A film about a young black woman born to white South African parents, Skin has its local premiere tonight at 7 at the Cleveland Museum of Art Lecture Hall. It shows again at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 7. Here’s our review of the film.

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Skin (Britain/South Africa, 2008) Based on the true story of a black girl born to white South African parents, Skin works on several different levels. It’s both an effective period piece that conveys the country’s political tension and it’s the personal story of a girl who had to suffer great hardship because of a genetic anomaly. Through flashbacks, we see young Sandra (Ella Ramangwane) get excluded from private school because of the color of her skin. But most of the story concerns the young adult Sandra (Sophie Okonedo) who struggles with her strict father (Sam Neill) who tries to prevent her from dating the black man (Tony Kgoroge) with whom she falls in love. As much as the movie is about Sandra’s tribulations and her struggle to change her “classification” from white to black, it’s Neill who really shines as the strong-willed and obstinate father who has disowned his daughter and refuses to reconcile. ***

This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2010.

Jeff has been covering the Cleveland music scene for more than 25 years now. On a regular basis, he tries to talk to whatever big acts are coming through town. And if you're in a local band that he needs to hear, email him at jniesel@clevescene.com.