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 […]

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 […]

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 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 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 […]

One of the most moving and magical movies to come out of South Africa is going to be screened in London this weekend and Monday. “Life, Above All (Chanda’s Secret)” is a heartbreaking drama set in South Africa. In it, filmmaker Oliver Schmitz explores and offers insight into cultural taboos, adolescence and religion through the […]

by Janine Erasmus South Africa’s beloved canine icon Jock of the Bushveld has again been immortalised on film, this time in an animated 3D version which, if director Duncan MacNeillie has his way, is set for international distribution. MacNeillie will travel to Los Angeles at the end of November 2010 to present the film to […]

Jann Turner South African hit movie White Wedding is now showing in the US to rave reviews. Jann Turner, who directed and jointly wrote and produced the film, writes about the place that inspired it – South Africa. Are there lions in the streets? Do you live in a mud hut? How come you ain’t […]

by Janine Erasmus South African film Themba: A Boy Called Hope, directed by Pretoria-born Stefanie Sycholt, has scooped the Unicef Child Rights Award at the 2010 Zanzibar International Film Festival (Ziff). (Scroll down for video trailer.) Sycholt received the prize from Unicef Germany board member Anne Luetkes at the film’s premiere in Cologne on 1 […]

by Nosimilo Ramela New York’s prestigious Tribeca Film Festival has named the South African film Father Christmas Doesn’t Come Here its best narrative short film in an indigenous language. Funded by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) the film was chosen from 47 finalists as one of the Indigenous Language short film contest winners. […]

by Bongani Nkosi Jakhalsdans, a new South African film, has become an almost instant box office hit, setting new standards for the Afrikaans-language movies. The feature film, which opened in South African cinemas on 23 April, earned R600 000 (US$80 123) in its opening weekend, making it the most popular Afrikaans motion picture since the […]

by Nosimilo Ramela A new South African film is set to draw crowds to cinemas this May. Billed as the country’s biggest romantic comedy yet, I Now Pronounce You Black and White uses humour to explore the delicate and often fraught issue of inter-racial relationships. (View Trailer). The film is set in Cape Town, in […]

Feast your eyes on a few choice photos from the Academy Awards, held at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, last night. Pics include a radiant Charlize Theron; Matt Damon on the red carpet with his wife Luciana Barroso; Morgan Freeman with Invictus producer Lori McCreary and Morgan’s daughter Morgana Freeman. We’ve also added in some non-South […]

In case you missed our live streaming page…here’s a screengrab of Charlize arriving at the Oscars! Read more about the South African nominations and view the streaming video.

by Jenni Baxter Oscar Fever’s mounting with just hours (minutes…) to go until the 82 annual Academy Awards kicks off tonight. Here’s a breakdown of the most important awards to watch if you’re South African and LIVE STREAMING of the Oscars below: ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Who We Want to Win: Morgan Freeman in […]

by Jenni Baxter Invictus is already chalking up a number of accolades. The Hollywood movie about the role that Nelson Mandela and rugby hero Francois Pienaar played in bringing a nation together through sport, has been nominated for various awards – including the  Oscards and Golden Globes – and, with its recent Board of Review […]