August 2018 is Women’s Month in South Africa. During this time we commemorate the 1956 march of approximately 20 000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s Apartheid pass laws and also celebrate the women who make an impactful contribution to society at present.
We have curated three Mzansi films just released on Showmax that captures the courage of South African woman – and the issues we still face.
Sink
Premise: Rachel, a Mozambican domestic worker living in Johannesburg, is forced to make a life-changing decision after her daughter dies while under the care of her employers: return to poverty-stricken Mozambique or continue working for the people responsible for the death of her child. Things become even more complicated when she finds out that her employers are expecting their first child.
Why you should watch: As Theresa Smith wrote, it’s “an uncomfortably close look at the smothering maid/madam relationship as it plays out in so many South African homes. It tracks the relationship between these two women who live in each other’s space, know each other’s intimate details but have a very uneven power dynamic. It makes you question your own relationships long after the flickering images are gone from your retina.”
Accolades: Sink won five SAFTAs last year, including Best Film, Best Actress (Shoki Mokgapa), Best Script (Brett Michael Innes), Best Edit (Brett Michael Innes and Nicholas Costaras) and Best Score (Chris Letcher). Sink also won five Silwerskerm awards: Best Actress, Best Script, Best Editor, Best Score and Best Cinematography (Trevor Calverley).
Trailer:
Little One
Premise: A six-year-old girl is left for dead outside a township in Johannesburg but is found by a woman (Lindiwe Ndlovu) who takes her to the hospital and then oversees her recovery.
Why you should watch: “ Darrell Roodt’s film Little One is a poignant , moving, and minimalist narrative which is unapologetically South African,” said the South African Academy Award Selection Committee, who chose Little One as our 2013 Foreign Film Oscar entry. “It is a universal story made local, with brilliant performances.”
Accolades: Lindiwe Ndlovu won the Best Actress SAFTA for her role.
Trailer:
u-Carmen eKhayelitsha
Premise: In this update of George Bizet’s classic opera, Carmen, Pauline Malefane plays a township woman who will not be tamed, who seduces a religious policeman into a fatal affair.
Why you should watch: 1. It’s one of the world’s great operas, in Xhosa, in a township. 2. The New York Times hailed it as “brilliantly acted” and praised the “the decision to cast two leads with actors who aren’t svelte, then insist upon their sexiness.”
Accolades: u-Carmen eKhayelitsha became the first South African film to win the Golden Bear at Berlin – the top award at one of the world’s top film festivals. It has a 95% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Village Voice saying that the adaptation “was basically the best decision ever.”
Trailer:
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