High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A Dry White Season is a film which was created in 1989 by Davros Films and Sundance Productions and distributed by MGM. It was directed by Euzhan Palcy and produced by Paula Weinstein, Mary Selway and Tim Hampton. The screenplay was by Colin Welland and Euzhan Palcy, based upon André Brink's novel of the same name. Robert Bolt also contributed uncredited revisions of the screenplay. The film stars Donald Sutherland, Janet Suzman, Zakes Mokae, Jurgen Prochnow, Susan Sarandon and Marlon Brando. It is set in South Africa, and deals with the subject of apartheid. In A Dry White Season, Donald Sutherland portrays the character of Ben Du Toit, a South African school teacher. The story takes place during the Apartheid system that lasted from 1948 until 1994. The story begins when a gardener at Ben's school, a black man named Gordon, seeks his help while investigating the death of his son. Like many South African whites, Ben refuses to get involved in the racial divides that have been tearing the country apart, thinking that Gordon's claims against the white minority government are unfounded.