I Am All Girls
I Am All Girls is a 2021 South African mystery thriller film directed by Donovan Marsh and written by Emile Leuvennink and Marcell Greeff,  with additional writing credits by Jarrod de Jong, Wayne Fitzjohn and Donovan Marsh. It is based on true events but also contains fictionalised elements. Starring Erica Wessels, Hlubi Mboya and Masasa Mbangeni, the film follows detective Jodie Snyman and her colleague Ntombizonke Bapai as they race to track down members of an apartheid-era sex-trafficking syndicate who are being murdered one by one by an unknown serial killer.

Upon its release on 14 May 2021, I Am All Girls was watched by Netflix subscribers all over the world, at one point ranking among the world's Top 10 films on Netflix.

Plot
Inspired by true events, the narrative revolves around Gert de Jager, a South African offender who was imprisoned in 1994. He was charged with the abduction of six girls. None of them were ever found. In a recorded tape, Gert de Jager confessed to kidnapping these girls under the instructions of a National Party Cabinet Minister. He smuggled those girls to Middle East countries like Iran in exchange for Oil. However, this tape was never released by The Aprthied Government and Gert de Jager was killed soon after his confession. 
In present-day Johannesburg, South Africa, DPCI (Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation) officer, Jodie Snyman is profusely carrying out human trafficking raids but with little to no results. The operation is tight on resources and is on the verge of shutting down when suddenly they find a slaughtered white male with initials carved on his body. Further investigation reveals that the body belonged to Cabinet Minister, Oupa who was also on the National Register for sex offenders. Jodie finds some hidden tapes in Oupa’s garage and concludes that he was a pedophile who assaulted his own granddaughter. The initials on his dead body, T.S.C links to Tarrynlee Shaw Carter who was one of the six missing girls abducted by Gert de Jager. Oupa is hinted to be the same cabinet minister against whom Gert de Jager witnessed.
The case gets more complicated when more bodies with similar initials start surfacing. The killing method in each one is similar. Jodie assumes the killing to be a work of a vigilante on the run who is taking revenge for those six missing girls. However, with the help of the hooded killer, Jodie uncovers a syndicate of sex trafficking cartels thus cleaning the society by unlawful means. 
Jodie finds Gert de Jager recorded tape in her assistant, Ntombizonke Bapai’s flat. She connects the dots finally concluding that Ntombizonke is the hooded killer. Through Gert’s tape, Jodie finds out about a farm in Brakpan from where the Syndicate was run by FJ Nolte (Deon Lotz), the cabinet minister about whom Gert was actually talking about. Out of 6 girls kidnapped by Gert, FJ Nolte only smuggled 5. He kept Ntombizonke (child) and assaulted her. Jodie learns that Brakpan has an airstrip from where girls are sold directly to potential buyers without conflicting the secured routes. She drives to Brakpan and finds dead bodies of Khan brothers, the shipping transporters who were smuggling girls in large numbers and were earlier captured by Jodie.
In Brakpan, Jodie spots an incoming plan. A close visual reveals that FJ Nolte is out to sell another six girls to an Iranian Sheikh, who arrives there on his charter plane. Jodie tries to intercept but fails. She loses an investigating officer along with Ntombizonke. 
Jodie continues the legacy of Ntombizonke and wears the hood of a vigilante herself. She kills FJ Nolte in his house and marks his chest with Ntombizonke’s initials (similar to her revenge rituals). Jodie boards a plane to Iran to finish off the remaining culprit, The Iranian Sheikh.
Suspended from the force, Jodie is a suspected criminal but after the death of FJ Nolte, her commanding officer neglects any connection. Jodie becomes the free vigilante who accepts “when the law becomes unlawful, it is time to become an Outlaw.”

Cast
 Erica Wessels as Jodie Snyman
 Hlubi Mboya as Ntombizonke Bapai
Nomvelo Makhanya as teenage Ntombizonke
Leshego Molokwane as young Ntombizonke
 Deon Lotz as FJ Nolte
 Mothusi Magano as Captain George Mululeki
 Brendon Daniels as Investigating Officer Samuel Arendse
 J.P. du Plessis : Gert de Jager
 Lizz Meiring as Gert's girlfriend
 Rafiq Jajbhay as Iranian boss
 Masasa Mbangeni as Thamsanqa
 Ben Kruger as Oupa Carel Duvenhage
 Tamarin du Toit as Liezel Lourens
 Marcus Mabusela as Coroner
 Cindy Swabepoel as Mrs Lourens
 Israel Matseke Zulu as pimp
 Mampho Brescia as brother boss girl
 Khutjo Green as Agnes
 Jason Fiddler as Khan's shipping official
 Lovie Ramasrai as container yard official
 Afzal Kahn as Salim Khan
 Matt Stern as Salim Khan's lawyer
 Kaseran Pillay as Pharwaz Khan
 Federico Fernandez as young Iranian boss
 Kate Liquorish as airline attendant
 Eduard Horn as Gert's interrogator

Pre-production 
Wayne Fitzjohn, the founder of Nthibah Pictures, first started working on this project about sex-trafficking syndicates because he wanted to shine light on the difficulties South African police services face in fighting against the crime of human trafficking. He also wanted to show that there are "those who are dedicated to helping the victims."

Awards and nominations

References

External links
 
 
 

2021 films
2021 thriller films
2020s mystery thriller films
2020s English-language films
English-language Netflix original films
English-language South African films
South African thriller films
Works about sex trafficking