150 extras from Mossel Bay area in new TV drama series
About 150 people from Mossel Bay and surrounds are extras in a new television drama series, titled Juffrou X, starting on kykNET on Tuesday, 20 April.
The series was filmed in George; Hoekwil in the greater Wilderness area; and Touwsranten, near Hoekwil.
Juffrou X portrays a teacher who goes the extra mile to help her learners amid the challenges of poverty, gangs, drugs and crime faced by the community in which the school is situated.
In fact the teacher, played by the freshfaced Trix Vivier (25), goes so far to help, that she finds herself in danger and must fight for her life.
Mossel Bay's Gemini Model and Talent Agency supplied extras for the series.
Gemini owner Frieda van der Walt used
her own actors who are signed with her and also had to draw from members of the public who had never been on a film set before.
The extras enjoyed the interesting experience. Filming took place from January to the end of February 2023. Some of the scenes included school rooms, a bar, restaurant, a beach party at Victoria Bay near George and an all-night "hippie" party in the forest in Wilderness.
National recognition
Vivier became known nationally when she played Flea van Jaarsveld in the 2019 television series, Trackers. She played Kate Myburgh in kykNET and Showmax's production, Waterfront, and Vicky Ferreira in the kykNET youth series, Sterlopers.
She was also in the lead cast of the TV series, Legacy, playing Petra Potgieter.
Besides Vivier, the main cast of Juffrou X consists of Clayton Evertson, Gershwin Mias, Anja Taljaard, André Jacobs, Bianca Flanders, De Klerk Oelofse, Jennifer Steyn and Marlon Swarts.
Juffrou X is a Meerfout Films production. Berdene Burger is the producer and Janhendrik Burger the cinematographer.
The series, scripted and directed by Tertius Kapp, who is a winner of the Hertzog Prize, consists of eight episodes.
The Hertzog Prize is an annual award given to Afrikaans writers. It is the most prestigious prize in Afrikaans literature. When Kapp was asked why the George area was chosen for filming, among the reasons he noted was the beauty of the landscape. He said the themes of forest and wood ran throughout the series.
Juffrou X screens at 20:00 on kykNET, DStv channel 144 and can also be seen on DStv Stream and Catch Up.