Discoveries from South Africa World Cinema

South African Film

A poor and humble community is threatened by a powerful criminal known as Dlamini, extorting the under-privileged villagers for protection money while stealing from them at the same time. When Makhosi returns home after years away, he is horrified to see what Dlamini is doing to his friends and family. After his good friend, Charlie, is threatened by the crook, Makhosi decides to take action.

An Afrikaans-speaking man helps his elderly German neighbor in a time of need, despite the language barrier between them. In the process, he learns volumes about himself.

A game ranger and his chief ranger set out on a daring rescue mission when his two nephews are kidnapped by dangerous poachers deep in the African bush.

The Hour After Midnight investigates the contested death of Dr Neil Aggett under apartheid detention, uncovering state surveillance, torture, and decades-long struggles for truth, justice, and accountability in South Africa.

A group of curious middle school teenagers uncover hidden secrets in their local fellowship, unaware of the devastating consequences that will endanger their innocence and safety.

For the love of keys and chaos. A story of obsession, creativity, and chaos, The Typewriter brings you into the mind of Sam, a man consumed by his typewriter.

The sequel to Hoër Volkskool Potchefstroom's popular film "Brokkie Van My Hart".

A site-specific film blending movement and historical narrative to unearth erased histories across South Africa’s colonial landmarks. The film journeys through these spaces to uncover the buried stories of the San and Khoi peoples. Confronting the legacy of slavery in a powerful act of restorative memory and collective healing.

Sihle reluctantly offers to drive his DJ friends to their gigs, but the night turns upside down when they get a call about a lifeless body in an apartment.

A group of YouTubers explore an abandoned hospital, but something sinister lurks within

Afrikaans is Groot 2024: The Concert

In Liminale, a film with Hanneke Schutte as screenwriter and director, Inge Beckmann portrays Mia, a depressed woman afflicted by distressing memories. Hoping to deal with her trauma, Mia is subjected to radical futuristic therapy in an institution set in the future. But while she experiences the surrealist liminal space during therapy, she discovers the surprising origins of the treatment and must gather energy to face her demons and seek forgiveness.

Recovering from a severe illness (likely typhoid), W.K.L. Dickson received word from London that the audience's enthusiasm for the military was lessening. He sent back this celebration of the expanding empire in response, capturing the annexation ceremony of 28 May 1900. "Thanks to the Biograph, which faithfully recorded this magnificent scene," Dickson later wrote, "the people of the world who were not as fortunate as those present will see what it saw, and doubtless sing 'God Save The Queen'".

Follows an influencer family of three brothers (Jack, Freddy, and Edward). In a world where everything is fake, how does one find himself without being tempted to be someone else?

A teenage refugee from Greece (1927-2020) becomes a relentless human-rights lawyer in the crucible of a violent racist regime in South Africa.

When three losers Prikesh, Emma & Alfie, come together due to a weird set of circumstances they go on a wacky journey to try & find Prikesh’s long lost father. Prikesh has never known his father & after being humiliated on a TV show he realises its time to grow a pair & find his father. Emma is a British journalist who will lose her internship in South Africa if she doesn’t get a published story & soon & she unwittingly lands the story of Prikesh. Alfie is an entertainment agent & after losing his last & only client, he is forced to take on Prikesh. It’s a story that sees them travel from Johannesburg to Durban, they meet some crazy people along the way whilst they search for clues & go on the greatest DNA heist of all time. As stories get leaked & the press & social media get involved the story starts to grip the nation. Everybody wants a piece of Prikesh & when Emma gets mistakenly kidnapped, it's the final true test of their friendship, a journey of self discovery & love

In a household where meal times are a delightful feast full of bonding, fellowship and good eating, 3 members of this tight-knit family are diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus.

Lollos's laughter has gone away and he can not get it anywhere! Disco, Lettie, Minki and Karla host an exciting talent competition in which everyone gets a chance to perform a hilarious item. Find out if Lollos…

Under Threat follows the fight to protect rhinos at South Africa’s Selati Game Reserve, where dehorning and groundbreaking AI technology are uses against the ongoing threat of poaching. The film offers an intimate look at both the challenges and the hope behind safeguarding one of the world’s most endangered species.

Following a prophetic vision, Chief Mabaso recovers his ancestral lands and honors his name Zwelihle (Beautiful Land) by guiding his people to preserve it.

Taking place between two major climate conferences – COP26 Glasgow and COP27 Sharm el-Sheikh, Temperature Rising uncovers the barriers to climate action and calls loudly for movement building from below, at a time where the very survival of large numbers of people depends on what activists can get political leaders to do.

For centuries, indigenous people have lived sustainably while resisting invaders on South Africa's Wild Coast. In this documentary about a David and Goliath court-case struggle against Shell, these communities succeeded in halting oil and gas exploration, winning ongoing protection for their ocean and culture.

A reclusive composer requests a photo from 'the voice' that sings his songs. Thinking she's too old for him, she sends a picture of her daughter, and he in turn sends her a picture of his son. Then the children meet.

South African Movie

Bontle tells the story of Marie, a young woman marked by her time in Soweto, where the beauty of adventure collapses in the face of trauma. Supported by a group of local skaters, she embarks on a healing journey that will carry her far beyond Africa. Four years later, she returns to these lands to confront her past and find inner peace.

Kataza the baboon made international headlines when he became the subject of a series of moves made by authorities which upset the people of Cape Town in South Africa and caused them to react without anyone considering natural baboon behavior.

It's a hot day in Africa and the frog can no longer bear the heat. She takes a sip, but then can't stop drinking. Once all the water is gone, the other animals must think of a plan to make the frog give back the water.

