Just brilliant. The story of ANC activist Ruth First, wife of Joe Slovo, seen through the eyes of her 13-year-old daughter. The story of a child, rejected both politically and emotionally for the good of the revolution. A powerful exploration of a mother/daughter relationship. find out more...

Amandla! examines the pivotal role music played in South Africa's successful struggle to abolish Apartheid and in particular how lyrics and song became part of the then political activism within the country. The film also highlights the inspirational fight for freedom, where music created an effective underground form of communication within prison boundaries, providing a means of expression and uniting a nation of oppressed citizens. find out more...

A shocking documentary which reveals the extent of brutality against children practised by the South African regime. But this film is not an entirely depressing affair as it also shows the spirit of resistence which this repression has produced. A film from the International Defence Aid Fund. find out more...

The 1980s; an innocent young South African is arrested and, along with his family, tortured. Angered by these events he becomes what he was falsely accused of, an ANC terrorist/freedom fighter. Based on a true story, Catch A Fire is a searing, adrenalin-drenched, dramatic thriller. find out more...

A powerful epic from master director Sir Dickie, with stunning lead performances and a cast of seething thousands. This is the story of Steve Biko, murdered by the police, and his white liberal friend's precarious escape. If you still drink Del Monte fruit juice after this you must have cold blood! find out more...

A middle-aged Cape Town academic loses his job after a somewhat abusive affair with a mixed race student. He goes to live with his lesbian daughter on her farm in the bush in an area predominately worked by black neighbours. Coetzee's award winning novel about the complexities of life in post-apartheid South Africa are brought to the screen in a surprisingly coherent manner and Malkovitch surpasses himself as the monstrous poetry Professor confronting both himself and the new confused South Af find out more...

Set in Johannesburg (more than a welcome change to the usual formulaic Hollywood paradigm whereby LA or New York are not only the backdrop for disaster but act too as the centre-point of planet Earth), An ominous mothership hovers above Johannesburg containing an alien race of insectoid refugees. Derogatively referred to as 'Prawns' by humans they are cordoned off in an apartheid-esque fashion and forced to live a desolate and slum-like existence in the titular District 9. While forcibly relocat find out more...

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Lucky grows up in a South African township in the post-apartheid era and is caught between the desire to go university and the lure of easy money from violent crime.
A decade on an we see him as a struggling taxi-driver before his transformation into a businessman who uses violence to reclaim inner-city Joburg tenement blocks from the drug-dealers and hookers who inhabit them and from the rich white slum landlords who own them. Thus the ambitious gangster realises an aim of the revolution find out more...

Employed by the apartheid South African government as prison warden to Nelson Mandela, James Gregory would seem like the ideal man for the job, white, deeply racist and yet fluent in Mandela's native tongue, the authorities seem to have found the perfect spy. What those in power failed to grasp were a man's ability to change and the irresistible personality of Mandela himself. Based on James Gregory's memoirs, 'Goodbye Bafana' is a moving dramatisation of an unlikely friendship. find out more...

Sox leads a life of privileged comfort, on the right side of the law, but when he lands a TV part as a gangster Sox decides to look up his old Soweto mate Zama and his gang of professional carjackers for some method preparation for his part.
'Hijack Stories' is a well acted cracking adrenaline pumping drama with a real feel for the music and township life. find out more...

Essentially an interacial love story betwixt two journalists set against the backdrop of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa. There's enough dirt about police murders and torture in the apartheid state to keep whites squirming uncomfortably and enough healing and forgiveness to leave you feeling that race problems dissipate with a bit of a hug. Nevertheless Boorman is a skilled film maker and he manages the finer aspects of this well scripted movie without teet find out more...

A pretty good dramatization of Nelson Mandela's extraordinary journey from childhood in a rural village through to his election as President of South Africa. It explores the Mandela unknown to most of the world; the lover of fancy cars, a lady's man, the boxing enthusiast and playboy, the skilful lawyer and a freedom fighter. An intriguing portrait of the making of a modern icon.

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A film shot in difficult, clandestine conditions in Soweto which charts the fortunes of a petty criminal and his gradual involvement in the struggle against Apartheid. A fascinating and effective portrait of Soweto conditions - frighteningly authentic and a truly memorable film. find out more...

Stripes is a young zebra abandoned by a travelling circus, adopted by a farmer and his daughter, who dreams of becoming a race horse. A good natured live action children's film where the animals can talk (which is why it's only for children). find out more...

Apartheid is over, ex-police torturer Hendricks is serving a long sentence but thinks he can get an amnesty from the True and Reconciliation Commission by appearing to confess to all. Hilary Swank plays an idealistic young lawyer returning from New York to represent Alex Mpondo, an ANC politician, who was tortured by Hendriks when arrested in the 1980s, and the parents of Steve Sizela, co-arrested with Mpondo, but never seen alive again. The truth of what happened may not be as simple as it appe find out more...

 

In the late ‘60s, a musician was discovered in a Detroit bar by two celebrated producers who were struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics. They recorded an album that they believed was going to secure his reputation as one of the greatest recording artists of his generation. But despite critical acclaim it bombed and he faded i find out more...

A documentary detailing the emergence of cultural resistance to the aparthied regime and a celebration with songs and music. The Amandla Cultural Ensemble on tour with their songs of resistance and defiance to the political system which oppresses them. For fans of World Music. find out more...

When a Coca-Cola bottle drops out of the sky into Bushmans' hands their society starts to disintegrate as its scarcity causes fights for the first time in their history. When one sets out to throw it over the edge of the world he discovers South African society and its degrading value system. find out more...

Kalahari Bushman Xi is forced to enter the "civilized" world when his kids disappear stowed away in a jeep. The main problem is that all the "civilized" people he meets on the way are in even more need than his kids! As good as the original, which you should check out if you've not seen it. find out more...