For years now, the South African film industry has produced some of the best films and we can today label them ‘classic’.
From award-winning to international openings, so we have decided to compile 5 of the movies we think you should have watched by now.
Tsotsi
Tsotsi is a 2005 film directed by Gavin Hood and produced by Peter Fudakowski. It is an adaptation of the novel Tsotsi, by Athol Fugard and a South African/UK co-production . Set in an Alexandra slum, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the film tells the story of Tsotsi, a young street thug who steals a car only to discover a baby in the back seat.
The film won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.
The film opened in a limited release in North America on February 24, 2006 in 6 theatres and ultimately was shown in 122 theatres for a lifetime gross of $9.88 million.
Released: December 2005
Cast: Presley Chweneyagae, Mothusi Magano, Kenneth Nkosi,Jerry Mofokeng, Terry Pheto, Rapulana Seiphemo
Sarafina
The film was shot on location in Soweto and Johannesburg, South Africa. Darrell Roodt directed, with the script by Mbongeni Ngema and William Nicholson. Leleti Khumalo reprised her role as Sarafina, with Whoopi Goldberg as Mary Masombuka and Miriam Makeba as Angelina.
The film was released on 18 September 1992. Sarafina! was re-released in South Africa on 16 June 2006 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Soweto uprising in Soweto.
The plot centres on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The character Sarafina (Leleti Khumalo) feels shame at her mother’s (Miriam Makeba) acceptance of her role as a domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (Whoopi Goldberg) is imprisoned.
Released: September 1992
Cast: Leleti Khumalo, Whoopi Goldberg, Miriam Makeba, John Kani
Jerusalema
Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema, originally titled Jerusalema, is a 2008 South African crime film written and directed by Ralph Ziman. The film tells a story of Lucky Kunene (Rapulana Seiphemo), young hoodlum’s rise from a small-time criminal to a powerful crime entrepreneur during the turbulent years before and after the fall of apartheid.
Released: August 2008
Cast: Rapulana Seiphemo, Jeffrey Zekele, Robert Hobbs, Mzwandile Ngubeni
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is a 2013 British-South African biographical film directed by Justin Chadwick from a script written by William Nicholson and starring Idris Elba and Naomie Harris. The film is based on the 1995 autobiographical book Long Walk to Freedom by anti-apartheid revolutionary and former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Released: November 2013
Cast: Idris Elba , Naomie Harris
How to Steal 2 Million
How to Steal 2 Million is a 2011 South African action drama film, written & directed by Charlie Vundla, produced by Karen E. Johnson, Jeremy Nathan, Mfundi Vundla and Michelle Wheatley and starring John Kani, Hlubi Mboya, Menzi Ngubane, Terry Pheto and Rapulana Seiphemo. The film tells a story of a robber gets out of jail after five years, to find that his partner, who never got caught, has married his girlfriend. Desperate for money, he agrees to help his partner rob his partner’s father for two million Rand. However the robbery goes wrong, and secret plans come out. As the pressure mounts on them, the tension builds towards the surprising and explosive finale.
Released: September 2011
Cast: John Kani, Hlubi Mboya, Menzi Ngubane, Terry Pheto, Rapulana Seiphemo
