First Black South African Anti-Apartheid Feature

First Black South African Anti-Apartheid Feature Producer: Max Montocchio Director: Oliver Schmitz Screenwriter: Thomas Mogotlane In English, Zulu, Sotho, and Afrikaans with English subtitles 104 minutes, 1988 Video sale: $195 rental: $95 3/4" (projection cassette) sale: $395 rental: $125 16mm rental only: $175 2 • NEW RELEASE cclaimed at international film festivals and a make this uncompromisingly honest and vibrant anti police sweep and thrown into jail with activists con hit in English movie houses, Mapantsula will apartheid drama. temptuous of his lifestyle. In Thomas Mogotlane's A provide the high point of any film series. It is dashing performance, Panic is transformed from an ir the firstanti-apartheid feature focusing on black South Mapantsula (Zulu for petty criminal) centers on Panic, responsible man into someone compelled to take a Africans. Banned by the South African authorities and a cynical, streetwise hoodlum devoted to living stand against the system. endorsed by the African National Congress, Mapant township life to the fullest, wearing flashy clothes, sula has been called the South African The Harder drinking, dancing, and belittling those who work for Filmed in Soweto to the urban beat of "Township Jive," They Come. whites. Panic is a "tsotsi," a rebellious underworld Mapantsula demystifies the day-to-day process by figure popular in black South African fiction. which real people become involved in social change. Unlike previous films on South Africa like Cry It will help students of African Studies, Sociology, Freedom and A World Apart, Mapantsula's central Everyone around Panic is drawn into the growing move Political Science and Anthropology begin to experience characters are black and it was made for black South ment: his landlady's son is brutally arrested in a student the daily struggle of living in South Africa through African audiences in the townships. Joint auteurs demonstration; his girl friend , a domestic worker who South African eyes. Thomas Mogotlane and Oliver Schmitz hoodwinked is unjustly fired , fights for her back pay; the township Please note: Mapantsula contains strong language. the South African government into believing they were is in the midst of a bitter rent strike challenging the filming an apolitical gangster movie, but proceeded to authority of the town councillors. Panic is caught in a ' It terrific movie . .. Even more remarkable than Cry " It's about time a feature film has come out that "Instructors willfind Mapantsuia a stimulating basis Freedom and A World Apart. " presents South Africa from a black perspective. for classroom discussion. A dramatic and authentic - Derek Malcolm, The Guardian (UK) Mapantsula does just that and uses a popular film form film of everyday life in Soweto. " and popular culture to make its anti-apartheid message - Dr. Thomas Karis, City University of New York 'It pri vileged view of township life from the inside. " accessible to everybody. " -The Times of London (UK) -Spike Lee " Feels more authentic and less contrived than other "Could have dangerous political effects . The film " Mapantsuia seems at first to mirror the American South Africanfiims . .. Fine and caustic, it drives its has the power to incite viewers to violence. The gangster film, the story ofan outsider's individualistic political message home. " effective closing scene communicates a clear defiance ofsociety. But it subverts the genre by show -Janet Maslin, The New York Times message: refuse cooperation with the authorities and ing that in South Africa, no one can remain an outsider side with the rebellious elements in black society." " California Newsreel's release of Mapantsuia is an to the struggle against apartheid . .. full of life and in -South African Censor Board important event. It shows Americans how each and tegrity. " every black South African is forced to take up the -Jonathan Demme freedom struggle." -Rep. Ronald V. Dellums NEW RELEASE • 3 his troubling Walter Cronkite documentary in "The story of South Africa is a tale of two cities, but CHILDREN OF troduces us to a cross-section of South Africa's also a tale of two peoples, of two kinds ofjustice and T youth under the current State of Emergency. most upsetting of all, of two kinds of children . Strong stuff, well-reported and well-documented, Roxanne Botha, daughter of president P.w. Botha, lives APARTHEID Children of Apartheid has a power other document a life of ignorance and pampered lUXUry just miles from aries on South Africa lack." the demonstrations raging in the townships. For Zinzi Producer: CBS Reports Mandela, life as the daughter of the man who sym -Newsday Reporter: Walter Cronkite bolizes the South African freedom movement has "Beneath the surface, Children of Apartheid is a 49 minutes, 1987 meant forced relocation, bitterness, and constant police furious film , one determined to spur the world to ac Video only sale: $195 rental: $75 harrassment. tion by the examples it portrays . By allowing the young to reveal their attitudes, unencumbered by the