Discoveries from South Africa World Cinema

An abstract improvised interpretation of Chopin's Etude Opus 10 no. 12.

Everyone in Jolliefontein, a small rural town, is in a frenzy about the upcoming rugby match. A TV license inspector, while searching for licenses, crashes a few friends' rugby afternoon in front of the TV and suddenly dies. What should be done with the body now?

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a rare earth mineral that is essential in the production of technologies. In this hybrid documentary, South African artists Francois Knoetze and Amy Louise Wilson, together with Congolese historian Joe-Yves Salankang Sa-Ngol, trace the trans-continental journey of this precious metal: from its violent extraction in the mines of DRC to its sale on global stock markets. The Rock Speaks weaves a complex contemplation on an urgent ecological crisis that is fuelled by obscene labour practices that our technological systems demand.

In a remote desert town in South Africa, a crew of fearless kids craft wire cars from scrap metal to race in the world’s only WireCar Grand Prix. A joy-fuelled drive against isolation and inequality.

Wikus and Karen's marriage ends up on the rocks. Thus, they are moved around like chess pieces when both become involved in a fight around their boy's primary residence.

Wian plans a secret New Year's Eve engagement to Anja at the place where they first met, but things don't run as smoothly as he would have hoped.

A final year medical student goes on the run after bring implicated in the hit and run death of a fellow student.

When a luminous stranger arrives on the farm, Stella’s father stays sober and her mother begins to laugh again. But the man with the silver cross has not come to save them. as jerry slithers his way into their hearts, his own dark wounds begin to show. stella must shut up and watch him strangle her family or use the truth to fight for their lives.

After a young protégé's murder confirms a prison gang leader's growing misgivings about his life inside, he joins a reform-minded warden's efforts to improve the prison, eyeing it as a path to early release. Gaining fulfillment and self-worth, he becomes a valued partner in the new changes before explosive gang resistance forces a deadly choice between the gangster he is and the changing man he knows he now is.

This is an Afrikaans documentary about the bus disaster that hit the community on 28 January 1970 when 23 pupils from the Dr Malan High School died in an accident.

The untold story of South Africa's blackfoot Penguins.

Extremely obscure South African Film for which Glynis Johns returned to the country of her birth to make an appearance.

South African comedy royalty Tumi Morake and Trevor Gumbi take the reins as co-Roast Masters, ensuring that no punchline lands gently. With Helen Zille in the hot seat and a cross-section of South African voices - anything can happen.

There is no one that believes in love more than Lisa. At 32 she is a successful production manager of a top reality program - Vat 'n Kans! - where the country's most eligible singles takes a chance on love. Lisa's own love life is not a bed of roses either. But then the new season of Vat 'n Kans! starts and the newest contestant, Christo Dippenaar, a young and handsome farmer, steals Lisa's heart.

South African Film

Lenie and Marius, an old married couple's only son and his family go away on holiday and leave them on their own for Christmas. How do you celebrate the festive season when you are without a child or crow? You take the town by the horns.

Waldo and Becca have exactly three things in common. Both are chefs. Both are single. And both dislike each other equally. When they end up at a crazy singles retreat in the mountains, fate throws them together in one absurd scenario after another. This forces them to reconsider their opinions on love.

A young South African doctor fights to deliver babies and save lives in a crumbling public hospital while juggling the demands of her own children and a healthcare system shattered by pandemic, power cuts, and staff shortages

Days is a non-narrative cinematography exercise presented through a fly-on-the-wall lens, observing a young girl over the course of a day at the beach.

John, Sipho and Thandi are once more spending the summer holidays together at Uncle Joshua’s cottage. But despite their best efforts to stay out of mischief this year, the three manage to encounter a group of crooks hiding out in a supposed abandoned shack on the river.

This short doccie accompanies pianist Nina Schumann as she prepares to perform Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2”. It’s a piece that she’s performed many times before, but this time it’s different.

