Explore South Africa's rich stories this Heritage MonthFrom Flatland' to United Apart SA', here's how you can explore South Africa's rich stories on Showmax this Heritage Month.
by Erene Roux
08-09-2021
in SA TV and Film
Image: Supplied
From the Berlin Panorama opening film, Flatland, the Safta Best Soap nominee Arendsvlei and the COVID-19 lockdown doccie, United Apart SA, explore South Africa's rich stories this Heritage Month on Showmax.
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FLATLAND | Stream now
Flatland opened the 2019 Berlin Panorama, selling out all its screenings, and has a 91% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Variety calling the South African film an exhilarating fusion of contemporary western and girls-gone-wild road movie and praising the film's sensational trio of female leads : Faith Baloyi (Blood Psalms), Nicole Fortuin (Indemnity) and Izel Bezuidenhout (Dis Ek, Anna).
When her disastrous wedding night ends in a murder, Natalie (Fortuin) flees across the desolate Karoo on horseback with her heavily pregnant best friend Poppie (Bezuidenhout). Hot on their trail is Captain Beauty Cuba (Baloyi), a lonely policewoman intent on proving the innocence of her long-lost fianc (SAFTA winner Brendon Daniels from Skemerdans and Four Corners), who has been framed for Natalie's crime.
The third feature from multi-award-winning South African director Jenna Cato Bass (High Fantasy, Love the One You Love, co-writer on Rafiki), Flatland also screened in the Contemporary World Cinema selection at Toronto International Film Festival.
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I have long wanted to make a western set in the Karoo, an endless wilderness of semi-desert dotted with small towns, boiling in summer and freezing in winter, near mythical, says Bass. I love the drama, action and locations of the traditional western. The unwritten rule of westerns is, however, that they are for men and by men. Though I loved Westerns as much as my father did, I couldn't identify with them. I knew Clint Eastwood would survive, but what about me? What would I do, shot at by enemies, alone? I wanted adventure for myself and for others who were ignored by these films. So Flatland is the opposite - it's a feminist post-western. The main characters are women, each one of them raw and authentic in their own way. Women have just as much right to be in the saddle, and I was sure that women audiences had the same desires I had, as well as the spirit to act them out.
THE ROYALTY SOAPIE AWARD NOMINEES | Stream now
Soapies and telenovelas on Showmax are up for a combined 60 awards at the upcoming Royalty Soapie Awards, with Arendsvlei up for 14, Binnelanders for 12, The Queen for 10, and eight nominations each for Gomora and Suidooster. Getroud Met Rugby, Isibaya, Legacy, and The River are also nominated.
Hailed by Channel24 as local television at its best , kykNET & kie's telenovela Arendsvlei recently celebrated its 500th episode. Produced by International Emmy nominees Penguin Films, Arendsvlei follow the lives of the Cupidos and the Abrahams at the fictional Arendsvlei High School on the Cape Flats.
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At The Royalty Soapie Awards, Arendsvlei is nominated for Most Popular Show, while Jolene Martin (Beatrice Abrahams) and Clayton Evertson (Jake Sylvester) are up for Outstanding Couple and Viewers' Choice awards for Best Actress and Actor respectively. As Dorothy Galant, Ilse Klink is also nominated for both Outstanding Female Villain and Best Actress, while Quanita Adams is up for Viewers' Choice: Best Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actress as Laetitia. For his breakthrough role as Kaleb Jakobs, Chad Baai is up for not just Outstanding Newcomer but Viewers' Choice: Best Actor too.
Go vote for your favourites at royaltysa.com - voting closes at 18:00 on 14 September 2021.
TEMPTATION ISLAND SOUTH AFRICA | Showmax Original | Binge episodes 1-2 now; new episodes every Thursday
Temptation Island South Africa, Showmax's first international reality TV series format, puts a local spin on Banijay's Teen Choice-nominated pop culture phenomenon, which has been adapted 25 times and counting.
The ultimate relationship test, Temptation Island South Africa follows couples at a crossroads in their relationship, where they must mutually decide if they are ready to commit to one another for the rest of their lives - or go their separate ways.
Together, the couples experience a luxurious holiday in paradise (aka Knysna), where they live separately with 20 sexy single men and women who are looking for love. This last taste of the single life is meant to help answer their most difficult questions about their relationship, like, Are we meant to be? and Is there someone better out there for me? .
Afrokaans Film & Television (Survivor SA) is producing the 12-episode Showmax Original, which is hosted by Phat Joe (The Real Housewives of Durban reunion).
UNITED APART SA - LOCKDOWN REMEMBERED | Stream from 9 September 2021, first on Showmax
In March 2020, with just a handful of known infections, South Africa embarked on one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. United Apart SA - Lockdown Remembered is a deep dive into our country's official lockdown strategy and the effect it has had on society, the economy and our most vulnerable citizens.
Did they go too far? Can a developing economy follow the lockdown models developed for fiscally sound countries? What fault lines did Covid-19 expose? What more could have been done to effect change while fighting a devastating pandemic?
The first documentary from Arena Holdings, United Apart SA - Lockdown Remembered features the likes of Professor Glenda Gray, president and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist Professor Salim Abdool Karim, and deputy governor of the South Afr
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Explore South Africa's rich stories this Heritage MonthFrom Flatland' to United Apart SA', here's how you can explore South Africa's rich stories on Showmax this Heritage Month. 
