Sophiatown Backdrop Blur
Sophiatown Poster

Sophiatown

Little Bird's first South African production, SOPHIATOWN has won the award for Best Documentary at the Cape Town World Cinema Festival 2003. SOPHIATOWN celebrates the great popular jazz music of the 1950's in South Africa; a rich tradition deserving international attention. Director Pascale Lamche, traces the music, uncovers the artists who created it and the unique culture in which it thrived, concentrated in Sophiatown, Johannesburg's own Harlem, which fuelled by liberation politics until its destruction by the Apartheid regime. The film features Nelson Mandela and such household names from the jazz world as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jonas Gwangwa and Caiphus Semenya.

Top Cast

  • Jonas Gwangwa

    Jonas Gwangwa

    Self

  • Abdullah Ibrahim

    Abdullah Ibrahim

    Self

  • Nelson Mandela

    Nelson Mandela

    Self

  • Hugh Masekela

    Hugh Masekela

    Self

  • Dorothy Masuka

    Dorothy Masuka

    Self

  • Jürgen Schadeberg

    Jürgen Schadeberg

    Self

  • Dolly Rathebe

    Dolly Rathebe

    Self

Overview

Little Bird's first South African production, SOPHIATOWN has won the award for Best Documentary at the Cape Town World Cinema Festival 2003. SOPHIATOWN celebrates the great popular jazz music of the 1950's in South Africa; a rich tradition deserving international attention. Director Pascale Lamche, traces the music, uncovers the artists who created it and the unique culture in which it thrived, concentrated in Sophiatown, Johannesburg's own Harlem, which fuelled by liberation politics until its destruction by the Apartheid regime. The film features Nelson Mandela and such household names from the jazz world as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jonas Gwangwa and Caiphus Semenya.

Rating

7.3 / 10
3 Reviews
0 Popular

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