A still from Finding Optel showing Claire looking through binoculars

24 October 2025

Finding Optel (2024)

Teenager Claire Abrahams runs a lost and found service where she locates anything and everything that has been misplaced. When Optel, the community dog, goes missing, Claire must confront her brother’s painful disappearance in order to solve her biggest case yet.

Finding Optel has just had its international premiere at The BFI London Film Festival, which describes the film as “heartwarming … a quirky detective story that skilfully tackles childhood grief.”

Finding Optel had its South African premiere at the kykNET Silwerskerm Festival in August, where the whimsical detective story received a standing ovation, a nomination for Paul Guyeu’s cinematography, and the Best Production Design award for Sumaya Wicomb.

Mikayla stars as Claire, supported by an all-star cast that includes award winner Oscar Petersen (Joe Barber) as her father, SAFTA nominee Zenobia Kloppers (Fiela se Kind), Rodney “Rotas” Goliath and Sherman Pharo (both Arendsvlei), Maurice Carpede and Euodia Samson (both Summertide), Elton Landrew (Spinners, Carissa), and Omar Adams (Barakat, The Umbrella Men).

Award winners Quanita Adams and Dominique Jossie are producing through Blended Films, which won four Silwerskerm awards last year for Hier.Na.

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