PREVIEW: 2025 SOUTH AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL

The South African Film Festival (SAFF) returns from May 4-31, with a packed program of compelling contemporary films, issue-based discussions, and an organisational support network that includes the learning initiative Education Without Borders. With both in-cinema and online screenings, SAFF brings South Africa's rich storytelling tradition to audiences across Australia and New Zealand.

This year, some of South Africa’s most acclaimed and talked-about films will attract discerning filmgoers, including South Africa’s official Oscar selection, Old Righteous Blues, and the Oscar-nominated short film, The Last Ranger. Films in the 2025 program each shed light on the nation’s cultural diversity, social complexity, and creative heartbeat.

Every film watched helps fund programs in literacy, mathematics, leadership, and mentorship for young South Africans through the South African charity, Education Without Borders. Established in 2002, the EwB program is delivered to over 300 learners across all school grades by 50 university-based tutors, many of whom are EwB graduates. It is based at five sites (schools and community centres) in three townships on the Cape Flats outside Cape Town.

Festival Director, Collins Rex said, “SAFF truly represents the soul of a nation. And in our 7th year we’re doing it with a larger lineup of films than ever before. We can’t wait to share the gems, and a selection of accompanying bonus content, with you.”

These sentiments were echoed by Festival Director, Ricky Human, who said, “Every year, we take great pride in celebrating the inspiring stories of some of the most prestigious South African filmmakers, as well as the fresh and exciting new voices that emerge. We also have some surprises in store, including visits by filmmakers and film subjects.”

SAFF this year includes a total of nine feature films, 11 documentaries, and 13 short films. Old Righteous Blues, directed by Muneera Sallies, is a soulful drama that follows a young man's efforts to reunite his town’s estranged Christmas Choir Band, confronting two decades of pain and division.

The Showerhead (pictured; above, right) examines the work of cartoonist Zapiro, from his period as an anti-apartheid struggle-artist to his enduring role as a progressive commentator and freedom-of-expression champion. Zapiro, aka Jonathan Shapiro, will be in Australia to support the film at select cinema screenings.

A hilarious coming-of-age story, Spud is based on the bestselling novel by John van de Ruit. Set in a boys’ boarding school in the early 1990s, and starring a young Troye Sivan and comedy legend John Cleese, the film has become a cult favourite, celebrated for its charm and poignant look at adolescence in a changing South Africa.

The heartwarming and insightful documentary, The Friendship Bench, tracks the implementation of a unique mental health program:  the deployment of gogos (grandmothers) to counsel those in need of support.  The Sydney in-cinema screening of this film will be followed by a Q & A organised by Corrective Services NSW, who are implementing the program.

For the first time, SAFF is this year supporting the work of a young South African-born Australian filmmaker, Kgomotso Sekhur. Shap Shap (pictured; above, right) tells the story of 13-year-old Mmusi who sets off to the township in search of his father. Along the way, unexpected friendships teach him resilience and hope. And in Kwiksilwers, four elderly friends head off on a road trip to experience a meteor shower in Sutherland, with hilarious consequences and no small measure of pathos.

For Tickets and Venue information, visit the festicial's official website

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.