Yesterday | |
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Directed by | Darrell Roodt |
Written by | Darrell Roodt |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Distributed by | HBO Films (USA) |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | South Africa |
Language | Zulu |
Yesterday is a 2004 South African drama film written and directed by Darrell Roodt. The film tells a story of a young mother, Yesterday (Leleti Khumalo), who discovers she has AIDS. Her husband, a migrant mine laborer, rejected her despite being the one that infected her. Her ambition becomes to live long enough to see her daughter, Beauty, go to school.
This film is the first commercial feature-length production in Zulu. It was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 77th Academy Awards. It also won Best Sound and Best Editing at the inaugural edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards.
Yesterday, a Zulu mother residing with her seven-year-old daughter, Beauty, in Rooihoek, a rural village in Zululand, South Africa, spends her days toiling in the fields, fetching water, and managing household chores while caring for her daughter. She forms a bond with the new village teacher.
Struggling with a persistent cough and weakness, Yesterday makes a long trek to the local clinic with Beauty, only to be turned away without seeing a doctor. When she collapses at home, Beauty seeks help from the teacher, who advises Yesterday to revisit the clinic. With the teacher's support, Yesterday reaches the clinic early the next day.
At the clinic, the doctor inquires about Yesterday's name, given by her father who believed in better times past. She learns she has AIDS, likely contracted from her husband working in a mine. Devastated, Yesterday resolves to inform her husband but faces violence upon doing so. She continues caring for her family, supported by her teacher friend.
Months later, John returns home, also sick. He apologizes for his previous actions, revealing his dismissal from the mine due to his illness. Villagers ostracize him, prompting Yesterday to construct a makeshift hospital on a nearby hill. Despite efforts, John dies.
Yesterday shifts her focus to preparing Beauty for school, her own education dreams unfulfilled. She vows to live to see Beauty attend school. When informed of her resilient health, Yesterday attributes it to her mindset. The film ends as Yesterday watches Beauty's first day at school.
Leleti Khumalo is a South African actress known for her leading role in the movie and stage play Sarafina! and for her roles in other films such as Hotel Rwanda, Yesterday and Invictus, as well as the soap opera Imbewu: The Seed where she plays Nokubonga "MaZulu" Bhengu and on Uzalo as MaNzuza. And currently on Muvhango as Dr Ximba
An Early Frost is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film. It was the first major film with major motion picture stars, Aidan Quinn, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, and Sylvia Sidney, broadcast on a major television network, NBC, to deal with the topic of AIDS. It was viewed by 34 million households in its initial airing, the highest rated show of the night, even beating Monday Night Football. It received 14 Emmy nominations, winning 3 including Best Original Teleplay, a Peabody Award, as well as multiple Golden Globe nominations, including one for Sylvia Sidney who won for Best Supporting Actress. It was a major breakthrough into mass culture, as it was the first time an American audience of that size saw a film about a gay man who had AIDS, which up until then was considered a gay disease.
Mbongeni Ngema was a South African playwright, lyricist, composer, director, choreographer, and theatre producer, best known for co-writing the 1981 play Woza Albert! and co-writing the 1988 musical Sarafina!. He was known for plays that reflected the spirit of black South Africans under apartheid, and won much praise for his work, but was also the subject of several controversies. He died in a car accident on 27 December 2023.
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