24 June, 2019 - 06:06
In the 1970s and 80s, the apartheid government funded a little-known film scheme aimed at black South Africans. In 1973, a ground-breaking film, Joe Bullet, was screened - for the very first time - at the Eyethu Cinema in Soweto. It was the first South African-produced film with a black action hero and an all-black cast.
Benjamin Cowley, the CEO of Gravel Road Productions, described the film as unique because at the height of apartheid, no one was producing movies with all-black cast members for black audiences.
According to Tonie van der Merwe, the writer and producer of Joe Bullet, the apartheid censors banned the film after just two screenings. In a letter, the censors listed the reasons for their decision which included: the main character carrying a gun, driving a sports car, living in a white neighbourhood. Stupid, stupid reasons, said van der Merwe.
While Joe Bullet was a commercial failure, it demonstrated that there was a huge demand in South Africa for films like it; however, without the apartheid censors approval, there was a good chance that they would be banned. So an agreement had to be reached with the apartheid government.
Back in 1956, the A-scheme film subsidy had been created by the government in order to develop a national film industry for white South Africans. To qualify for the subsidy, the films had to have white casts, dialogue in one of the white South African languages - either English or Afrikaans - and typically the themes would promote the white South African way of life.
Using the A-scheme as a template, van der Merwe and his associates successfully lobbied the apartheid government for a B-scheme film subsidy; only these films would contain black casts, dialogue in one of the black South African languages, and would target black audiences.
The reason why the apartheid government - with its policies of racism, oppression and segregation - agreed to help bankroll the films had to do with the political climate.
At the time, there was escalating political unrest in the country. As more and more black South Africans took to the streets in the fight against apartheid, the government had to come up with a distraction. Thus, the B-scheme film subsidy got the green light.
It was about moralising the leisure time of black people because if theyre not occupied, they get up to all kinds of mischief, says Gairoonisa Paleker, a senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria, of the apartheid governments logic. And a secondary benefit, a huge plus, was of course the kind of ideological value that the apartheid state could get out of it.
As one of the filmmakers who was instrumental in creating the B-scheme film subsidy, van der Merwe is well placed to say what kind of themes and storylines the apartheid government would favour.
They loved you to put in that good will always win over the evil. Crime doesnt pay.
The other prevailing theme, according to van der Merwe, was that black South Africans should stay in their homelands and not come into the white urban centres.
Homelands were small, semi-autonomous regions created by the apartheid government. Each of the major black ethnic or tribal groups were allocated a homeland; however, these regions were typically underserved and poverty-stricken.
Convincing black South Africans to stay there, or return there after their work in white South Africa was done, was crucial for the apartheid governments policy of racial segregation to succeed.
The theme - that black South Africans should go back to the homelands - became so common in the B-scheme films that the entire genre came to be known as Back to the Homelands. And it was not just about selling the tranquil life of the homelands, it was also about warning viewers of the perils of life in the white, urban centres.
The urban centres were always portrayed as dens of vice for black people ... and black people were portrayed as morally weak. They always succumbed to the evils of the urban centres, said Paleker.
While the nature of this propaganda may have lacked subtlety, the demographic it was intended for had so little exposure to cinema that they had little to compare the films to.
Charles Mokatsane, a cinema owner in Soweto who grew up watching B-scheme films, said: We were so ignorant, we welcomed anything that came our way. We never saw anything wrong because thats all we had. Our eyes only opened when more Western movies were coming through. Its only then when we realised that this, its not good for us.
In 1989, crippled by sanctions, the cash-strapped apartheid government abolished the B-scheme.
Today, there is very little official documentation about the subsidy and many of the films have disappeared, leaving opinion in South Africa divided.
Some say that the B-scheme is a blot on the South African film industry and the films are nothing more than propaganda. Others call the films a lost heritage and argue that the apartheid government unintentionally paved the way for many black South Africans to enter the film industry.
Either way, the story of the B-scheme film subsidy tells us a lot about the history of South Africa.
Contributors:
Charles Mokatsane - cinema owner
Benjamin Cowley - CEO, Gravel Road Productions
Gairoonisa Paleker - senior lecturer, University of Pretoria
Tonie van der Merwe - filmmaker
www.aljazeera.com
Feature Films
Africa South Africa
Africa Stories
15/07/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
28/06/2025
Johannesburg, 27 June 2025 - As the nation commemorates Youth Month
2025, the N...
