South Africa competes in this year’s Best International Feature race with The Heart Is a Muscle , the debut feature from filmmaker Imran Hamdulay .

The film follows Ryan ( Keenan Arrison ), a young father whose son goes missing during a birthday gathering. Ryan’s violent reaction to the scare sets off a chain of events that unearths past secrets and a journey of self-discovery and forgiveness.

Hamdulay, who debuted the film in the Panorama Competition at the 2025 Berlinale, said at Dealdine’s Contenders Film: International event that the idea for the film came to him after he experienced the fallout of a similar scenario in real life.

“I was at a friend’s barbecue, and a similar incident happened where my friend’s son went missing, and everyone sprang to action. We were all ru

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