Mama Africa / a film by Mika Kaurismki
This title illustrates the revival of hard-hitting investigative reporting in South Africa and highlights the important role it is playing. These exposes range from government corruption, through white collar crime, to environmental and social issues, written by the country's leading reporters.
The Eastern Cape city of Port Elizabeth is home to a group of dynamic young artists dedicated to the upliftment of their community through cultural activism. The film explores the collective identity of these activists through their ideologies and diverse initiatives.
Produced by Sherry Simpson and Lee Hirsch 2004
Directed by Lee Hirsch
Produced by Anant Singh 1997
Directed by Katinka Heyns
A Darrell James Roodt Film 2004
Produced by Anant Singh and Helena Spring
Written and directed by Darrell James Roodt
Produced by Emil Nofal 1969
Directed by Jans Rautenbach
Screenplay by Gavin Hood ; produced by Peter Fudakowski ; directed by Gavin Hood
2005
In South Africa a group of children, first filmed in 1992 at the age of 7, are now 21
1992
A Washington Post journalist and an Afrikaans poet strike up a friendship and become romantically involved as they try to come to terms with their feelings about what they've learned at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings
2004
Shot illegally in the Republic of South Africa, this documentary exposes the oppression of Blacks and other people designated as colored under apartheid rule in South Africa
2006
Set in the townships of Soweto and Hillbrow, this film tells the story of ordinary South Africans caught in the middle of violent events in a society that is rapidly changing.
The leader, his driver and the driver's wife, made in 1991, is a documentary about the neo-Nazi society AWB (Afrikaner-Weerstandsbeweging), a white supremacist movement that existed in South Africa just before the end of apartheid.
"Set in the turbulent 1960s Apartheid South Africa, Black Butterflies is based on the story of one of the country's most revered poets, Ingrid Jonker"
Let's talk about it examines the attitudes of young people in Cape Town towards HIV and AIDS and the challenges they face in practicing safer sex.
| The leader, his driver and the driver's wife, made in 1991, is a documentary about the neo-Nazi society AWB (Afrikaner-Weerstandsbeweging), a white supremacist movement that existed in South Africa just before the end of apartheid. |
"Features the life and work of John Langalibalele Dube (1871-1946) pioneer educator, journalist, musician, churchman and politician who co-founded the African National Congress in 1912 and served as its first President until 1917.
When Xolani, a quiet, sensitive, closeted factory worker returns home to be a guide in his tribe's coming-of-age circumcision ritual in the mountains, one of the initiates discovers his secret relationship with another guide, putting both of them at risk.
| Solomon Mahlangu is a Mamelodi township schoolboy-hawker who, after the events of June 16th joins the military wing of the ANC to fight against the brutal oppression of the Apartheid regime and ends up becoming an icon of South Africa's liberation.Kalushi is brutally beaten by the police. He goes into exile following the 1976 Soweto uprisings to join the liberation movement. He returns from military training in Angola, en route to their mission, his friend and comrade, Mondy, loses control and shoots two innocent people on Goch Street in Johannesburg. Mondy is severely beaten and tortured; Kalushi is forced to stand trial under the common purpose doctrine. The state seeks the highest punishment from the court, death by hanging. Kalushi has his back against the wall and uses the courtroom as a final battlefield. His sacrifice immortalizes him into a hero of the struggle and a national icon of the youth joining Umkhonto we Sizwe. |
Produced by Anant Singh 1995
Directed by Darrell James Roodt
Produced by Daniel Iron, Lance Samuels and Adam Friedlander 2010
Written and directed by Steven Silver
Produced by Andre Pieterse 2005
Written and directed by Ashley Lazarus
Three documentaries tracing the life and times of Nelson Mandela 2010
Just after the death of her newly born sister, Chanda, 12-years old, learns of a rumour that spreads like wildfire through her dust-ridden village near Johannesburg. It destroys her family and forces her mother to flee. Sensing that the gossip stems from prejudice and superstition, Chanda leaves home and school in search of her mother and the truth
2010
Filmed over four years, this DVD shows the literacy development of three young children as their parents read to them and engage them in literacy practices in the first few years of their lives.
