from modeling to a role in the TV series Egoli. She had done numerous other TV series and movies over the last 9 years. Great to do something together again Corine!

Our wines and marketing have also moved forward a long way since then! To celebrate the release of Semi-Soet, we are launching a very limited release wine – the ‘Vryersvoetpad 2008‘, as featured in the movie. It is a smooth, sophisticated, Merlot dominant, Bordeaux blend. Only 1,450 bottles were produced. Each bottle is numbered and the Vryersvoetpad will be available exclusively from Makro fine wine departments country wide, as well as from our cellardoor and eStore.

You can also visit Semi-Soet on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

The unpredictable Cape weather had us seeing all our weather cover days used up in the first half of week one. Needless to say, this left everyone more than a little anxious about the rest of the Cape shoot. However, a quick e-mail to Mother Nature saw us blessed with just the right amount of sun and cloud to capture the pictures we only hoped we would manage to get!

From snow on the mountains to 30C days, we had it all, in just the right order to show off our beautiful country. Oh, and of course, we had a few actors in the foreground too.

What a stellar cast we have been allowed to make magic with! (See picture below) Between the lot of them, there was a chemistry on screen which pole-vaulted the dialogue off the page and provided fits of laughter on and behind the scenes. To have the top talent in the country so invested in the project has been exhilarating and humbling.

The Semi-Soet Cast

The production value on Semi-Soet is in a different league and from the rushes we’ve seen is going to look epic on the big screen.

And so we turn our lens to eclectic Johannesburg where we hope to show off how sexy and chic this world class city can look. From dramatic skylines to Aston Martin’s racing across Nelson Mandela bridge to three grown men on a scooter – Johannesburg is going to be its own kind of beautiful and we can’t wait to get started!

Cameras start rolling on Wednesday the 11th through until Thursday the 26th of May and we would love to share the experience with you. If you would like to visit the set please contact our production manager Jessie White on jessjjf_film@hotmail.com or Cell: 076 743 7579.

Thanks for your tireless efforts in going above and beyond in making sure that this film could be made. We believe you will be more than proud when you sit watching it munching on a big box of popcorn!

Scramble Productions