Cinema of South Africa

Last updated

Cinema of South Africa
South Africa film clapperboard.svg
No. of screens 857 (2010) [1]
  Per capita1.9 per 100,000 (2010) [1]
Main distributors Ster-Kinekor 38.8%
Nu-Metro 35.7%
Uip 21.7% [2]
Produced feature films (2016) [3]
Total28
Number of admissions (2011) [4]
Total22,400,000
Gross box office (2016) [3]
TotalR1.14 billion
National filmsR69 million (6%)

The cinema of South Africa refers to the films and film industry of South Africa. Films have been made in English and Afrikaans (List of Afrikaans-language films). Many foreign films have been produced about South Africa, including many involving race relations.

Contents

The first South African film to achieve international acclaim and recognition was the 1980 comedy The Gods Must Be Crazy, written, produced and directed by Jamie Uys. Set in the Kalahari, it told the story about how life in the community of Bushmen is changed when a Coke bottle, thrown out of an airplane, suddenly lands from the sky. Despite the fact that the film presented an incorrect perspective of the Khoisan san people, by framing them as a primitive society enlightened by the modernity of a falling Coke bottle. The late Jamie Uys, who wrote and directed The Gods Must Be Crazy, also had success overseas in the 1970s with his films Funny People and Funny People II, similar to the TV series Candid Camera in the United States. Leon Schuster's You Must Be Joking! films are in the same genre, and were popular among the white population of South Africa during apartheid.

Another high-profile film portraying South Africa was District 9 in 2009. Directed by Neill Blomkamp, a native South African, and produced by The Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson, the action/science-fiction film depicts a sub-class of alien refugees forced to live in the slums of Johannesburg in what many saw as a creative allegory for apartheid. The film was a critical and commercial success worldwide, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, at the 82nd Academy Awards.

Silent Era

Dick Cruikshanks as Piet Retief in the 1916 silent film, "The Voortrekkers" (or "Winning a Continent" in the USA). Dick Cruikshanks as Piet Retief, 1916, The Voortrekkers.jpg
Dick Cruikshanks as Piet Retief in the 1916 silent film, "The Voortrekkers" (or "Winning a Continent" in the USA).

The first film studio in South Africa, Killarney Film Studios, was established in 1915 in Johannesburg by American business tycoon Isidore W. Schlesinger when he traveled to South Africa against his family's wishes after he read about the discovery of gold in Witwatersrand and was interested in exploring what he could find. [5]

During the 1910s and 1920s, a significant amount of South African films were made in or around Durban. These films often made use of the dramatic scenery available in rural KwaZulu-Natal, particularly the Drakensberg region. KwaZulu-Natal also served as the location for historical films such as De Voortrekkers (1916) and The Symbol of Sacrifice (1918). American filmmaker Lorimer Johnston directed several films in the area in the late 1910s which starred American actresses Edna Flugrath and Caroline Frances Cooke. Despite the participation of Johnson, Flugrath and Cooke, these were South African productions featuring local actors and stories.

A notable theme in early South African cinema was the ethic confrontation between Boer and British South Africans stemming from the Second Boer War. [6]

Sound Era

Sarie Marais , directed by Joseph Albrecht, the first South African sound film and Afrikaans-language sound film, was released in 1931. [7] Subsequent sound releases such as Die Wildsboudjie (1948), a 1949 Sarie Marais remake, and Daar doer in die bosveld (1950) continued to cater primarily to white, Afrikaans-speaking audiences.

African Film Productions produced four musical films from 1949-1951: African Jim , The Magic Garden , Song of Africa and Zonk!

The 1950s saw an increased use of South African locations and talent by international filmmakers. British co-productions like Coast of Skeletons (1956) and American co-productions like The Cape Town Affair (1967) reflected a growing trend of shooting in real locations, rather than using backlots.

International Productions

From 2009, there was an increased use of South African locations and talent by international film studios. US productions like District 9 (2009), Chronicle (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), The Dark Tower (2017), Tomb Raider (2018), The Kissing Booth (2018), Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), Escape Room (2019) and Bloodshot (2020) reflect a growing trend by large international houses to use Cape Town, Johannesburg and other South African locations for their film productions. [8] [9]

Historiography

Jacqueline Maingard at the University of Bristol has written about the history of film in South Africa.

Film distributors

Open-Air-Cinema in Johannesburg. AIRSCREEN Africa.jpg
Open-Air-Cinema in Johannesburg.