William Kentridge’s Notes Towards a Model Opera (2014–15) is an 11-minute video work that pulses with visual ingenuity and historical resonance. Crafted for Beijing’s Ullens Center in 2015, it dissects the Cultural Revolution’s eight model operas—propaganda ballets and plays designed to forge Mao’s ideal revolutionary spirit. Kentridge transforms their rigid ideology into a fluid, multi-screen meditation on revolution’s dreams and failures, blending China’s past with global echoes.

A study of Johannesburg.

South African Film

Documentary covering the Funeral of Neil Aggett

The history of the Transkei Homeland told through the life of the King of the Thebu, Sabata Dalindyebo

A rich man's daughter rents a cheap apartment and pretends to be broke. She falls in love with her poor neighbor who drops her like a hot potato when he realises she misled him.

Driven by a dream to change the world, renowned big wave adventurer Chris Bertish puts his life on the line in his attempt to become the first person to stand up paddleboard solo from Africa to North America to raise money for needy children in Africa. But 93 days alone at at sea forces Bertish to not only brave all the perils of the Atlantic, but his relationship with his brothers as he comes to grip with the death of his legendary father.

A short allegorical animated film. A strange dog steals Ugandan village boy Akello's precious kalimba. Akello follows after it and finds himself in the clutches of the Sugarcane Man.

A woman struggles to hold on to who she is in the midst of an unraveling relationship with her new robotic companion.

When two separate couples travel out to a game farm for a relaxing, romantic week-end getaway at a small game lodge, they are fully unprepared for the unorthodox couple that runs the establishment.

A comical, highly infectious, semi-offensive look at what it really means to face the expectations of a small Afrikaans town as a drag queen. The show is packed with personal stories about her days as a head boy, her family, and her experiences within the Afrikaner community; and despite the fact that no one asked for it, Tollie introduces the country to her new “sokkie hit”, Van Hoofseun tot Hoofmeisie

Smooth, successful, and yet so conflicted, Tony Nkosi is trying to work through his inner turmoil where cultural and familial expectations conflict with emotional and physical needs. He tells his shrink, Dr Stacey, that he doesn't date men, and yet he can neither let his shag-buddy Thabo go nor give him the emotional commitment he needs.

A man adopts a man that acts like a dog. As the dog becomes closer with the family, he challenges their authority.

One day, a mans microwave suddenly changes everything into popcorn, until he goes to far...

South African Film set at Howick Falls

Leonard is a shy, socially awkward 40-year-old boy who does his best to look after his elderly mother, Lena. He dances with her, feeds her and even bathes her before helping her to bed at night. She appears to be suffering from dementia, but her blank stare and feral appearance give the impression that she is up to sinister things. One night, funny things start happening and Leonard collapses in the hallway. When he came to, he saw that Lena was behaving very strangely. Johan, a naive member of the neighborhood watch, arrives, but he is completely unprepared for the horrors that await him.

Distraught after being fired from his job, Willi Willeboer leaves town for Oubaas du Toit's Paradise Game Reserve, where he falls for the owner's daughter, but she sees him as nothing more than a brother.

Bra Joe, the leader of the Fast Guns Gang, is preparing to go to war against the Butterfly Gang, his long-time arch-rivals, when he is violently stabbed and hospitalized trying to protect his sister.

While on a camping trip, three teenage brothers go from being the hunted to the hunters in an effort to snare and catch a dangerous thief.

After Ten-Ten, a known criminal, is released from prison, he sets out on a revenge mission against former boxer, Johnny Tough, who was responsible for his incarceration. Teaming with his friend, Fly, a scum-bag crime boss involved in human trafficking, they set a trap for Johnny by kidnapping his lawyer friend's beautiful daughter, with the intention of selling her into slavery to a man known as the "Arab." But Johnny isn't called Tough for nothing, and together with his Chinese pal, they systematically take down the syndicate before finally reuniting father and daughter.

The portraits of the smiling young people on the photo wall could give you the impression that everyone is having a great time, but the South African artist Aluta Null doesn’t go along with all that pretense.

A farming family led by Grandpa Smit relocates to Cape Town in pursuit of a new life. Despite their limited means, their unity and unwavering pride become their pillars of strength.

In City Deep, the “zama zama” miners and the landscape merge into artworks hanging in the Johannesburg Art Gallery, itself built during the heyday of gold mining in Johannesburg. Wandering the exhibition spaces is a deeply contemplative Soho Eckstein, gazing at the artworks and into vitrines. Towards the end of the film the gallery collapses in on itself, an imagined demise of an institution in a state of increasing dereliction.

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.

The daughter of a water tycoon joins forces with a township gangster to challenge the powerful system that divides their society.

Convergence speculates on a dystopian future in Cape Town, inspired by Rosi Braidotti’s convergence phenomenon, at the intersection of the Fourth Industrial Age and the Sixth Mass Extinction. It portrays a world where tensions between humans, technology, and nature reach a tipping point, with rising sea levels, resource scarcity, population growth, economic disparity, and AI autonomy. The film takes viewers on a passive, immersive journey through Cape Town’s landscapes, inviting them to observe and interpret the environment. It reflects on the impact of our current choices and the potential consequences of failing to engage responsibly with nature and technology.

When reality TV star Kieran’s long-lost cousin Anushka asks him to plan her dream wedding in three weeks, he’s all in, until he discovers her mysterious groom is someone from his painful past. With family chaos, culture clashes, and comic relief from Granny Aaiya, Kieran must decide whether to expose the truth or let his cousin’s fairytale wedding go on.