Film / News
Once-banned South African movie takes centre stage in Bristol’s Freedom Day celebrations
Originally screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, Oliver Schmitz’s apartheid-era South African crime drama Mapantsula was banned in the director’s homeland for many years. Now the film has been lovingly restored in glorious 4K and was named Best South African Film of the Decade at the South African Film and TV Awards
Shot guerilla-style, the film tells the story of Panic (Thomas Mogotlane) – a township ‘mapantsula’, or petty gangster – who tries to keep out of politics. But when he’s picked up by the cops during a mass arrest of the protesting Soweto militants he despises, Panic finds himself forced to choose between personal gain and the anti-apartheid struggle.
Mapantsula is back on screen at the Watershed on Saturday 27 April – South Africa’s Freedom Day – followed by a panel discussion whose participants include director Oliver Schmitz. Freedom Day celebrations then continue at the Pickle Factory in Easton, with South African music curated by South African-born singer Sisanda Myataza, and food supplied by Kalahari Moon. Go here for tickets for the screening and here for tickets to the Freedom Day bloc party.
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