African stories

Stories told over the ages form an important part of heritage, offering the reader fragments of the past. They also provide a window into...

Donovan Marsh, South African director of the Spud films and festival favourite iNumber Number, has been selected to lead the production on his first big budget Hollywood film, starring Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman. Shooting starts in London in July.

The international film industry has spent R15-billion on productions in South Africa since 2004, and a recently completed US TV series shot in Cape Town has highlighted one of the country's new economical strengths: beating Hollywood at its own game.

The launch of African Independent, by Independent Media, diversifies the media landscape by offering a space to tell stories for Africans, by Africans. Jovial Rantao heads up the editorial team, and he says it is his "big African baby".

The Sibikwa Storytelling Festival aims to build social cohesion, promote indigenous languages, give a platform to sign language, and build national identity. Running over a week at two venues in Soweto, it has a programme for youngsters, as well as open mic sessions.

On 21 February 1917, the SS Mendi troopship carrying more than 800 black South African men sank off the Isle of Wight in the British Channel. The bravery of the men as they stared death in the face is portrayed on staged at the Soweto Theatre.

On 21 February 1917, the SS Mendi troopship carrying more than 800 black South African men sank off the Isle of Wight in the British Channel. The bravery of the men as they stared death in the face is portrayed on staged at the Soweto Theatre.

Aspiring filmmakers in densely populated Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, now have a real shot at making their movie dreams come true, with the opening of the first film studio in the township on Wednesday.

Africa’s diaspora can find some of the continent’s best works – and download them – at the African Film Library, a service launched earlier this year by South African broadcaster M-Net.
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The life of former president Nelson Mandela is to be documented in a new television mini-series, which will be filmed mostly on location in South Africa.
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