PREVIEW: 2024 SOUTH AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL

April marks 30 years since the first democratic election in South Africa when for the first time in the country’s history, all citizens could vote for their future. To mark this auspicious anniversary, the 2024 South African Film Festival will feature some of the nation's most iconic films from the past 30 years when it unfolds from May 2-30 for audiences in Australia and New Zealand.

These include the classic documentaries 1994: The Bloody Miracle, co-directors Bert Haitsma and Meg Rickards chilling account of a nation’s democracy under siege; and The 16th Man, the story of how South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup win galvanised and united the nation (pictured, top; Tumelo Lekena's Father's Day)

A highlight of this year’s festival is the 4K restoration of Oliver Schmitz’s masterpiece, Mapantsula (pictured, right), the gritty gangster film set against the backdrop of apartheid rebellion. Upon its release in 1987, the film was banned after just one screening for inciting violence, but would be honoured by a screening in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in 1988. Mapantsula is recognised as having a seminal influence on public opinion against apartheid.

Festival Co-Director Programming & Events, Ricky Human, said, “This year is truly special as we reflect on [this] anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa, and honour exceptional filmmakers like Oliver Schmitz, and heroic figures like George Bizos. We’re excited to be joined by George Bizos’ son, Alexi, and the Producer of the film, George Georgiou, who will be attending select screenings in Australia and New Zealand and participating in panel discussions.”

The South African Film Festival opens with John Barker’s The Umbrella Men, a rollicking crowdpleaser that follows  a ragtag bunch of musicians forced to rob a bank during the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival.

Feature documentaries include George Bizos Icon, a fascinating juxtaposition of the personal and political sides of the iconic anti-apartheid human rights lawyer; The Radical, an intimate portrait of the world’s first openly gay Imam from filmmaker Richard Finn Gregory; and, Gareth Whittaker’s Down: A Comrades Story, a chronicle of the pain and the glory that is the gruelling Comrades Ultra Marathon, a 90 km race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban.

There are five exceptional feature films on offer, including Seconds, a gripping tale of crime, deceit, and betrayal set in the dark world of underground boxing; Hans Steek die Rubicon Oor (Hans Crosses the Rubicon; pictured, above), a light-hearted comedy that tackles the subject of aging and stars luminaries of South African screen and stage, including Tobie Cronje and Sandra Prinsloo; and, Soccer Season: Playmaker, starring the beloved entertainer Desmond Dube.