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African filmmaking has been affected by histories of colonialism and imperialism, and in South Africa the effects of apartheid further complicate the politics of how people are represented in film. Over the last few decades, many African filmmakers have striven to...
This deeply moving coming-of-age film explores the life of an ordinary boy transformed by the world around him. Linklater uses the same actors over 12 years, allowing us to see the protagonist, Mason, literally grow up in front of our eyes. The character progression...
One evening while channel surfing at home, I stumbled upon what sounded like a rap cypher on the radio. Quickly, I got up to look for an empty cassette tape nearby. Once I found one (a see-through Sonotech C-60 if memory serves right), I hurriedly inserted it into the...
Dear Amandla! When one reads through any of our nation's major newspapers one is bombarded with endless stories of corruption in government, the civil service and of those in power pillaging state resources. But these stories are overwhelmingly confined to...
Before we send the army in to 'solve' the crime problem in Cape Town's troubled townships or appease politicians and nervous shop owners with a police crackdown, we need to remember that we're targeting a city's adolescents, who have reason to wreak revenge on an...
(1930-2013) | by The Botsotso Collective Chinua Achebe was a writer with massive influence in Nigeria, in Africa and, indeed, in the world. He was the first African writer to achieve this status with his first novel, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, which was...
"I earn R800,00 per month and with this money I have to feed, clothe and fend for my family of eight. We barely survive; I cannot even afford to buy school shoes for the children. I cannot take it any longer"- Gertie Beukes, Ashton farmworker. "We produce the food...
From humble beginnings in two lecture rooms at the University of KwaZulu-Natal 33 years ago, the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) has become the must-attend event in the annual film calendar. For ten days in July this year, the who's who of the South African...
The great Victorian novelist Charles Dickens was born 200 years ago this year. Andre Marais looks back on his life and work and his relevance for us today. What would Dickens have made of South Africa in this year of his bicentenary? Despite all obvious differences...