Directed by John Greyson Canada/ Netherlands / South Africa, 2003, 35mm, 100 min. Strand Releasing Florida Premiere

A love strong enough to withstand all the elements working to destroy it - sexual, social, racial, political - grows between two men in a penal colony off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa more than 200 years ago. The lust of swarthy, imprisoned Dutch sailor, Rijkhaart Jacobsz is immediately awakened when Claas Blank, a young Kohe herder, unjustly convicted of thieving cattle from white colonizers, arrives in the hard labor camp of Robbins Island. The fierce tribesman initially reacts with disgust to the Dutchman's advances, but after several repeat encounters Blank's punishing, violent anger begins to soften and a genuine love begins to flourish between the two men despite all the odds...much like the beautiful native South African flower, the proteus, that flourishes in the harsh growing conditions of the rocky island cliffs.

An English botanist who is on the island researching the South African protea species for the European market, one day discovers the two men in coitus - and runs to report the horrifying "crime" to the Afrikaan authorities, setting in motion a series of events made all the more tragic by several unexpected dramatic twists and turns. Canadian director John Greyson deepens and matures the style of his earlier, "other" flower drama Lilies (1996), and here works with South African activist Jack Lewis from actual historical documents of a real-life story to create a moving and powerful allegory of contemporary homosexual persecutions. Frequent time-lapse close ups of blooming proteuses only underscore the sharp contrast between the beauty of love and the horrors of intolerance.
In English and Afrikaan with English Subtitles.

Director John Greyson will attend the screening to discuss the film with the audience.
Total running time: 100 min.
$12 non-members / $10 members

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