Everything you need to know about this year’s Saftas

Cape Town – It’s that time of the year when South Africa’s television and movie stars are honoured for their work in the industry. 

The 12th annual South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) will be held this weekend at Sun City.

The theme for the annual awards show is 'Our Stories Are Gold' in honour of "those who have captured our hearts, minds and imaginations through the telling of our unique stories."

It will also honour Nelson Mandela’s centenary.

The Saftas are more than an awards ceremony, the main objective of the awards is to celebrate excellence, encourage collaboration, and develop new talent while profiling South African talent and productions.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. A two night affair

The first night is dedicated to non-fiction categories and the second night to fiction categories.

The first batch of awards will be handed out on Thursday, 22 March. The main ceremony, which will be televised, will take place on Saturday, 24 March.

2. Where you can watch the ceremony

Viewers can watch the live broadcast at 20:00 on SABC 2 (DStv 192).

See a promo here:

3. The hosts

TV personality and actress Thando Thabethe returns for a second year to host the ceremony. Shock jock Phat Joe will join her as co-host.

Grateful, honored and super excited to host the @saftassa once again...this time alongside the incredible, legendary Phat Joe...tune in this Saturday 8pm on @sabc2

A post shared by Thando Thabooty Thabethe (@thando_thabethe) on Mar 20, 2018 at 7:03am PDT

4. The nominees

This year there was a total of 348 entries which goes through a rigours judging process. 

Saftas12 has a total of 79 categories and 262 judges under the guidance of two overall judging chairpersons, Firdoze Bulbulia and Thembi Mtshali-Jones.

79 awards will be handed out in the various categories.

#SAFTAs12Nominees announcement pic.twitter.com/HCbT7yhUoS

— SAFTAS (@SAFTAS1) February 2, 2018

See all the nominees here. 

5. The glitz and glam

What’s an awards ceremony without a red carpet?

This year Trending SA host Kuli Roberts and Rorisang Thandekiso of SABC1’s Mzansi Insider will be handling the red carpet duties. 

Catch the live red carpet coverage at 19:30 on SABC2 (DStv 192).

What is an awards show without the red carpet, and what is a red carpet without fabulous hosts. We are so excited to have @kuliroberts and @RorisangT joining the #SAFTAs12 hosts @Thando_Thabethe and @phatjoeradiocom #OurStoriesAreGold pic.twitter.com/VQBbyzTOG8

— SAFTAS (@SAFTAS1) March 21, 2018