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Kevin Kriedemann

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https://www.kevinlikes.com
Kevin consults on PR and marketing for Africa’s film industry. Current clients include Showmax, Triggerfish and Tulips and Chimneys; previous clients include Al Jazeera, Egg, Encounters, Film Afrika, and the Oscar-nominated short films Asad and Revolting Rhymes. Before changing sides, Kevin edited The Callsheet and The Filmmakers Guide To South Africa and freelanced for the likes of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter as a journalist. He’s also co-founder of Africa.film, a site where you can watch Africa's best videos, as chosen by the continent's best filmmakers and the world's top film festivals and websites.

Somhale wedding takes viewing crown

Kevin Kriedemann
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Somhale wedding takes viewing crown

More than half of the catalogue of TV shows and movies on Showmax, whether measured in hours or number of episodes, is now local content. This deliberate shift to local started more than a year ago with shows like The River and The Queen, and more recently with Lockdown and Kwa Mam’Mkhize. And now the latest Showmax Original, Somizi and Mohale: The Union, is breaking viewing records.

Why does this matter? Local content drives views. The Somhale wedding just broke the all-time record for the number of views on its first day on Showmax, ahead of both the Showmax Original The Girl From St Agnes and the most popular international series ever screened on Showmax.

Local content doesn’t just get views, it also brings in new subscribers. Showmax tracks first-views statistics – what’s the first show people watch after signing up for Showmax – under the assumption that this show influenced the decision to subscribe. Currently, six out of the top 10 most popular shows as ranked by first views on Showmax are local. 

Subscription video on demand (SVOD) is rapidly growing in popularity. Showmax now has almost half-a-billion play events (somebody watches a show, movie or live sporting event) annually, streaming around 200 petabytes (one petabyte = 1 billion megabytes) of data per year. 

Viewing patterns are changing, with mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) becoming the dominant way to watch. Looking at viewing hours, mobile devices make up around 45% of the total, with lean-back (smart TV, media player, etc…) making up around 35%, and web viewing accounting for the remaining 20%. Interestingly, Android completely dominates mobile viewing, making up around 80% of the total, versus just 20% for iOS.

Speaking about the importance of local content, Niclas Ekdahl, CEO of the Connected Video division of MultiChoice said:

“We expected Somhale to do well but the response was even bigger than we’d hoped, and it goes to show how our shift to local content is paying dividends. In fact, the views of local content are up more than 40% in less than a year. 

“The key to supplying local content is realising it’s a marathon. Bringing on new shows and new episodes day in, day out, week in, week out is what our customers are looking for. And thanks to the decades of local content commissioning and production expertise sitting in this company, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.”

Somizi and Mohale: The Union started this Monday with an episode celebrating their traditional wedding, which merged their respective Zulu and Sotho cultures in a flamboyant celebration full of romance, gorgeous decor, dazzling chandelier cakes, G.H. Mumm champagne and multiple costume changes… A new episode drops every Monday, from the road to their wedding, to their individual bachelor parties, and then their white wedding as the finale on 16 March 2020.

Julianna Margulies on outbreak thriller The Hot Zone, filmed in SA

Kevin Kriedemann
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Julianna Margulies on outbreak thriller <em>The Hot Zone</em>, filmed in SA

National Geographic’s hit scripted drama The Hot Zone is now streaming on Showmax. Golden Globe winner Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) stars opposite Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) in the mini-series, which is based on the best-selling non-fiction thriller of the same name by Richard Preston, about an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the US in 1989.

An invisible, real-life monster with a ninety-percent kill rate, Ebola is enough to scare even the master of horror himself, Stephen King, who said the book was “one of the most horrifying things I’ve read in my whole life.” 

Although it is a dramatisation, the six-part series is inspired by real events. US Army pathologist Colonel Jaax, a wife and mother of two, had one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Every day, she donned layers of protective gear to enter the Biosafety Level 4 lab at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), where she handled the world’s deadliest viruses. One day in 1989, she tested a sample from a research laboratory in Reston, Virginia, and quickly feared they were dealing with one of the deadliest viruses known.

What followed was a nightmare of accidental exposures, the discovery that there were no protocols in place for dealing with an outbreak, and bureaucratic in-fighting that saw Jaax forced to put her career, and her life, on the line to prevent an outbreak of the Ebola virus.

In addition to its two main stars, The Hot Zone’s cast includes Emmy winner Topher Grace (BlacKkKlansman), Critics Choice winner Noah Emmerich (The Americans), People’s Choice nominee Robert Sean Leonard (House M.D.), James D’Arcy (Agent Carter, Broadchurch) and Grace Gummer (Mr. Robot). 

If the scenery in the Kenya flashback scenes looks suspiciously familiar, that’s because it’s very close to home. The story follows two timelines – the 1989 US incident, and the horrifying outbreak in Kenya almost a decade earlier, which makes up the back story of Cunningham’s character, Wade Carter. The Kenya scenes were filmed in South Africa in 2018, mostly in and around Durban and Richards Bay, so keep an eye out for cameos from South African actors Neil McCarthy (Jozi-H), Bohang Moeko (Ring of Lies), Sive Mabuye (Scandal), Sylvaine Strike (Black Sails), Joe Vaz (Good Omens) and Camilla Waldman (Wild at Heart).

