Reyka, the much anticipated, brand new M-Net African thriller-drama follows a flawed but brilliant criminal profiler, Reyka Gama played by Kim Engelbrecht. Haunted by her past, she investigates a string of brutal murders committed by a serial killer in the sugar cane fields of KwaZulu-Natal.
- Reyka was created 12 years ago and is written by award-winning screenwriter Rohan Dickson. This project has been quite a journey for Dickson and he has a pretty cool story for anyone who is losing faith in their career in the arts. His first writing job came at the age of 24, he wrote “Husk”, which was nominated for the Palm d’Or at Cannes and many years later, it’s “Reyka” ... quite a journey.
- Director Catherine Cook: I think we discovered a new kind of challenge shooting in the KZN sugar cane fields in the middle of summer. If it was 36 degrees, it would be between 38 and 39 degrees inside the cane. And because we had to clear some of the cane the sugar would attract flies, so we were walking on a variety of flies. And if the heat and flies were not enough, we were constantly on the lookout for snakes. And just remember we also had “bodies” with latex prosthetics built onto them to look like corpses, I think they were probably the most challenged people on set. We were truly a committed team or passionately mad!
- Reyka spent 7 weeks in Kwazulu-Natal, predominantly filming in rural Stanger and Inanda – on farms and cane fields as well as in rural settlements.
- There were also snake wranglers at the cane fields, while they were shooting in KZN. The wranglers would always ensure that snakes or other hazardous animals don't interfere with filming.
- Reyka was led by a group of strong women – two women producers Serena Cullen (Lady Chatterley’s Lover) and Harriet Gavshon (The Girl from St Agnes), and a woman director Catharine Cooke (The Girl from St Agnes). The cast includes Kim Engelbrecht (The Flash/Dominion), Anna-Mart van der Merwe (Poppie Nongena/Kanarie), Thando Thabethe (Housekeepers/94.7 Radio DJ), Leeanda Reddy is (Legacy/The Dark Tower), Nokuthula Mavuso (Lioness, Abomama), and Fiona Ramsey (Lioness/Vergeet my Nie). Then there are also two young talented ladies Rashaan Stackling and Gabrielle De Gama (Singer).
*For updates and more go to the Reyka webpage mnet.tv and join the conversation by using #ReykaSA on Twitter (@MNet)/ Instagram (@mnettv)/ Facebook (@MNet) and DStv Twitter (@DStv)/Instagram (@dstvza)/Facebook (@DStvSouthAfrica).
