Latest South African comedy ‘Stone Cold Jane Austen’, which opens in SA movie theaters tomorrow, was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the South of France this week. It’s a brilliant mockumentary about an English rock band from South Africa trying to break into the increasing profitable Afrikaans music market…without being able to speak the […]

South Africa has a strong connection to the latest Hollywood blockbuster, Avengers: Age of Ultron. A fight between The Hulk and Iron Man takes place in Joburg, which features a few times in the movie, and Cape Town visual effects studio BlackGinger had a hand in the film’s visual effects. Johannesburg’s city centre takes on […]

Remember the 1980s TV series “Ballade vir ’n Enkeling”? Well, it’s back, better than ever. The mystery, once again, is about a journalist’s quest for the truth behind the disappearance of a famous writer, Jacques Rynhard. Slowly she uncovers the secret past of a liberal loner in search of freedom. The film (and a simultaneously […]

The Cannes Film Festival 2015 has announced that ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ has been officially selected to be screened Out of Competition at the famous film festival on the French Riviera. The film will be shown on Thursday 14th May at the Grand Théâtre Lumière (that’s the main movie theatre at the festival). It’s been 30 […]

Fresh off ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ Irish actor Jamie Dornan will soon be heading to South Africa to shoot a biopic set in the Congo. The 1960s-era movie, ‘Jadotville,’ will be filmed in Ireland and South Africa starting in April, according to Netflix, which has bought the worldwide rights for $17-million. The movie is based […]

The life story of Nelson Mandela, a powerful tale of a charismatic lawyer and human rights activist whose work to dismantle apartheid landed him in prison for 27 years before he ultimately became the country’s first democratically elected president, has been told time and time again. Films of his journey have been made for the […]

The much-anticipated trailer for Chappie is finally here! And it looks like South African Canadian writer-director Neill Blomkamp has got his mojo back.  Blomkamp has returned to his much-loved bizarre sci-fi roots that earned his directorial debut District 9 an Oscar nomination. His second film Elysium, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, was less enthusiastically received. But […]

A Durban film, co-starring Capetonian Stelio Savante and SA child actor Sizo Motsoko, has been chosen as an Official Selection for the 2014 San Diego Film Festival where it will make its world premier. ‘Where the Road Runs Out’ made history when it became the first feature ever filmed in the small African country of Equatorial Guinea […]

Following Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies’ visit to Hollywood last week, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be leading a delegation of South African film makers to Los Angeles to engage with the major studios, the minister announced on Tuesday. Briefing reporters in Pretoria, Davies said his visit had sought to strengthen […]

Standing 1.93 metres tall, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a giant of a man whose remarkable life has been chronicled in a number of films, from his childhood to his political awakening, his activism against apartheid and subsequent imprisonment, through to his role as unifier, peacemaker and first democratically elected president of South Africa. The statesman, […]

  Cold Harbour, the new South African crime thriller from the producers of Jerusalema, will have its world première at the Durban International Film Festival on 19 July before opening in cinemas countrywide on 25 July. The film stars Tony Kgoroge as Sizwe, an ambitious policeman from Khayelitsha who uncovers an abalone smuggling scheme while investigating […]

South African feel-good movie Felix has added to its long list of accolades by winning three more awards at international film festivals in March and April. The film won the youth jury prize for best film at the Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth in Vancouver, Canada, the best film award at the Kikife International […]

Winnie Mandela, a film about the personal and political life of the activist and ex-wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela, will open in South Africa on 7 March, the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) said in a statement on Monday. Starring Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson in the title role and Terrence […]

Casting real life gangsters in iNumber Number was a clever move; it turns the feature film into a believable slice of life that has caught the eye of Universal Pictures. The American movie studio has optioned the remake rights. It’s a fast-paced action thriller, in which the characters spiral into an abyss of corruption. In the iNumber Number world, the […]

Sigourney Weaver is the latest big-name star to join the cast of Chappie, Neill Blomkamp’s movie about a kidnapped robot. Production started in Johannesburg this week. Blomkamp, the South African writer and director whose debut movie District 9 attracted a best movie Oscar nomination in 2010, will direct Chappie from the screenplay he wrote with […]

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, the big-screen dramatisation of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, won the Audience Favourite Feature award at the Aspen Filmfest in the United States, it was announced on Wednesday night. The film beat a number of heavyweight contenders, includingThe Fifth Estate,August: Osage County,NebraskaandOne Chance, to emerge as the most popular film at the […]

Feel-good South African film FELIX – which carries  the message that ‘in every one of us lies a talent waiting to be shared’ – has aptly had its own talent recognised by winning the Best Children’s Film at a Festival in Germany. FELIX was selected from over 400 worldwide entries for the €7 500 award at […]

Standing 6ft 4ins – 1.93 metres – tall, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a giant of a man whose life will again be immortalised on the silver screen, this time with the focus on his earlier years through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. The political activist not only united […]

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 […]

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 […]