The series’ cast is passionate about the importance of this story. Margulies is speaking out to raise awareness about the disease. What gripped her most when she first received the scripts was that Ebola, a disease with the power to “wipe out six million people in the city of DC faster than you could close the highways”, had reached America almost three decades earlier, and she hadn’t known a thing about it.

“To me it was always this thing way off in Africa,” she told Associated Press. “It didn’t affect me. When I read the book and the first four scripts they sent me, I realised this is a global issue, and as a human nation we need to stand behind our scientists and start supporting the research. Because without it … it could be the way we all go. It wipes out villages … and it’s easily spread. There’s a ninety-percent fatality rate. And when I read that, and saw what this woman did, and the hurdles she had to climb [sic] in order to get the permission to do her job, I felt compelled to shine a light on what I think is a global problem.”

“We had Ebola on US soil and it’ll be on European soil at some point,” she said in an interview with The Guardian. “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. There’s still no protocol. There’s still no cure.”

With the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the DRC, the series is a timely arrival to our screens, and we’re not the only ones who feel that way. Its US release drew 7.5 million viewers when it aired in June last year, making it Nat Geo’s most-watched scripted series ever, with viewership numbers 350% up from the channel’s previous six-week average. It topped acclaimed scripted series Genius: Einstein, as well as MARS, and claimed second place (after The Story of God with Morgan Freeman) as Nat Geo’s most-watched series of all time. 

At #69 on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the Best TV Shows Of 2019, the show has a 90% critics rating. The Hollywood Reporter says, “It nails a mood of mounting paranoia and the visceral impact of a solid, jump-in-the-dark horror movie,” while Indiewire calls it, “a scary, absorbing thriller you won’t easily forget.” 

In conversation with Mandla N, Lockdown creator and director

Kevin Kriedemann
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In conversation with Mandla N, <em>Lockdown</em> creator and director

SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE:

Lockdown was the most awarded drama at the 2019 SAFTAs, where the story of Thabazimbi Women’s Correctional Facility took home five awards, including Best Drama. With Season 5 currently streaming on Showmax, we caught up with creator and director Mandla N, who won a SAFTA in 2018 for the Lockdown script and was nominated in 2019 for directing Side Dish.

Tell us a bit about your background and how it shaped you as a director.

I grew up in Soweto. What shaped me as a director is that I’ve had the best of both worlds. I went to a township school all the way to Grade 5 and then moved to a school in the suburbs. So I understand the mass market and the highbrow market. 

When I joined Gang of Instrumentals, we performed everywhere, which really opened my mind up and helped me understand the different individuals in South Africa. 

What inspired you to create Lockdown? 

In every township, there’s always that mystery about prison. You grow up and see a lot of people around you going to prison and coming back, but it’s hush hush – they don’t talk about it. So I’ve always been fascinated by prison stories. It’s a huge fear in a lot of men’s lives. We’ve seen male prisons on screen before, but we hadn’t seen a female prison in South Africa. Yes, we’ve seen that on Prisoner and Orange Is The New Black, but not locally. 

You were an actor on shows like City Ses’la and Ses’Top La before you became a director. How has this helped you as a director? 

I think the training of acting really helped me. I understand performance and I understand performers. I get the pressure on actors. I understand how many takes actors have got in them. I understand how to speak to actors. I understand how to calm actors and take them to the next level. Clarity is everything; acting made me really clear as a director. 

Before Lockdown, you were primarily known for comedy. Was it a difficult transition from comedy to drama? 

Lockdown was my first drama and a lot of people said, ‘Mandla, you won’t crack it; you’re a comedy guy.’ 

But it’s not that different – everything is storytelling. Drama is about understanding rhythm and beats. No matter what story you tell, comedy or drama, timing is everything. So you apply the principles of timing and narrative. 

If you watch Lockdown, there are elements of comedy, so my style is definitely still there.

You were a member of Gang of Instrumentals. How has your experience as a musician impacted you as a director? 

Music for me is 50 percent of the picture. I pay a lot of attention to music. I am a musician. I edit to music. I write my own scores. I also create music. When I direct, I know the timing for people to hold moments, because I’m creating the beat in my own head as I’m directing, so I can tell them to look up, or look down, at exactly the right beat. So music has really helped me in directing. 

Talk us through your approach to cliff-hangers, which Lockdown is renowned for.

Cliff-hangers are everything. A lot of people say they’re not coming back for this but they do, because we leave them on the edge of their seats. Lockdown isn’t easy viewing, but it is addictive viewing. We make the decisions on where to put the cliff-hangers in the writing process. I don’t leave cliff-hangers to the end of every episode; I also leave them at the start of every ad break. I know exactly how to play the combination of cliff-hangers, music and actors from a directorial point of view; it differentiates me within the market. 

At the 2019 SAFTAs, four of the six Drama acting nominations for women went to Lockdown cast members: Dawn Thandeka King won Best Actress as Mazet, ahead of her co-star Zola Nombona as Monde and International Emmy nominee Thuso Mbedu, while Lorcia Cooper won Best Supporting Actress as Tyson, ahead of her co-star Pamela Nomvete as Governor Deborah Banda. Talk us through your approach to casting. 

Bad casting can really kill your picture. I spent about eight months casting Lockdown. I didn’t go to the agencies; I had castings inside the townships. Authenticity is everything and I wanted to depict real people. 

