'Skin' kicks off U.K.-S.A. accord

Pic stars Okonedo

By ADAM DAWTREY

CANNES -- Anthony Fabian's "Skin" will be the first movie to be produced under the U.K.-South Africa co-production treaty, which has finally become operational a year after it was signed.

U.K. culture secretary Tessa Jowell and deputy South African minister Ntombazana Gertrude Winifred Botha met in Cannes to officially confirm that the treaty's constitutional procedures have been completed.

"Skin," starring Sophie Okonedo in the true story of a black girl who was born to white parents by a freak of genetics, and suffered a lifetime of discrimination under South Africa's old apartheid laws, will start shooting in September.

It's produced by Margaret Matheson of the U.K.'s Bard Entertainment, and Genevieve Hofmeyr of South Africa's Moonlighting Films. The Little Film Co. is handling worldwide sales.