Ellen

The true story of Ellen Pakkies, a black South African woman who killed her grown son Abie in Cape Flats, a poverty-stricken, crime-ridden township in Cape Town. Starting with the murder, it relates – in parallel to what followed – how she came to the decision. Abie went off the rails as a teen when he discovered he was the result of a rape. Frustrated, he started doing the readily available crystal meth.

The film depicts the physical and psychological consequences of the addiction, and how Abie’s parents keep stretching their boundaries in their loving attempts to help their son until, ultimately, there only seems to be one way out. Ellen also depicts what reality is like for many of the poor in South Africa. 

Director Daryne Joshua made the film after meeting Pakkies, who was punished for her deed, but in an unconventional, controversial manner.