Tainted Heroes tells the story of how the African National Congress (ANC) – once a marginalised organisation within the South African political landscape – rose to power in the aftermath of the Soweto Uprisings in 1976. The documentary deals with the organisation’s military training received in various African countries as well as the lesser known story of how the ANC underwent strategic training in Vietnam to implement a so-called people’s war strategy against its rival organisations. This was especially implemented against the organisation’s former ally, Inkatha, led by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. The film explains how the ANC successfully implemented a predetermined programme of violence, fear and propaganda to eliminate political rivals and establish itself as the sole representative of black aspirations in South Africa. It illuminates how the ANC’s armed struggle was more a struggle against black rival organisations than against the apartheid system.

South African Film

Jasper does not want to be alone. He wants to share his life. Fransie is independent and prefers it that way. After too many wrong decisions, she deserves better. When Jasper and Fransie move in together, it's a hopeful new beginning. Load shedding hits them unexpectedly on the first night and they try to make the best of the dark situation. They dance. They get drunk on the idea of love. They remember… but along with the remembering, the wrong box is opened and derailed that evening. Heavy luggage is unpacked and they are confronted with the heavy and dark past they carry with them. Load shedding is a drama that exposes the vulnerability of relationships.

South African Film

Kansel is a story about a cancelled plan that brings two people to a cancelled wedding. Every pot has a lid, even though the lid doesn't fit perfectly...

Early South African Film

The Boss is the leader of a gang who plan to kidnap a pastor's nephew as part of a sinister plan in order to make himself rich by extracting a heavy ransom from the lad's wealthy parents. The threatened boy must use his ingenuity and that of his young friends in order to outwit the criminals and thwart their plans.

At the southernmost tip of Africa lies the Cape of Good Hope, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet but never mix. A few miles away, in a township built to isolate the mixed-race population during apartheid, Kulsum lives alone with her two children while her husband Phadiel serves a 25-year sentence.

Set in the 1880s, the story opens when Johan de Villiers inherits the family farm and asks for childhood sweetheart Sarie Marais’s hand in marriage. Sarie’s uncle Oom Hendrik advises against it.

In this comedic coming-of-age story, an adorkable 16-year-old and her loyal BFF rely on each other as they navigate the mechanics of self-pleasure and decide for themselves what it means to be a woman.

A deeply personal film about love in the face of death. Melanie Chait documented the last four years of her life-partner, theatre director Nancy Diuguid's life, as she fought breast cancer. Woven into Nancy's personal story are insights from US scientist and ecologist Rachel Carson, whose seminal book, 'Silent Spring' exposed the health dangers of pesticides as far back 1962. The film pays tribute to Nancy, a visionary director and actor, who used the creative arts and her own lesbian identity as a lifelong campaign for justice and healing.

Remake of Daar Doer in die Bosveld

Hans, a proud fisherman with a passion for his calling, has high hopes that his son, Johan, will follow in his footsteps and become the owner of his own fishing boat. Johan, however, dreams of a life beyond the ocean. Yet, out of respect for his father, he finds it almost impossible to reveal his ambition.

A poignant love story between a powerful chief and a maid, set against the backdrop of a KZN chieftaincy and filled with conflict, conspiracy and a quest for revenge.

William Kentridge and Marlene Dumas – two of the most celebrated names in international contemporary art – come face to face in a series of frank, witty and intense discussions about their work and practice. The film follows them from the gentle ambience of a dinner conversation, to their studios – where we are given insight into the way that each artist works – to some of their finished works and installations. What emerges is how very differently these two highly successful South African artists approach image making. Dumas’ method is deeply intuitive – she often works on the floor as though embracing her paintings, pouring and dabbing paint to produce her remarkable portraits. Kentridge is intensely systematic, alternating gestural mark making with the repetitive action of drawing-filming-erasing for his animated films.

The original 1975 feature film about the mischievous young Trompie and the misadventures he and his gang of friends embark upon, based on the books by Topsy Smith.