Prison is a gritty, dirty, grungy world and we can‘t glamourise that. So when you see the ladies in prison in Lockdown, you think: “This person could give me a run for my money.”

Now that it’s on Showmax, Lockdown is going to be available to binge for the first time. How does that make you feel? 

The fact that people can binge all ten episodes – it’s a bittersweet moment. Every Sunday and Monday were Black Brain Mondays and Sundays, as people would talk about that week’s episode. I know that timing is going to change now. But the whole format of creating content is changing, so you have to adapt. Change is always good. 

What is the key to creating a successful TV series in South Africa? 

You have to know the market. You have to understand the landscape of South Africa. At the end of the day, it’s easy to create a world that will exist for one season, but how do you make sure viewers don’t get tired of that world and can still relate to it over five, six seasons? It’s about understanding that we live in a diverse country, and catering for that in your writing, in the types of languages, in the balance of languages. You have to understand the different shades of black people, coloured people, white people. It’s about casting a man from KwaMashu; not just a Zulu man. The more different you make those shades, the more South Africa appreciates you. 

What’s next for Mandla N? 

I’m writing a film and then I’ve got a new series coming to Mzansi Magic that I’ll be shooting in the first half of the year. 

Forest Whitaker on Godfather of Harlem, choosing roles and doubting himself

Kevin Kriedemann
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Forest Whitaker on <em>Godfather of Harlem</em>, choosing roles and doubting himself

SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE:

Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Black Panther) was in Johannesburg last November to promote Godfather of Harlem, the hit new crime series from the creators of Narcos. 

Forest stars as infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson, who returns from Alcatraz in the early 1960s to find the neighbourhood he once ruled in a shambles. With the streets controlled by Vincent ‘Chin’ Gigante (Emmy nominee Vincent D’Onofrio from Daredevil and Jurassic World), Bumpy forms an unlikely alliance with radical preacher Malcolm X (Nigél Thatch, reprising his role from Selma) to take on the Italian mob and regain his position as the titular Godfather of Harlem. 

Now streaming on Showmax, Godfather of Harlem is the remarkable true story of how the criminal underworld and the civil rights movement collided during one of the most tumultuous times in American history.

We caught up with Forest to find out more…

What research did you do to prepare for the role? 

There’s not a lot of footage of Bumpy Johnson. There are maybe five photos, but you have to take from those postures and gestures, pull them inside and create a full human being. 

I spent time with Chism, one of Bumpy’s bodyguards. He’s 94 now but still coherent. I also spent time with Junebug, another guy who was part of the fabric of Bumpy Johnson’s world. They still live in Harlem. They were explaining to me how he would go about his day, how they were protecting him. They helped me a lot. 

I also had an adviser in Professor Smalls, who was working with Malcolm X and actually took over the mosque when Malcolm left.  

I read Mayme’s book. I read Bumpy’s poems. I studied the history. I read up on Malcolm. I read up on Adam Clayton Powell Jnr.  I listened to the music of the day.  I just got more and more information, as I read the books and spoke to people. That helped me figure out how to shape him into a real person. 

When you’re researching a character like Bumpy, what are you looking for in your conversations with the people who knew him? 

I just wanted to understand what his fears were and what his needs were. So I was searching for those kinds of stories, for the kinds of things he felt he needed to protect, for the fear choices in his life. I was looking to find his truth and discover what drives him, to understand the moments that happened in his life that motivate his actions in the series.

How do you keep a TV role like Bumpy Johnson fresh? 

I keep it fresh by using myself as a barometer. I continue to try to push myself to do more. On set, directors often say, “You did this scene and it was working really well, and then you did something else. What was that?” – I was continuing to explore. My choices start to shift. They stay on the theme, they still fit the edit, but they’re a process of discovery. 

You have to be like a child. And that’s hard to maintain. 

Do you prefer film or TV? 

I just want to tell stories in whatever way I can. My last couple of projects after this one were film, and I’m still open to do more. 

How do you choose your roles?
I keep trying to grow as an artist and a person and I choose my roles that way.  A lot of times I’ve chosen roles that cause me a little bit of fear. 

I just love playing complete characters – that’s all I care about. 

Did you ever lie to get a role? 

On The Color of Money, they fired someone who couldn’t play pool and they asked if I could play. I’d played pool before but I wasn’t a great pool player. They asked me to fly myself to Chicago to audition, so I spent days just playing pool, hour after hour. I spent 14 hours a day in the pool hall. When I got there, the first thing Martin Scorcese asked me to do was to just play pool… 

In your career, have you ever doubted yourself? 

Most of the time, through the early part of my career, I was doubting myself. Even after I won at Cannes for Bird, I was deciding whether or not I’d be able to do this as a life. It wasn’t until really late – 15 or 20 years into my career – that I started to say, “Okay, I’ll continue to do this for the rest of my lifetime.” 

When I did The Last King of Scotland, I started to understand something about transformation, about changing my energy to become someone else. Those sorts of moments became affirmations for me, not people.

The Snail and the Whale is now streaming on Showmax

Kevin Kriedemann
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<em>The Snail and the Whale</em> is now streaming on Showmax

The Snail and the Whale, the latest Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler adaptation, is now streaming first on Showmax in Africa.

