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The screening will feature a pre-recorded archive interview with actor and co-writer Thomas Mogotlane and will be followed by a Q&A with director Oliver Schmitz.
A true classic of guerrilla filmmaking, Mapantsula has been newly restored after years of suppression, marking the 30th anniversary of South African Freedom Day in April 2024.
Mapantsula is one of the most important and influential films to ever be produced and exported out of Africa. Director Oliver Schmitz worked closely with co-writer and lead actor Thomas Mogotlane, to produce a film under extreme censorship, and by evasion of the authorities, they bravely created a radical and rare anti-apartheid feature film. Mapantsula tells the story of Panic, a small-time hood who believes he sees all the angles. But he is soon in the web of the authorities, pushed to betray the revolutionaries fighting for change.
More than a gripping crime story, Mapantsula is an almost miraculous opportunity to understand South Africa from within during its struggle for freedom, centred on the choices offered to Panic by a system set out to dehumanise him. Vital, humane and unvarnished, this is the time to reckon with Mapantsula.
Winner - One Future Prize, 1989 Munich Film Festival
Official Selection - 1988 Cannes Un Certain Regard
Selection - 2023 Berlinale Classics
Entry (South Africa) - Best Foreign Language Film, 1998 Academy Awards
The screening is presented by Cinema Africa! and Maona Art, in collaboration with the Independent Cinema Office.
Cast:
Thomas Mogotlane, Marcel van Heerden, Thembi Mtshali, Dolly Rathebe, Peter Se-Puma, Darlington Micheals, Eugene Majola