Film & TV

South African Film Festival Comes to Adelaide

A selection of features, documentaries, and shorts from South Africa.

In May the South African Film Festival (SAFF) will once again bring the very best of contemporary South African film to audiences, both in-cinema and online.

More than just a celebration of cinematic art, all profits from SAFF support the amazing work of Education without Borders which provides life-changing educational programmes for school students from socially disadvantaged communities in and around Cape Town.

SAFF 2024 features some iconic films from the past 30 years, including classic documentaries like 1994: The Bloody Miracle, and the story of how South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup win galvanised and united the nation, The 16th Man.

A highlight of this year’s festival is Oliver Schmitz’s masterpiece, Mapantsula, restored to 4K glory. This gritty gangster film is set against the backdrop of rebellion against the apartheid regime and, upon its release in 1987, was banned after just one screening for inciting violence.

The Festival opens on 03 May with an in-cinema screening of the highly entertaining The Umbrella Men. This rollicking tale of a ragtag bunch of musicians who are forced to rob a bank during the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival will appeal to a wide-ranging audience, and it has achieved critical acclaim for Director John Barker.

This year SAFF is delighted to feature the documentary, George Bizos Icon. The film juxtaposes the personal and political sides of George’s life showing the tapestry of his life and his motivation in his work. It uses a public and never-before-seen archive, his family’s 8mm and still archive, interviewing notables, colleagues, and family, engaging the viewer to the end.

SAFF features a total of eight documentaries, including The Radical, an intimate portrait of the world’s first openly gay Imam. And one that will have sports lovers experiencing the pain and the glory that is the iconic Ultra Marathon, Down, a Comrades Story.

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) is a light-hearted comedy that tackles the subject of aging and stars some of the luminaries of South African screen and stage, including Tobie Cronje and Sandra Prinsloo. Starring the legendary Desmond Dube, Soccer Season: Playmaker rounds out the features offering by providing good old-fashioned entertainment.

The 11 short films in the festival line-up offer a poignant mix of magic and hope, trauma and survival.

The Festival will screen at Wallis Cinema Piccadilly, and online.

For the full Festival program and tickets click here.

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