Animated in Cape Town by Triggerfish for Magic Light Pictures, The Snail and the Whale premiered on BBC One at Christmas to four-star reviews and over 7.5m viewers. RadioTimes calls the 26m animation “visually spectacular… a lovely treat to watch as a family…”  

This is the story of a tiny snail with an itchy foot, who travels the world on the tail of a great big, grey-blue humpback whale. It’s a tale of shimmering ice and coral caves, of shooting stars and enormous waves, and of how the snail, so small and frail, saves the life of the humpback whale.  

“Although it was first published in 2003, this story now seems more relevant than ever,” says RadioTimes, highlighting the “environmental message which kids will surely take to heart” and “a lovely friendship between two wildly different creatures.”

The Snail and the Whale is directed by two-time Oscar nominee Max Lang (The Gruffalo, Room On The Broom) and multi-award-winning South African Daniel Snaddon (Stick Man). This is their second Donaldson-Scheffler collaboration, following on from the success of Zog, which earned the keen but clumsy dragon gold stars everywhere from Shanghai International TV Festival to New York International Children’s Film Festival last year, not to mention nominations for International Emmy, Kidscreen, and Annie awards in 2020. 

“For anyone who’s ever felt overwhelmed, like the world is too big for you to make a difference, The Snail and the Whale is an encouragement that even though you feel small – and may even be small – what you do still matters,” says Snaddon. “The important thing is to keep hoping and to keep trying.”

The Snail and the Whale is voiced by star British acting talent, with two-time Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins (Paddington, The Shape Of Water) as Snail, Rob Brydon (Gavin & Stacey, and every Julia Donaldson adaptation) as Whale, Cariad Lloyd (Peep Show) as Teacher and Dame Diana Rigg (Lady Tyrell in Game of Thrones – and Tracy Bond, James Bond’s only wife, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) as the narrator.

“I Skyped in for the voice recordings,” says Snaddon. “As a kid from the Lowveld, Skype is a huge blessing because it stops you feeling too starstruck. I’m used to seeing Sally and Diana on screen, and they’re still just on a screen, so you can have a normal conversation.”

“The Snail and the Whale is a longstanding favourite in our house,” says Brydon. “It’s an epic journey across the globe, where the tiniest creature and the mightiest mammal experience the vastness of our planet together.”

“Both characters go on such a heart-warming, emotional and ultimately life-changing journey together,” says Hawkins. “It’s a very beautiful and important friendship for them both.”

The Snail and the Whale’s environmental theme particularly resonated with her. “The protection of our oceans is everything,” she says. “I hope this animation will inspire family audiences everywhere in helping to take care of our beautiful earth and its creatures for future generations and beyond.”

Snaddon first read The Snail and the Whale to his son Frank when he was still in utero. When Frank was born, “one of the first things he got was a lot of Julia Donaldson swag – he was the first kid to get a Zog plushie, as well as lots of Stick Man and Gruffalo stuff. He’s well-kitted out with the merch.” 

But for Snaddon, Donaldson is more than just a supplier of night-time stories that are always a pleasure to read. “For our family, she’s changed our lives,” he admits. “I was working in advertising before this, and I didn’t have a clear pathway to making my own films, so I’m just so grateful that we as a family have been part of spreading the magic of her stories. She’s a national treasure in Britain and I’m in awe of her and Axel and the imprint they’ve made on the British psyche.”

The Snail and the Whale is the fifth in a string of BBC Christmas adaptations from Magic Light and Triggerfish, following the multi-award-winning Donaldson-Scheffler adaptations Stick Man (2015), The Highway Rat (2017) and Zog (2019), as well as the Oscar-nominated Roald Dahl adaptation Revolting Rhymes (2016). 

Before teaming up with Triggerfish, Magic Light also made three previous Donaldson-Scheffler adaptations: the Oscar-nominated The Gruffalo (2009), the BAFTA and Emmy winner Room On The Broom (2012), and Annecy winner The Gruffalo’s Child (2011), among other hits.  

All eight family classics are now streaming on Showmax. 

Best of the 2010s: a breakthrough decade for South Africa’s film industry

Kevin Kriedemann
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Best of the 2010s: a breakthrough decade for South Africa’s film industry

The 2010s saw African films make even more headlines at the world’s biggest festivals, from AFI to Berlin, Sundance to Toronto, earning Oscar and Golden Globe nominations along the way. As we prepare to enter the 2020s, Showmax has released a list of four global breakthroughs to stream during your holiday. 

Breakthrough animation:
Revolting Rhymes (2016)

“I guess you think you know this story. You don’t. The real one’s much more gory.” 

Roald Dahl’s classic collection of twisted fairy tales was brought to life in Cape Town by Triggerfish, who animated Revolting Rhymes for Magic Light Pictures alongside Magic Light’s Berlin office.

Like Dahl did, the animation has reimagined the familiar stories anew, structuring them around the friendship of the pistol-packing Red Riding Hood (BAFTA winner Rose Leslie from Game of Thrones and The Good Fight) and her resourceful best friend Snow White (Screen Actors Guild nominee Gemma Chan from Crazy Rich Asians and Captain Marvel). The Big Bad Wolf (Golden Globe nominee Dominic West from The Affair and The Wire), seven jockeys with gambling debts, and three property-developing pigs all feature, as does Cinderella’s fairy godmother, Jack and a beanstalk, and his nasty mother.

