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Cape Town – Local is lekker, and 2020 is set to be a bumper year for homegrown films at the cinema.
Here's a line-up of the upcoming South African movies set to be released next year.
1. POPPIE NONGENA (31 JANUARY)
The drama tells the story of a South African isiXhosa mother, whose life revolves around finding stability for her family during a period of insufferable upheaval in the country when African women were forced, by arrests and fines, to leave their homes and resettle in remote areas designated as black homelands.
2. KNUCKLE CITY (28 FEBRUARY)
The film which follows the journey of Dudu Nyakama, a down and out ageing boxer as he struggles to attain the one fight that he believes will uplift his fractured family. Contending that the underbelly of the boxing world is rife with criminality, Dudu unwittingly enlists the help of his reckless but resourceful, gangster brother who's coming out of jail. Haunted by the ghost of their father, Dudu soon finds that the fight at home is far more challenging than any opponent he can face in the ring.
3. MOFFIE (13 MARCH)
The year is 1981, and South Africa's white minority government is embroiled in a conflict on the southern Angolan border. Like all white boys over the age of 16, Nicholas Van der Swart (Kai Luke Brummer) must complete two years of compulsory military service to defend the Apartheid regime. The threat of communism and "die swart gevaar" (the black danger) is at an all-time high. But that's not the only danger Nicholas faces. He must survive the brutality of the army – something that becomes even more difficult when a connection is sparked between him and a fellow recruit.
4. GRIEKWASTAD (27 MARCH)
In 2012, Deon Steenkamp was murdered along with his wife Christel and their teenage daughter Marthella on their farm Naauwhoek. Based on the bestselling true crime novel by Jacques Steenkamp, it tells the tale of the search to find the truth around these murders, however difficult and upsetting it may be.
5. FLATLAND (10 APRIL)
A contemporary Western, a journey of self-discovery for three different but equally trapped women, Flatland paints a vivid and unique portrait of femininity against a hostile frontier land and questions what it means to be a woman today in South Africa and the world at large.
6. SERIOUSLY SINGLE (1 MAY)
The film tells the story of Dineo (Fulu Mugovhani), who is the definition of serial monogamist. She dates to fall in love. She falls in love to get married. But she never gets married. She always ends up dumped. When she meets Lunga Sibiya, he seems to be the man she's waited her whole life for, a man who shares her values when it comes to love and relationships. Or so she thinks... After a messy breakup with Lunga, her commitment-phobic bestie, Noni, helps Dineo face what she dreads most: life as a single woman.
Consider yourselves teased. Official trailer will be out in the new year. The road to being single begins in 2020.#SeriouslySingleMovie pic.twitter.com/ObkkhuKI61
— Seriously Single Movie (@single_movie) December 18, 2019
7. TOORBOS (1 MAY)
Toorbos investigates the uprooting of a young forest woman during the time of the final forest dwellers in the South African Knysna forests of the 1930s. The film tells the story of a strong woman, Karoliena Kapp's intimate connection with the tree heart of the forest, and how it becomes a stumbling block in her experience of the man she loves.
8. RIDING WITH SUGAR (22 JUNE)
Written and directed by Sunu Gonera it is a coming-of-age, feel-good story about a young refugee who, despite many setbacks, finds his way, finds love and a chance to create a better life in Cape Town.
9. THE TREE (28 AUGUST)
The film tells the story of Grace, a homeless refugee who is kidnapped on the streets of Cape Town after she sets out to earn some money to buy medicine for her child. The child, now lost, wanders the city streets alone. A policeman and his girlfriend drift apart. A nurse yearns for motherhood. The film looks at how five wildly disparate lives begin to intersect in painful and surprising ways.
10. NEW MATERIAL (2 OCTOBER)
The much-anticipated sequel to Material, the hilarious, heart-warming hit film about a dutiful young Muslim man who moonlights as a stand-up comedian, opens. In New Material, Cassim Kaif (Riaad Moosa) navigates the bumpy road of balancing his chosen career as a stand-up comedian with his faith, his community and his family.
Compiled by Leandra Engelbrecht