Among those we meet is Godfrey Dlomo, 17, jailed four presence of authorities, it has an impressive, times and tortured. Shortly after Children of Apar cumulative power. " theid was broadcast Godfrey was picked up again by -Christian Science Monitor police. He was found murdered five days later. irls Apart is the story of Sylvia and Sisca, two ' It brilliant documentary . .. It humanizes the ra w GIRLS APART 16 year old schoolgirls-one black, one political fact that a white girl and a black girl are set, Gwhite-who inhabit the separate worlds by apartheid, in intractably violent opposition. " prescribed by apartheid. They have never met nor, -The Nation Producer: Chris Sheppard, Claude Sauvageot (UK) under apartheid , are they likely to. 38 minutes, 1987 " Well-edited interviews and documentary footage pre Video sale: $195 rental: $60 In their own words, without intervening narration, sent two contrasting scenes of apartheid. ... Recom 16mm sale: $550 rental: $65 Sylvia and Sisca take us into their homes and churches, mended for public libraries, junior and college libraries, introduce us to their families and communities, and as a discussion starter for social science classes. " and share their hopes and fears . Sylvia has been - Choice arrested-and tortured-by police and is now a student activist. Siscas's family are lifelong supporters of the government. Girls Apart provides a penetrating sociolog'ical study of how white South Africans' worldview screens them from the realities of the black majority they dominate. 4· YOUTH THE CRY OF REASON Producer: Robert Bilheimer, Ron Mix Co-producer: Kevin Harris Music: Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand) 56 minutes, 1988 Video sale: $195 rental: $75 16mm sale: $850 rental : $95 his powerful and persuasive Oscar Nominee and others join Naude in this thoughtful yet impas ':4 stunning portrait . classic in its form and formid traces the courageous odyssey of the Rev. C. F. sioned reflection upon the agony of apartheid and share able in its angry intelligence. " T Beyers Naude from pillar of the Afrikaner elite their vision for a future non-racial society. Perhaps -Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times to staunch supporter of the freedom movement. most importantly, The Cry of Reason will move "Polished and provocative . .. a story of one man's viewers to reflect upon their own response when con moral courage in a state where courage is required of Rev. Naude, now 73, was once the youngest member fronted by injustice. ever of the Afrikaner Broederbond. He preached every millions to survive. Appropriate for collections on Sunday to South Africa's most powerful whites. Many South Africa, it will also be well received by general audiences.' , said one day he would be prime minister. Yet he rejected ':4 wonderful child, The Cry ofReason has been born! it all. Forsaking power and privilege, Naude embraced - Archbishop Desmond Tutu -Choice black South Africans and devoted his ministry to en "Beyers Naude must be one of the most remarkable ding apartheid's cruel division of humankind. ':4 beautifitlly fashionedfilm . .. Shows the truly inspir men alive . .. He is a truly great figure and we should Though jailed, defrocked, harassed, and "banned," ing way how one human can change, despite what be grateful for this film. " Naude has found a purpose, a community and a deep seems like enormous odds . .. I recommend its - Sir Richard Attenborough sense of fulfillment he never thought possible. Arch widespread use." bishop Tutu, Dr. Allan Boesak, Rev. Frank Chikane -Harvey Cox, Harvard Divinity School ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE • 5 his intimate film portrait of five typical black "Shows with moving understatement the circumstances SOUTH AFRICA women goes behind the headlines to explain under which black women fight for survival and T apartheid and describe how it impoverishes, freedom . .. Essential viewing." BELONGS TO dehumanizes and ultimately, enslaves. - The Black Scholar Us Martha lives on an arid "reserve" caring for 13 children "Chris Austin's film offers a modern saga of human on the meager earnings sent home by her husband who misery. He allows the facts-and the women-to speak Producer: Gerhard Schmidt works 300 miles away; Carol, a hospital worker, shows for themselves." Director: Chris Austin us the prison-like barracks where she is housed with -The Daily Express (UK) 35 minutes, 1980 4,000 other women; Winnie is a public health nurse "Five brave black women face the cameras illegally to Video sale: $195 rental: $60 from Soweto; Joyce is a live-in domestic tending to the talk oftheir fear and frustration under apartheid . .. It 16mm sale: $550 rental: $60 needs of a white child while her own must be boarded is a damning tale they tell." out with relatives; Muriel is a resident of the -The Daily Mail (UK) Crossroads squatters community. South Africa Belongs to Us remains the clearest introduction to the system of apartheid, and the singular burden it inflicts upon black women.

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