Directed by Jakob Schuh (Oscar-nominated for The Gruffalo) and Jan Lachauer (Oscar-nominated for Room on the Broom) and co-directed by Bin Han To, Revolting Rhymes was nominated for an Oscar and won some of the world’s biggest animation awards, including the International Emmy Kids Award for Animation; Best Animation at the BAFTA Children’s Awards; Best Animated Special at the Annie Awards; and Best One-Off Special at Kidscreen.

Stream Revolting Rhymes on Showmax here.

Special mentions:

  • Triggerfish also animated three adaptations of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler classics as BBC Christmas Specials with Magic Light. All similarly won multiple international awards, with Stick Man (2015) winning at Annecy and Kidscreen, The Highway Rat (2017) at Rose d’Or, and Zog (2018) at New York International Children’s Film Festival – and currently nominated for Annie, Kidscreen and International Emmy awards in 2020
  • Triggerfish’s movies Adventures in Zambezia (2012) and Khumba (2013) became the most successful South African film exports in 30 years, translated into 27 languages, licensed in over 150 countries, and generating over R1 billion :: Munki and Trunk (2016), produced from Cape Town by Sunrise, became a YouTube phenomenon, racking up over two million subscribers

Breakthrough documentary: 

Whispering Truth To Power (2018)

With exclusive, behind-the-scenes access, Whispering Truth To Power charts the final year in office of South Africa’s public protector Thuli Madonsela as she attempts to seek justice for ordinary people.

After successfully challenging President Jacob Zuma for illegal use of state funds, Thuli now has to face the biggest challenge of her career: investigating – in the face of protests, death threats and legal challenges – the alleged systematic takeover of government by a private family in cahoots with the President.

Shameela Seedat’s directorial debut, Whispering Truth To Power won the Special Jury Prize at Hot Docs, North America’s most important documentary festival, for “its timely portrait of a bad-ass public servant who uses her office for good at a pivotal moment in South African politics.”

Stream Whispering Truth To Power on Showmax here.

Special mentions: 

  • Stroop: Journey into the Rhino Horn War (2018) won 26 awards, including Best of Festival at The International Wildlife Film Festival 2019, and was shortlisted for the Presenter and Impact awards at Jackson Wild 2019, arguably the Oscars of the wildlife film world  :: Pascale Lamche won the Directing Award at Sundance for Winnie (2017), a documentary on one of the most misunderstood contemporary female political figures, Winnie Madikizela Mandela
  • Liyana (2017), a genre-defying documentary about a storytelling workshop with South African Gcina Mhlope and five children in the Kingdom of Eswatini, won 35 international awards
  • Everything Must Fall (2019), Rehad Desai’s #feesmustfall documentary, won The Vaclav Havel Award at One World Human Rights Documentary Film Festival this year

Breakthrough film:

Inxeba | The Wound (2017)

Directed by John Trengove, Inxeba tells the story of Xolani (Nakhane), a lonely factory worker, who joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When a defiant initiate from the city discovers his best-kept secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel.

Inxeba is one of the most talked-about South African movies of the last decade. Local cinemas were forced to cancel screenings after death threats and protests about its depiction of the secret Xhosa initiation ritual, then the Film and Publications Board Tribunal reclassified it as pornography (it’s not) after complaints from traditionalists, essentially banning it from mainstream cinemas. The classification was later overturned in the North Gauteng High Court. 

I-D Magazine called it “the most important LGBT film you will see in 2018… through the character of Xolani we are introduced to a world where homosexuality is still simply not an option.” The excessive protests against the film laid bare the rampant homophobia that remains in parts of South Africa.

In addition to a 90% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Inxeba was Oscar-shortlisted and won over 25 international awards, including the Sutherland Award for best first feature at the London Film Festival, the Grand Jury Award at LA Outfest, and Best Actor for Nakhane at Palm Springs. 

Stream Inxeba on Showmax here.

Special mentions: 

  • The feelgood Kenyan superhero film Supa Modo (2018) won over 50 international awards, including Best European Film For Children from the 2019 European Children’s Film Association Awards and a Children’s Jury Special Mention in the Generation 14Plus category at Berlin in 2018
  • Endgame, about the covert negotiations to end Apartheid, was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and an Emmy for Outstanding Made for Television Movie in 2010, among other honours
    Kenyan film Kati Kati (2016) – described by The Playlist as “a condensed version of Lost” – won the Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for the Discovery program at Toronto International Film Festival
    Kenyan crime movie Nairobi Half Life (2012) won the Breakthrough Audience Award at AFI Fest for director David Tosh Gitonga
  • Stories of Our Lives (2014), an anthology of five short films about the queer experience in Kenya, won a Teddy Award at Berlin International Film Festival in 2015
    Mrs Mandela (2010) earned Sophie Okonedo a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress for her performance as Winnie Madikizela Mandela
  • Kanarie, Schalk Bezuidenhout’s breakout movie, was named one of Indiewire’s 14 Best LGBTQ International Films of 2018 and has a 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Breakthrough TV:
Is’thunzi (2016)

Mzansi Magic’s first teen drama follows Winnie, Londi, Noxolo and Thishiwe as they pursue their dreams and form a bond that will not only push them over the edge, but also grow them in ways they never could have imagined.

