THE locally produced movie Themba - A Boy Called Hope opens tomorrow at cinemas and tells the story of a young boy growing up in rural Eastern Cape.

He rises above his family difficulties to become a player in the South African national soccer team, despite Aids. Set and shot in Port St John in the Eastern Cape and Masiphumelele township, south of Cape Town, the film is directed by Stefanie Sycholt, who also adapted the screenplay from Lutz van Dijk's youth book Crossing the Line.

Perhaps the best affirmation of the film's message comes from Van Dijk who was inspired by stories of people who rose to their own challenges when he wrote his book. "I think we are breaking stereotypes around HIV and Aids. Many of our prominent soccer players are HIV positive, it's just that no one talks about it. This can perhaps change that. With a film like this we can show people living with dignity and compassion. We can give them hope."

Themba introduces a couple of talented newcomers. Director Sycholt revelled in working with all five of the first-time actors. "I love working with children who've never acted before, and we had a lot of those, as well as Simphiwe Dana in her first acting role."

Celebrated singing star Dana, who hails from Gcuwa and was raised in Lusikisiki, near Port St Johns, makes her film acting debut as Mandisa, Themba's mother. In Europe, Dana who these days lives in Johannesburg, is best known in the genre of world music. Her songs are sung mainly in Xhosa and deal in particular with the history of her people. Composed by herself, they draw on the traditions of her upbringing and speak of freedom and self-determination, particularly for women.

According to Sycholt she needed to find a special talent to play the role of the tireless, loving mother. Although Sama award-winning jazz singer Dana has been hailed as the "new Miriam Makeba" she'd never acted before.

"For Mandisa I was looking around for an actress to portray this journey she has to go on and physically she had to be slim and frail. She had to be believable and it had to be authentic," says Sycholt. She was having a meeting with Dana's agent about something else and the idea of Simphiwe playing the role came up.

"She has this wonderful face and this deep emotional core to her. It clicked. It was a chance that I took and it paid off."

The director confesses to being especially excited about Simphiwe's performance. "She is just a fabulous talent, with such emotional depth. She was prepared to go to all the places I was leading her to. It was a thrill to watch that unfold."

Themba was a difficult film to cast because the story happens over a period of six years and they needed to find children from two age groups. For the older Themba and Sipho the director casted Nat "Junior" Singo, who rose to fame in his debut film Beat the Drum and The Wooden Camera and Kagiso Motsei who played the lead for her in Malunde.

It was a long process to match the older Themba with their younger counterparts."I had the inherent faith that everything would come together," Sycholt says. "We didn't have a young Sipho or young Themba till a week before we started shooting. We looked at hundreds of kids and sent a talent scout down to Umtata and the region of the Eastern Cape where we were filming." Then Sycholt got a phone call from a shopping centre in Umtata where they found Emmanuel Soqinase who plays the young Themba.

The two Nomthas were both "discoveries" who came from Port St Johns. "While we were out on a recce looking for locations, this 15-year-old girl, Anisa Mhlungula, came running up to sell us her beads. I asked her if she was doing this on her holidays and she said ‘no, I'm a business woman I don't have time to have holidays'."

Sycholt loved her confidence and asked if she would be interested in coming to the casting, "I was struck by her power. I got her to cry a few tears at the first audition and I thought great!"