Listed alongside each distributor are the studios they represent:

Notable South African Filmmakers

Here are several notable South African filmmaker's that have added to South Africa's cinema history:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieter-Dirk Uys</span> South African comedian (born 1945)

Pieter-Dirk Uys is a South African performer, author, satirist, and social activist. One of his best known roles is as Evita Bezuidenhout, an Afrikaner socialite.

Mattheus Uys Krige was a South African writer of novels, short stories, poems and plays in Afrikaans and English. In Afrikaans literature, Krige is counted among the Dertigers. Uys Krige was, according to his friend Jack Cope, very much an exception among Afrikaner poets and writers of his generation due to his hostility to extreme Afrikaner nationalism, White Supremacism, and his literary translations of Latin American poetry by non-White authors into Afrikaans; which have had an enormous influence upon South African literature and culture. Later in his life, Krige served as a mentor and father figure to the Afrikaans literary movement known as die Sestigers; whom he convinced into speaking truth to power about the 1948-1994 rule of the National Party and its policies of both Apartheid and censorship in South Africa.

<i>Drum</i> (2004 film) 2004 film by Zola Maseko

Drum is a 2004 film based on the life of South African investigative journalist Henry Nxumalo, who worked for Drum magazine, called "the first black lifestyle magazine in Africa". It was director Zola Maseko's first film and deals with the issues of apartheid and the forced removal of residents from Sophiatown. The film was originally to be a six-part television series called Sophiatown Short Stories, but Maseko could not get the funding. The lead roles of Henry Nxumalo and Drum main photographer Jürgen Schadeberg were played by American actors Taye Diggs and Gabriel Mann, while most of the rest of the cast were South African actors.

"Sarie Marais" is a traditional South African folk song, created possibly during the First Anglo-Boer War or the Second Anglo-Boer War. The tune was possibly taken from a song dating back from the American Civil War called "Carry me back to Tennessee" or "Sweet Ellie Rhee" with the words roughly translated into Afrikaans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huguenots in South Africa</span>

Many people of European heritage in South Africa are descended from Huguenots. Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony, but were absorbed into the Afrikaner and Afrikaans-speaking population, because they had religious similarities to the Dutch colonists.

Killarney Film Studios was a South African film studio established in Johannesburg by New York native and business tycoon Isidore W. Schlesinger in 1915 and is regarded as "the first motion picture studio in Africa". Schlesinger moved to South Africa in 1894, against his family's wishes, when he read about the discovery of gold in Witwatersrand. In 1913, having accumulated wealth throughout various ventures, he ventured in to the entertainment industry in 1913 when he purchased the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg for £60,000 and converted what was an "insolvent" business into a flourishing one named African Consolidated Theatres, which worked on the national distribution of content like variety shows and films from the Cape of Good Hope to the Zambezi River.

Zola Maseko is a Swazi film director and screenwriter. He is noted for his documentary films related to xenophobia.

<i>The Power of One</i> (film) 1992 film by John G. Avildsen

The Power of One is a 1992 drama film directed and edited by John G. Avildsen, loosely based on Bryce Courtenay's 1989 novel of the same title. The film stars Stephen Dorff, John Gielgud, Morgan Freeman, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Daniel Craig in his feature film debut.

Jans Rautenbach was a South African screenwriter, film producer and director. His 1968 film Die Kandidaat proved controversial and received some censorship in South Africa, because of perceived criticism of the apartheid system. His last film, Abraham, was a hit at the South African box office.

Katrina is a 1969 South African drama film directed by Jans Rautenbach and starring Katinka Heyns, Jill Kirkland and Don Leonard. Based on a play called Try for White by D Warner, the film depicts the lives of a family of a Coloured South Africans, who in the apartheid system are considered neither white nor black, in which Katrina, the daughter, attempts to appear white, before her secret is exposed. The screenplay was written by Emil Nofal.

Boerehaat is an Afrikaans word that means "ethnic hatred of Boers" or Afrikaners as they became known after the Second Boer War. The related term Boerehater has been used to describe a person who hates, prejudices or criticises Boers or Afrikaners.

Boetie Gaan Border Toe is a 1984 satire film set during the South African Border War. The film was directed by Regardt van den Bergh, and stars Arnold Vosloo, Frank Dankert and Frank Opperman. Production was assisted by the South African Defence Force (SADF).