As Winnie, Thuso Mbedu earned unprecedented back-to-back Best Actress nominations at the International Emmy Awards in 2017 and 2018. This helped land her a lead role in The Underground Railroad, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, directed by Oscar winner Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk).

Stream Is’thunzi on Showmax here.

Special mentions: 

  • 1Magic’s thrill-a-minute The River (2018)was nominated as Best Telenovela at the International Emmy Awards in 2019
  • Mzansi Magic’s supernatural drama The Herd (2018) won the Jury’s Special Prize at Seoul International Drama Awards in 2019
  • Ramy (2019), about a first generation Egyptian-American who feels like an outsider in both New Jersey and Egypt, won the Audience Award at SXSW in 2019

Stroop wins prestigious SAB Environmental Media Award

Kevin Kriedemann
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<em>Stroop</em> wins prestigious SAB Environmental Media Award

The South African Breweries (SAB) along with its judging panel announced the winners of the annual SAB Environmental Media of the Year awards at its headquarters in Johannesburg on 12 November. Stroop – journey into the rhino horn war took the Video Media (Long Form) award for 2019.

The awards, now in their third decade, aim to recognize South African journalists who have excelled at reporting on, and creating awareness of, environmental issues across print, electronic and digital media. Bongani Bingwa, MC of the event, says it was a unanimous decision by the judges for the hard-hitting South African film that has ignited world-wide interest in rhino poaching and has screened at numerous film festivals as well as on TV channels around the globe. 

This is the 25th award for the filmmakers of Stroop, Susan Scott and Bonné de Bod. “The film has won so many international awards which is wonderful of course!  But it’s very important to be recognized back home,” says an emotional de Bod. “This is a very prestigious award, and has been given out by SAB for over thirty years, so to have the focus put squarely on rhino poaching, considering all the environmental issues out there, is just vital and I’m very pleased about that.”

One of the film’s characters, Karen Trendler, was honoured with the Nick Steele Memorial Award for Environmentalist of the Year – the top nod at the award ceremony.  “How wonderful that Karen has been recognized for her thirty years of service to caring for and rewilding wild animals!” Scott adds that Trendler, a world famous wildlife rehabilitator, shared this with notable environmentalists who have made meaningful impact in their fields like the UN Patron for the Oceans, Lewis Pugh, and lion advocate Gareth Patterson. 

This is the first cash award that the filmmakers have won for the film and Scott says they are choosing to share it with their mothers, who they moved in with during the four years of filming on Stroop. Stroop is a gripping wildlife crime thriller documentary that takes the viewer on a rollercoaster ride between Africa and Asia. These first time filmmakers embed themselves on the front-lines of the rhino poaching crisis where they are given exclusive access to the war unfolding.  Carving out six months for the project, the two women quickly find themselves immersed in a world far larger and more dangerous than they had imagined, only emerging from their odyssey four years later.


Lockdown season 5 is now shooting in Johannesburg

Kevin Kriedemann
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Lockdown season 5 is now shooting in Johannesburg

Season 5 of Lockdown, South Africa’s favourite prison drama, started production last week in Johannesburg, where it’s mostly shooting at Constitution Hill, the historic prison complex where the likes of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Albertina Sisulu served time. 

Every season of Lockdown introduces a new star. This time it’s Sophie Lichaba, aka Sophie Ndaba, who became a household name in South Africa during her two-decade-long starring role as the feisty receptionist Queen Moroka in the SABC1 soapie Generations. 

The multi-award-winning actress joins one of the most impressive casts on South African television: at the SAFTAs this year, four of the six Drama acting nominations for women went to Lockdown cast members: Dawn Thandeka King won Best Actress as Mazet, ahead of her co-star Zola Nombona as Monde (and International Emmy nominee Thuso Mbedu), while Lorcia Cooper won Best Supporting Actress as Tyson, ahead of her co-star Pamela Nomvete as Governor Deborah Banda. 

Since losing a noticeable amount of weight last year due to diabetes, Sophie’s been reported dead on social media repeatedly, most recently as she started filming Lockdown last week. 

The SAFTA winner is unfazed by the fake news, saying, “I’m just excited to be tackling such a challenging role on one of the biggest shows in the country.”

Every episode of Lockdown has trended on Twitter, so Sophie’s new character on the groundbreaking series will give social media something better to talk about on 31 January 2020, when Season 5 will premiere, only on Showmax. 

“We haven’t seen Sophie in a while on South African television,” says Lockdown creator Mandla N, who is still directing every episode of the hit show. “But you could have said the same about Lorcia or Pamela when we cast them, and they’ve both reclaimed their places among the biggest stars in South Africa.” 

Notorious for its cliffhangers, plot twists and emotional rollercoasters, Lockdown takes viewers into the cells and offices of Thabazimbi Women’s Correctional Facility. 

As Season 5 picks up, Deborah is under pressure from The Department of Correctional Services, after one death too many at the prison. Arch-rivals Mazet and Tyson are still running the prison yard together, for now.  And Monde is trying to make things right with Vicky (Lauren Jenae), while worrying about her sister Katlego (Natasha Thahane), who’s been transferred to Kgotsong Asylum. 

SAFTA winners Linda Sebezo and Nomsa Buthelezi are also back as fan favourites Maki and Slenda, while the multi-award-winning Patricia Boyer returns as the hilarious but dangerous Sue. 