A research study with men who are negotiating changes towards gender equity in their intimate relations with women and children
Documentary film that explores the art, culture, traditions and history of the Ndebele people of South Africa
A black comedy about a man working in the advertising industry who can't seem to get ahead because of his lack of inventiveness and creativity, until he discovers cocaine, thus beginning both his rise to the top, and his subsequent fall
"Kgafela oa Magogodi's i MIKE what i LIKE, the world's first spoken word film, is a riveting tour de force of visual poetry ... [The film] is based on the stage play of the same title"
Portrays the events surrounding the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in South Africa
A documentary on the life of Kevin Carter, a Pulitzer-prize-winning photojournalist who documented the political turmoil in South Africa and Sudan
South African filmmaker Rehad Desai travels to Orania in the Northern Cape, to investigate what it means to be white in the new South Africa.
A study of the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as South Africans confront their apartheid past. Four cases demonstrate how the commission works, what faces the witnesses telling their stories, the defendants seeking amnesty, and the pain and anger experieced as they relive the past.
A documentary about the life of the journalist Solomon Plaatje, the first general secretary of the African National Congress.
Elbie Lötter ; translated by Marianne Thamm
| "Krotoa, a feisty, bright, young 11 year old girl is removed from her close-knit Khoi tribe to serve Jan van Riebeeck, her uncle's trading partner. She is brought into the first Fort established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652. There she grows into a visionary young woman who assimilates the Dutch language and culture so well that she rises to become an influential interpreter for van Riebeeck who became the first Governor of the Cape Colony. As such Krotoa ends up being rejected by her own Khoi people and destroyed by the Dutch when she tries to find the middle way between the two cultures." |
Shot illegally in the Republic of South Africa, this documentary exposes the oppression of Blacks and other people designated as colored under apartheid rule in South Africa.
Produced and directed by Richard Attenborough 1987
Produced by Arnon Milchan 1992
Directed by John G. Avildsen
Produced by Cindy Gabriel 2004
Directed by Ian Gabriel
Produced by Paula Weinstein ; screenplay by Colin Welland and Euzhan Palcy ; directed by Euzhan Palcy
1989
"Shoreline explores the nearly 2800 kilometers of the vastly diverse South African coastline - from the Orange River in the west to the lake system of Kosi Bay in the east. These shores are home to an astonishingly diverse variety of natural habitats, fauna, flora, histories, cultures and traditions"
2010
This is the story of Nokuthula Simelane, a 23 year old student who was unofficially held captive and then disappeared in 1983. Her fate remains locked in diffusing memories and suspicions, admissions and denials, woven through with the thread of betrayal.
"Londoner [Khalid] Shamis, son of a Libyan father and South African mother, finds little help in his search for identity. He returns to Cape Town on the trail of his famous grandfather, the influential 1960s Imam Abdullah Haron, and finds a mixed bag of prolonged cultural and political infighting.
Set in a South African township, this is the story of a middle-aged teacher who has fallen into a life of drunkenness and lechery. He commits an act which destroys his family and devastates his community and from which he must try to redeem himself
1997
This documentary features interviews with South African women who were active in the anti-apartheid movement. It speaks to the hopes and dreams of South African women and shows both the ridiculous and the evil sides of apartheid
A study of the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as South Africans confront their apartheid past. Four cases demonstrate how the commission works, what faces the witnesses telling their stories, the defendants seeking amnesty, and the pain and anger experieced as they relive the past.
Deliwe, Portia and Max discover and invent new ways to improve the fabulous food garden they care for at their school. Inspired teacher JJ, challenges and stimulates them towards a greater understanding of their environment. Learn how all the resources within an environment can be linked together in relationships that can sustain food gardens naturally.
Director, Rehad Desai ; Producers and script, Anita Khanna, Rehad Desai.
"When South African filmmaker Regad Desai travels to the Kalahari to investigate global interest in ancient Bushmen knowledge, he meets Jan van der Westhuizen, a fascinating Khomani San traditional healer".
| "The great dance is a film about three San hunters and their extraordinary relationship with the land and the animals" |
