Former Capetonian Stelio Savante is making history in a lead role filmed in Equatorial Guinea. This is the first feature film to ever be shot in the small African country that’s usually more famous for its despotic regime than its movie-making industry.  Savante, one of South Africa’s top acting exports, stars in “Where the Road […]

Bruce Clark is one of those unusual things – a stay-at-home dad. In his uplifting memoir Love Sex Fleas God, aptly subtitled “Confessions of a stay-at-home dad”, he talks about his troubled childhood and his ultimately successful search for direction in life. The captivating title came out of a paragraph Clark wrote in response to publisher Umuzi‘s […]

This year, the music documentary about folk singer Sixto Rodriguez, Searching for Sugar Man, has been nominated for Best Documentary in 2013, the 85th instalment of the movie awards. It is up against 5 Broken Cameras, How to Survive a Plague, The Gatekeepers, and The Invincible War. The film, which was shot in Cape Town, has also been nominated for […]

“Searching for Sugar Man”, about two South Africans who set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, is picking up awards and new fans for 1970s rock ‘n roller Rodriguez all over the world. The title of the documentary takes its inspiration from one of the tracks off Rodriguez’ Cold Fact album, […]

South African documentary “Punk in Africa” has been selected for the 50th New York Film Festival. The explosive documentary about the role of 1970’s South Africa punk music in the war against Apartheid has been chosen for the Film Festival’s new “On the Arts” section. “Punk in Africa” is produced by Keith Jones and Deon […]

Every first Wednesday of the month, alternative cinema enthusiasts in Johannesburg are treated to a host of indie films at Atlas Studios in Milpark, northeast of the city centre. It’s an opportunity to watch films that are not on the main cinema circuit. Founded in 2004, the First Wednesday Film Club (FWFC) is also a networking […]

  South African wildlife is in the news for a good reason, with the recent announcement that two local productions have been shortlisted for the 2012 Wildscreen Panda Awards, part of the UK’s Wildscreen environmental and wildlife film festival. The two films are Saving Rhino Phila, produced by NHU Africa, and Survival Stars: Home Sweet […]

South African wildlife is in the news for a good reason, with the recent announcement that two local productions have been shortlisted for the 2012 Wildscreen Panda Awards, part of the UK’s Wildscreen environmental and wildlife film festival. The two films are Saving Rhino Phila, produced by NHU Africa, and Survival Stars: Home Sweet Home, an Earth-Touch production. Each is […]

It all started with a tweet on 1 May 2012 notifying people using the social network site of a campaign that was geared not at book lovers, but those who needed to get into the habit. The first objective of ReadaBookSA was to secure 4 000 Twitter followers by the beginning of June 2012, when it […]

South Africa is proudly showcasing 12 Feature Films and eight documentaries at this year’s Cannes Film Festival! At least a hundred South African film-makers have gathered in Cannes this weekend to promote their projects, and seek funding, co-production or distribution deals, which is what the Cannes market is all about. South African’s Minister of Arts […]

Back in 2012 Charlize Theron‘s ‘leaked’ s** tape was causing a commotion on the internet! (You know it’s not real!) Fast forward ten years, and it’s the South African actress’s ‘sitting on the toilet’ video that’s causing an uproar this time. (UPDATED 2023). It was all part of an April Fool’s Joke… that appears to […]

The film A Million Colours: e’Lollipop II, depicting the lives of child actors Muntu Ndebele and Norman Knox during the years following the success of their iconic 1975 South African box office hit e’Lollipop, will be released locally in April. The two child stars of e’Lollipop, which movingly portrayed the friendship between a white and a black […]

Watch the trailer of Snow White and the Huntsman, featuring South African actress Charlize Theron as the evil queen and Twilight‘s Kristen Stewart as Snow White: httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY67V0wOlz8 The movie is due to start hitting movie theatres in June 2012.

The Bang Bang Club, a film about four brave photojournalists in pre-democratic South Africa, has received seven nominations at the 32nd Annual Genie Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Oscars. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Toronto on 8 March 2012. The film is based on real-life events that took place in […]

The life of Nelson Mandela has been recorded in numerous books – one of the most comprehensive is his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. Now, the latest Mandela book offers an insight of a different kind – that of his culinary preferences. Xoliswa Ndoyiya, Mandela’s personal chef, has decided to reveal the former president’s best-loved dishes […]

The 15-year-old South African actress Khomotso Manyaka has earned a position on Time Magazine’s list of the 10 best performances of 2011.       Manyaka was lauded for her performance as the scrawny, big-eyed Chanda in Life Above All, an adaptation of the Allan Stratton novel, Chanda’s Secrets. The film focuses on the stigma surrounding HIV/Aids. Both […]

Two filmmakers from the African continent have been commended by major film bodies for their bold adaptation of an Academy Award-winning film into a true African epic. The Boda Boda Thieves, a film by South African producer James Tayler and Ugandan director Donald Mugisha, has recently been selected as one of five films – out […]

If you grew up in South Africa then it’s almost a guarantee that you have stumbled across the story of Racheltjie De Beer, the Voortrekker girl who, after getting lost with her younger brother during a snowstorm, uses her body to shelter him from the cold, sacrificing her life for his. The time has arrived […]

A huge congratulations to South Africa’s Nashen Moodley who has been appointed Director of Australia’s Sydney Film Festival, making him the first Director that the Australians have ‘imported’. And, as Durbanites know, he’s worth it! Fast-talking movie maestro Nashen has played a crucial role in the development and management of the Durban International Film Festival […]

South African production Skeem scooped the coveted Audience Choice Award at the recent Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF), showing that locally directed motion pictures pose stiff competition among industry heavyweights. The festival ran from 13 October to 22 October 2011. Made by South African Tim Greene, Skeem was pitted against films with big-name directors like Martin Scorsese, Wim […]

The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory has published a new, authorised book of quotations from the respected former president – one they hope will help his many admirers to quote him accurately from now on. Nelson Mandela by Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations was released at the Nelson Mandela Foundation on 27 June 2011, and […]

It’s no wonder Khulekani Magubane has produced 17 books by the age of 22. The young man possesses energy, something all good writers need. You can hear it in his tone, which is quick, sharp and electric. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Herman Melville and more recently, Jonathan Safran Foer, were precocious artists who produced some of […]

The South African film industry had a strong presence at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, with 24 films and documentaries on show and a handful of awards and commendations to bring home. [Read Jenni’s Cannes Film Festival blog for more!] The National Film and Video Foundation was instrumental in arranging the local representation. Even before his […]

AFRIKAANS FILM ‘SKOONHEID’ WINS THE QUEER PALM 2011 OK, so ‘Skoonheid‘ didn’t win in its official category at the Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard), BUT it has won the Queer Palm 2011! The award was presented to Capetonian director Oliver Hermanus at a ceremony on Cherie Cheri Beach in Cannes. “Thank you to the […]

Three South African short films have been selected for the prestigious Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, or Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, to be held in May in the river city of that name in the Ruhr region of Germany.   The films are Atrophy by Palesa Shongwe, Balance by Colleen Alborough and Steglitz House by Bridget Baker. The Kurzfilmtage is […]