Produced by Black Brain Pictures, Lockdown was the most awarded drama at this year’s SAFTAs, taking home five awards, including Best Drama.

Lockdown is moving from Mzansi Magic, so binge-watch Season 5, only on Showmax, on 31 January 2020. In the meantime, you can catch up on the first four seasons here. 

Best local TV shows of 2019 so far

Kevin Kriedemann
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Best local TV shows of 2019 so far

The likes of Rotten Tomatoes recently announced their top TV shows of 2019 so far, but there hasn’t been any similar list for fans of local series. Until now. 

We asked five specialists – Candice Fangueiro, head of content at Showmax; Nicola van Niekerk, senior manager: scripted content, kykNET; Tebogo Matlawa, content acquisitions specialist at Mzansi Magic and 1Magic; Tracy-Ann van Rooyen, senior manager: content acquisitions and scheduling series at M-Net; and Yolisa Phahle, CEO of Multichoice Group Africa – to pick their favourite show of the year. 

Here are their recommendations on what you need to catch up on immediately: 

BIG BROTHER NAIJA

Picked by: Yolisa Phahle, CEO of Multichoice Group Africa
What’s it about? In this Africa Magic reality show, contestants get locked up in one house and try to outlast their housemates to win 60 million Naira worth of prizes.

Claim to fame? “This is a show that gets the whole of Nigeria talking, it’s nonstop 24/7, and best of all this show exposes incredible Nigerian talent.”  

Why is it your favourite? “If it’s loved by our viewers, then it’s my favourite!”

Watch the trailer.
Stream it.

EHOSTELA S1
Picked by: Tebogo Matlawa, content acquisitions specialist at Mzansi Magic and 1Magic
What’s it about? “A Maskandi-singing, guitar-playing hitman inadvertently kills the father of the love of his life. That sets him on a journey that will forever change his life.”

Claim to fame? “It was a truly ground-breaking story, telling a narrative about a world many know about but few have dared venture into.”

Why is it your favourite? “It was really just an amazing Mzansi Magic show that we believe changed the landscape of SA television.”

Watch the trailer.
Stream it.

HOTEL S3
Picked by: Nicola van Niekerk, senior manager: scripted content, kykNET
What’s it about? “A kykNET mockumentary about middle-aged hotel owner Ferdie Kruger and his team of small-town misfits, who work together to make the hotel a solid 2-to-3-star experience for visitors. Ferdie tries to keep his team focused on the hotel while running for mayor of Fransenburg. In Season 3, all the staff get involved in his mayoral campaign, but the best intentions lead to the funniest situations and miscommunications.”

Claim to fame? “Hotel 3 has been a highlight for us in terms of how fresh the comedy is and how much the viewers loved it. The show is becoming a cult classic and has appealed to younger and older viewers alike. It also shows that Afrikaans viewers love to laugh in their own language and with their communities, despite their exposure to international comedy series. It’s a quirky comedy starring actors at the top of their game. Schalk Bezuidenhout proves that he is not only a stand-up comedian but has incredible range as an actor. It also stars James Borthwick as the stubborn hotel owner and Simoné Nortmann, Mila Guy, Beer Adriaanse, Martelize Kolver and De Klerk Oelofse, to name a few. The show is directed by Bennie Fourie, one of the freshest and funniest voices in Afrikaans comedy.“
Why is it your favourite? “It is really funny, a breakout show in terms of comedy. I love that my husband and six-year-old laugh together; my husband at the word play, and my son at the physical comedy. I also love the guest actors who feature in each series. It makes me so happy that these guest actors are willing to come and poke fun at themselves on this show. I’m looking forward to Season 4 starting in January 2020.”

Watch the trailer.
Stream it.

SURVIVOR SA: ISLAND OF SECRETS
Picked by: Tracy-Ann van Rooyen, senior manager: content acquisitions and scheduling series at M-Net
What’s it about? “It’s the localised version of the much-loved reality series format. Castaways are left on a secluded island and have to build or break relationships to be the sole survivor and win R1 million.”

Claim to fame? “It’s the grand-daddy of reality competition television and is produced all over the world. Its biggest version is the USA version with host Jeff Probst, which is in its 38th season.”

Why is it your favourite? “It’s the most well produced and directed reality show on M-Net right now; local or international. I love the story-telling and the unpacking of the characters’ drive. It’s compelling television and I never miss an episode.”

Watch the trailer.
Stream it.

THE GIRL FROM ST AGNES S1
Picked by: Candice Fangueiro, head of content at Showmax
What’s it about? “It’s an eight-part murder mystery series, set in a prestigious all-girls school in KZN. Kate Ballard, St Agnes’s drama teacher, can’t come to terms with the death of one of her students and takes it upon herself to investigate what really happened to Lexi.” 

Claim to fame? “It’s a beautifully filmed local drama, filled with twists and turns. It had more views on its first day than any other series on Showmax before, local or international.”
Why is it your favourite? “I loved the world of the story – which was captured incredibly well. The cinematography and soundtrack are simply outstanding. This was really something fresh for the South African market to soak in.”

Watch the trailer.
Stream it.