Elmo De Witt was a South African filmmaker, who worked as a director and a producer. His films include Debbie (1965), The Last Lion (1972), Ter Wille van Christene (1975), Grensbasis 13 (1979) and You Must Be Joking! (1986). He was a prolific filmmaker, whose activity spanned more than three decades, from 1959 to 1992. Keyan Tomaselli considers him typical of Afrikaans directors who "have made films which conflict with the stereotypical "farm" image of the Afrikaner".

Katinka Heyns is a South African actress, director and filmmaker in the South African film industry. She is known for including feminist perspectives in her films, as well as for commenting on South African politics and culture. Her work includes the film Paljas which was selected as the South African entry, but eventually not nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Academy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thelma Gutsche</span>

Thelma Gutsche was a South African filmmaker, film historian, writer, and arts patron, referred to as "South Africa's most accomplished early cinema historian" by a later film scholar.

Thomas William Saymoir Meyer was a South African film producer.

Forever Young, Forever Free is a 1975 South African drama film directed by Ashley Lazarus and starring José Ferrer and Karen Valentine. The lives of actors Muntu Ndebele and Norman Knox are dramatised in 2011 unofficial sequel Canadian film A Million Colours, directed by Peter Bishai and co-written with Andre Pieterse.

The Life and Times of Sarah Baartman is a 1998 South African documentary film directed by Zola Maseko.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydia Lindeque</span> South African actor

Lydia Lindeque, born Rachel Alida du Toit, was a South African actor of Afrikaner descent. Initially known by the stage name Alida du Toit, she started touring at the age of seventeen with Paul de Groot's acting company. Soon adopting the name Lydia Lindeque, she worked with many stars of the era over the following decades, including Taubie Kushlick in 1958. She first performed in English in 1943, in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and, in 1945, travelled to Egypt and Italy to direct stage plays for the South African Army troops stationed there. She was married to the playwright Uys Krige in 1937, later separating and marrying John Mantel. After retiring in 1976, she died in Andorra in 1997.

<i>Symbol of Sacrifice</i> 1918 South African film

Symbol of Sacrifice is a 1918 film dramatisation of the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War. It follows English soldier Preston Fanshall from the British defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana to Rorke's Drift where he participates in the successful defence of that post. His love interest, Marie Moxter, is captured by the Zulu during the battle and taken to their capital at Ulundi. Moxter's black servant, Goba, travels to Ulundi and intervenes to protect her from the advances of German villain Carl Schneider who has allied with the Zulu. The film shows the British defeat at the Battle of Hlobane and the arrival of reinforcements, including Napoléon, the French Prince Imperial. The prince becomes a central character for a portion of the film and is shown, in a lavish flashback, meeting Queen Victoria and Empress Eugénie at Windsor Castle. The death of the prince at the hands of the Zulu is shown. A second love triangle involving a Zulu woman, Melissa, with a warrior, Tambookie, and a villainous witchdoctor, is also depicted. The film ends with the British victory at the Battle of Ulundi, ending the war. Goba and Tambookie help Moxter to escape, but Goba is killed in the process and Tambookie enters Moxter's employment.

References

  1. 1 2 "Table 8: Cinema Infrastructure – Capacity". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  2. "Box Office Report: South Africa (January – December 2013)". National Film and Video Foundation South Africa. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  3. 1 2 "South African Box Office 2016" (PDF). National Film and Video Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  4. "Table 11: Exhibition – Admissions & Gross Box Office (GBO)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  5. Anonymous (21 March 2011). "A History of the South African Film Industry timeline 1895-2003". South African History Online. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  6. "Almost 100 years old and still rolling! The history of SA cinema Part 2". February 2010. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 "Joseph Albrecht - ESAT". esat-sun-ac-za.translate.goog. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  8. "20 Films shot in South Africa - TravelGround Blog". www.travelground.com. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  9. "Did you know that these Hollywood movies were shot in SA?". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  10. "Lost Continent: Cinema of South Africa - Movie list". MUBI. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  11. "Who's Who at FESPACO: Zola Maseko". British Broadcasting Corporation . BBC World Service. Archived from the original on 23 August 2007. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
  12. Sweet, Matthew (14 November 1999). "The rebirth of the Hottentot Venus". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  13. Knight, James; Manson, Katrina (5 March 2005). "South African Wins Africa's Top Film Prize". The Washington Post . Reuters. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
  14. Gilstrap, Peter; Fleming, Michael (19 July 2007). "Fox says Hood good for 'Wolverine'". Variety

Further reading