by Marianne Gray
It's that wonderful time of year when London is ablaze with films and celebrities pop up all over the place. Like last year, there are three South African feature films at this year's BFI London Film Festival, plus a short in the African First Shorts section.
The three features are Felix, a drama about a Zulu boy who wants to become a jazz musician, Of Good Report, about a paedophile school teacher, that was banned on the night of its opening screening at the Durban International Film Festival, and Durban Poison, dubbed the South African Bonnie and Clyde.
The short is Security, as part of the Africa First Shorts section, about a lonely security guard in a Johannesburg shopping mall who finds solace in a storefront mannequin. Directed by Mark Middlewick, it is 15 minutes long.
In Felix, 14-year-old Felix Xaba dreams of becoming a saxophonist like his late father, but his mother Lindiwe thinks jazz is the devil's music.
When Felix leaves his township friends to take up a scholarship for grade eight at an elitist private school, he defies his mother and turns to two ageing members of his father's old band to help him prepare for the school jazz concert.
Newcomer Hlayani Junior Mabasa plays Felix, Linda Sokhulu (Isidingo, Generations) is his mother and Dame Janet Suzman his teacher.
I play Felix's favourite teacher, Mrs Cartwright, says Suzman. I've always thought that teaching was an underrated and very important profession. With luck you can remember having a good teacher on your side at school, who made a difference in your life.
Says Felix director Roberta Durrant, The programmer saw the film at Durban International Film Festival, where we won the Audience Award for Best Film, and called me about the wonderful audience response. Being selected for Britain's premier film festival is a huge honour and hopefully we'll be able to announce a cinema release in London soon.
Felix has also been selected for three other major international film festivals: Vancouver International Film Festival in Canada and Lucas International Children's Film Festival and The Hamburg FilmFest in Germany.
Of Good Report is shot in black and white with crisp direction by Jahmil XT Qubeka. Mothusi Magano plays a newly recruited high school teacher seemingly of good report'. He meets the sexually charged Nolitha (played by Petronella Tshuma) at a local bar but only later, after a brief sexual encounter, finds out that she is an under-age pupil in his class. Obsession follows. It's a provocative film, almost too strong for the South African censorship board who were thrown into a panic at its world premiere earlier this year.
Only the festival director and film's director had been informed about the censors, the producer Mike Auret tells me. We decided to get the audience in and put the censor's letter on screen. It caused an outcry and there was coverage worldwide including CNN and BBC. We appealed the banning, which was nonsensical in terms of the South African constitution. We won the appeal ten days later and the film began its journey.
The film is travelling worldwide, is in competition in the London Film Festival and will open the Film Africa Festival at the Hackney Picturehouse in London on 1 November.
Durban Poison is a moody and touching noir romance set amongst the country's marginalised white underclass made by writer/director Andrew Worsdale.
Written 27 years after Worsdale's controversial UCLA thesis film Shot Down was banned in South Africa and went on to festival acclaim becoming South Africa's definitive cult film of the 1980s' Worsdale returns with this road movie inspired by a true story of a pair of outlaw KwaZulu-Natal lovers.
Joline is a 20-year-old streetwalker and party hostess, who comes from a background that has made her tougher than any man. Sexy and manipulative, she gets anything she wants. Her lover is Piet, a 38-year-old construction worker. Hardened after a third of his life spent behind bars, he's a loser, maybe even weak, but filled with a bravado that makes him behave like a real underworld king.
Durban Poison won the Audience prize at Durban International Film Festival. Cara Roberts and Brandon Auret star.
This selection of films, comments Keith Shiri, the person who selects the African films that show at the LFF, how South African films are shaping up on the international market. For those who have been anticipating original and satisfying cinema from South Africa for a very long time, the wait is over.
Adds Tendeka Matatu, one of the most international of South African producers, It is great that there is such a strong selection of South African cinema this year and that Of Good Report is in main competition.'
The London Film Festival runs from 9 to 20 October.
Screenings:
*Felix is screened on Sat 19 October at15.30 at NFT2
*Of Good Report is screened in competition on Sun 13 October at 12.00 at OWE2, Mon 14th at 20.45 at Vue 5 and Tues 15 October at 18.15 at Ritzy
*Durban Poison is screened on Thurs 10 October at 20.45 at Ritzy and Fri 11 October at 18.15 at Hackney Picturehouse 1
*Security is screened on Wed 9 October at 20.45 at ICA and Sat 12 October at 15.30 at Renoir.
Festival programme and tickets : www.bfi/org.uk/lff
Tel 020 7928 3232
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
by Marianne Gray