Honourable mentions include:

  • Elders: Japan, kykNET’s travel show with Erns Grundling – “so funny and sweet… our own idiot abroad”
  • Impilo: The Scam, Mzansi Magic’s pyramid-scheme drama show, starring Desmond Dube
  • Kokkedoor 3, kykNET’s reality TV cooking competition that is “spectacular, gripping and a visual feast”
  • Selina, an “unmissable” Kenyan telenovela on Maisha Magic East, starring Celestine Gachuhi
  • Seng’khathele, Mzansi Wethu’s reality TV show about break-ups, hosted by Lerato Mvelase
  • Table Manners, “a really sweet local film” about family, food and love, now on Showmax
  • The Republic, a Mzansi Magic drama starring Florence Masebe as the South African President
  • uThando Nes’thembu, Mzansi Magic’s reality TV show about a polygamous marriage
  • Zuba, Zambia’s first telenovela, on Zambezi Magic

New Showmax Original comedy starts shooting in Maboneng

Kevin Kriedemann
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New Showmax Original comedy starts shooting in Maboneng

Woke In Progress, Showmax’s second Original scripted comedy, is now shooting in Johannesburg. 

The fish-out-of-water comedy is set at The Maboneng Marble, where two broke, tryna-be-woke twenty-somethings become unlikely roommates. Having just found out she’s adopted, 22-year-old Martie has come to Joburg searching for her birth parents; 25-year-old Amandla is trying to reconnect with the motherland after decades of following her political elite father between international posts.

Think 2 Broke Girls meets Dear White People, or Broad City meets Insecure, or Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt meets Ayeye. 

Woke In Progress is created by 30-year-old showrunner Rea Moeti, who has rapidly made a name for herself since graduating from her Masters at The National Film and Television School in the UK – named one of The Top 15 International Film Schools by The Hollywood Reporter last year.  

Moeti’s Marikana-themed short film, Mma Moeketsi, won Best African Short Film at Cape Town, Jozi, and Zanzibar International Film Festivals, and is currently up for an Africa Movie Academy Award. She was also head writer on the first two seasons of Lockdown, winning the SAFTA for Best Drama Writer. But comedy is Moeti’s first love: she was head writer on SAFTA-winning sitcoms like Ses’Top La and Abo Mzala, as well as a director on the SAFTA-nominated Thandeka’s Diary.

In 2017, when Moeti first pitched Woke In Progress to Showmax, Vogue had just proclaimed Maboneng “the coolest neighbourhood in Johannesburg,” while last year Forbes included the cultural hub in its roundup of “The 12 Coolest Neighbourhoods Around The World.” 

“Our first two scripted Originals – Tali’s Wedding Diary and The Girl From St Agnes – both broke records as the most watched shows on Showmax ever, so we know our audience is hungry for quality South African series,” says Candice Fangueiro, head of content at Multichoice’s Connected Video, which houses Showmax and DSTV Now. “We think they’re going to love laughing with Maboneng’s Afropunk crowd just as much as they did with Talibabes in Sea Point in Tali’s Wedding Diary.” 

Newcomer Laura Lee Mostert plays Martie. She spent 2018 studying in Los Angeles: method acting at Lee Strasberg Institute, whose alumni include Marilyn Monroe and Uma Thurman, and improv at The Groundlings Theatre, whose alumni include Melissa McCarthy and Will Ferrell. 

Zandile Lujabe, best known as Palesa in Isidingo and Mpho Pop’s love interest Ziyanda in Ayeye, plays Amandla. Like Mostert, Lujabe also studied acting internationally, at New York Film Academy, whose alumni include Issa Rae. 

Other key cast include Kiroshan Naidoo, winner of the 2016 Fleur du Cap for Most Promising Student, as Christo, a paranoid misanthrope programmer who shares the flat with Martie and Amandla; Lebogang Tlokana (aka The Funny Chef) as the over-entrepreneurial apartment manager, Lerato; Ebenhaezer Dibakwane, the 2016 Comics Choice Newcomer and 2017 Intermediate Award winner as her brother Puma, the receptionist/artist; and SAFTA nominee Yule Masiteng (aka Jomo Zungu in Scandal!) as the homeless sage who camps outside The Maboneng Marble. 

They’re joined by a support cast of hoteps, Tinder-fodder, taxi-blessers, and tour guides.  

“Working on Lockdown was evidence for me that MultiChoice is offering shows that are becoming more and more daring, and that our audience is ready,” says Moeti. “When I first pitched Woke in Progress to Showmax, it was tamer than it is now, because I thought that was what South African platforms wanted. But Showmax has pushed it to go further. So it’s because of Showmax that the girls are as liberated as they are now.” 

Moeti co-created Woke in Progress with Emma Lungiswa De Wet, one of the writers on the hit animation Munki and Trunk, which has two million YouTube subscribers. “In a way she’s Martie to my Amandla,” jokes Moeti. 

They later brought on Karabo Lediga, who won 2019 SAFTAs for both drama (Emoyeni) and comedy (Thuli no Thulani) writing, and Moeti’s fellow National Film and Television School MA graduate Sipho Sondiyazi. 

Tali’s Wedding Diary dominated the comedy category at this year’s SAFTAs, taking home five awards, including Best Comedy and Best Actress (Julia Anastasopoulos), so Woke In Progress has a lot to live up to. You’ll be able to make up your own mind when the edgy comedy premieres on Showmax on 12 December 2019. 

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