Van Eeden, who wrote the script for the internationally acclaimed "White Lion" (2010), has taken nine years to write the poignant story about her brother's experience and is now ready to put it on the big screen.
"I've launched a crowd-sourcing campaign on IndieGoGo.com to raise production funds for this film after the conventional fund-raising platforms didn't help me," she explains. "This film is timeless, a film about the young men who gave up their lives to fight in a war they had no desire to fight. Every white young man in South Africa in the seventies, eighties and early nineties was conscripted into military service," says Van Eeden.
"A Shot at the Big Time" traces the life of her brother and one of his black friends who just wanted to play music. "They had no interest in waging war against each other - they just wanted to be rock stars. Then Jimmy received his call-up papers. After a fatal accident, he had a mental breakdown. He was removed from service and placed in a mental home to recover. He just started to find his feet when the army drafted him again and sent him into armed combat on the Angolan border. His broken heart couldn't do this. So instead of fighting, he released the bullets from his rifle and walked straight into the line of enemy fire, strumming his gun, like his beloved guitar."
A number of songs have already been written by Jonathan Handley of the Radio Rats, who was so moved by reading the script that he recorded songs which can be viewed on the Indiegogo website.