Early South African lensed adaptation of King Solomon's Mines featuring Allan Quatermain and his adventures.

Young lovers Crystal and Grant dream of getting out of the Cape Flats. When they find Crystal's Mom's winning Lotto ticket, they see it as their ticket out of the Flats. Do they run away or do they stay?

Film crew document a week in the life of a juvenile courier running for gangs in the ghettos of 'The Cape Flats', in Cape Town. The drugs he delivers. The stores he robs. The people he kills.

Two days after an unidentified object landed on a farm in South Africa in December of 1967, 4 authorities brokers, geared up with a Super 8 and 16mm digital camera, drove out to research it. What the brokers deal with as a concrete anomaly to be examined by means of Geiger counters, cameras, and beakers evolves into an all-encompassing, existential conundrum.

Becoming Mrs. Nkosazana is the story of Anele, a woman forced to enter a battle she had not agreed to for the sake of saving her husband and family. When the happily married couple moves to their new home in Fourways, little do they know that the woman they let in to clean their home, will end up cleaning them out of love, trust and joy. Anele is quick to see through Kgomotso, but Kgomotso is much smarter than Anele imagines. In a game of cat and mouse between the two women, Anele’s Achille’s heel is exposed by her adversary and despite her valiant effort to save her marriage, the harder Anele fights the more hopeless the situation becomes.

Akuol de Mabior is the daughter of a martyr of the revolution in South Sudan. As her mother is sworn in as vice president, the young woman tries to find out if this country torn by civil war can ever become her home.

Pal is a short animated film that explores the heartwarming and emotional relationship between a dog and his human.

Directed by Ntshaveni Wa Luruli.

When Nonceba's grandmother dies, she's under pressure to find the money for the funeral. Her brother comes up with a hair-brained scheme to kidnap a government minister and his wife for ransom.

The annual sardine migration up the eastern coast of South Africa creates a moving feast of billions of tiny fish for one of the most diverse shark populations on the planet

Before South Africa’s apartheid government in the 1970’s destroyed District Six, being gay, or “moffie,” was an accepted part of this racially and religiously diverse community in Cape Town. Kewpie's hairdressing salon was the epicenter of this culture, a meeting place where the “girls” organized drag balls and cabaret performances, all of which are captured through her amazing collection of snapshots.

A girl celebrates her 16th birthday with a Umhlonyane.

Decolonising Wits is filmmaker and author Aryan Kaganof’s feature-length film looking at the Wits University end of what has come to be called the #RhodesMustFall movement.

Dr. Halina Rotstein, a dedicated doctor, left medicine for a few years to bring up 4 children after marrying a wealthy Polish-Jewish industrialist, before being drawn back into medicine by the urgency of the Second World War.

Elelwani is a young university-educated woman who has been brought up in an environment steeped in tradition. Her parents have promised her hand in marriage to the Vendaking and, as a dutiful daughter, she wants to obey their wishes. But in order to fulfil her promise, Elelwani must abandon her dreams of travel, further education and – most importantly – her commitment to her one true love.

Schalk Bezuidenhout’s stand-up act is a delightful and witty exploration of the idiosyncrasies and shared customs of South Africa and Australia. He delves into the humorous realities of safety, societal norms, and the vibrant spirit of both nations. Through engaging anecdotes and clever observations, Bezuidenhout’s performance is a richly textured narrative that elicits laughter and a sense of commonality amidst diversity. Schalk Bezuidenhout's 2023 Australia tour, recorded at the Comedy Store in Sydney.

When eight year-old Manie Griesel's pet sheep dies on his father's drought ridden farm in the Karoo he decides to seek help from the highest authority - the prime minister of South Africa himself.

After sexting, a teenage girl, Alia, realises she sent her mother a picture that was not meant for her. Alia needs to retrieve the picture from her mom's phone before it's too late.

In search of something, a woman goes on a fantastic exploration of her house.

A desperate farmer runs into trouble after he steals a stash of blood ivory from a gang of international terrorists.