24/06/2025
Panels of the National Film and Video Foundation in Accordance with the NFVF Act...
13/06/2025
Johannesburg, 12 June 2025 - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an a...
11/06/2025
Johannesburg, South Africa - 10 June 2025 - The National Film and Video Foundati...
10/06/2025
Johannesburg, South Africa - 10 June 2025 - The National Film and Video Foundati...
06/06/2025
S o Paulo Film and Audiovisual Company (Spcine) and the National Film and Video ...
05/06/2025
Johannesburg, South Africa 4 June 2025 - The National Film and Video Foundatio...
29/05/2025
Rest in Power, a True Legend of Our Screens
Johannesburg, South Africa 27 May...
29/05/2025
Johannesburg, South Africa 28 May 2025 - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Vincent Blennies, has resigned from...
22/05/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
13/05/2025
The NFVF, an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture that was create...
10/05/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
09/05/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
09/04/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
08/04/2025
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Vincent Blennies as Chief Exec...
04/04/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites final-year animation students to submit character designs inspired by lead characters from any South Afric...
14/03/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/03/2025
Antis pticos Orales: Revisi n De La Literatura Y Perspectiva Actual Influenza son contradictorios, dadas las elevadas tasas de curaci n espont nea. De ser neces...
28/02/2025
The Future of Green Energy: Challenges and Prospects Green energy, also known as renewable energy, has emerged as a critical solution to global energy challenge...
27/02/2025
Beginner Coding in Python: Building the Simplest AI Chat Companion Possible
AI-powered Personal VoiceBot for Language Learning by Gamze Zorlubas
You can ear...
24/12/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is calling for applications from South African film and television filmmakers to be part of the NFVF's delegat...
06/12/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the cl...
30/11/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
16/11/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation, an agency of the Department of Sport, Ar...
16/11/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites emerging female producers ...
16/11/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites current masters students t...
30/10/2024
Johannesburg, 26 October 2024 - The 18th Annual South African Film and Televisio...
30/10/2024
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND DOCUMENTARY
!Aitsa
Practitioner: Simon Kohler
Production House: MED CINE
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING DOCUMENTARY
Rise: The Si...
24/10/2024
In accordance with Section 6 (2) (c) of the National Film and Video Foundation A...
19/10/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites postgraduate students to s...
15/10/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (herein referred to as NFVF) is a statutory body set up by the government to grow and develop the South African Film and ...
11/10/2024
10 October 2024 Johannesburg, South Africa - The National Film and Video Found...
09/10/2024
Sportel stand number: Ravel Hall G06/07 After a summer filled with intense sport emotions in Paris, France and beyond, Globecast will be happy to welcome you...
04/10/2024
SAFTAs 18 Announces Date and Theme: Honouring Excellence in South African Film and Television with the theme Back to Basics . Johannesburg, South Africa Wedn...
04/10/2024
Johannesburg, South Africa Wednesday, 2 October 2024 The South African Film ...
01/10/2024
Johannesburg, South Africa - Monday, 30 September 2024 - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (...
24/09/2024
Every little girl out there who has felt different because they are not what soc...
09/09/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (herein referred to as NFVF) is a statutory body set up by the government to grow and develop the South African Film and ...
06/09/2024
Johannesburg, 05 September 2024 - The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF),...
09/08/2024
Johannesburg, 8 August 2024 - It is with profound sadness that the National Film...
01/08/2024
Globecast to Showcase the Broadcast Industry's Most Advanced Connectivity and Hybrid Cloud Solutions at IBC 2024
PARIS, 1 August 2024 Globecast, the lead...
16/07/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
13/07/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
09/07/2024
The NFVF, an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture that is created...
02/07/2024
Arabsat, ASBU and Globecast are commemorating 20 years with a renewed multi-year deal for Global Arabic Bouquet (GAB) services, providing a wide range of DTH di...
11/06/2024
Tuesday 11 June 2024, Johannesburg. The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF...
31/05/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), the custodians of the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs), has learned of the allegations of ill-tr...
24 June, 2019 - 06:06 
