Looking for something exciting to watch this holiday season? The great news is Showmax has a wide variety of local content available to keep you entertained. Whether it’s a documentary, crime drama, or a romance, there’s something for everyone to stream on Showmax over the festive season. Here are picks for the top 5 African Films & Series to Watch on Showmax.
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Don’t have Showmax yet? Find yourself a Showmax-enabled Smart TV, a Showmax media player, or grab yourself a DSTV decoder to get in on the action!
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Kingdoms of Fire, Ice, & Fairytales | Documentary
Missing travel? Kingdoms of Fire, Ice & Fairy Tales will transport you to three of earth’s iconic wildernesses: Yellowstone National Park in America; the Black Forest in Germany; and the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland. These are lands where waters boil, trees talk and the skies light up as if they are on fire. Lands where bears and wolves rule, where the planet never forgets to remind us of its power. Timeless lands that reveal what life was like a million years ago.
Presenter Bonné de Bod and film director Susan Scott previously collaborated on STROOP – Journey Into The Rhino Horn War, which won over 30 awards around the world. Now, Kingdoms of Fire, Ice & Fairy Tales offers nature lovers an awe-inspiring reminder that there is a planet waiting.
Rogue | Action
In Rogue, Teen Choice winner and People’s Choice nominee Megan Fox (Transformers) stars as Samantha O’Hara, who leads a team of mercenaries on a mission to rescue a group of kidnapped girls. When their plan goes south, the mercenaries find themselves out of ammo and lost in the bush, having to defend themselves against both the kidnappers and an angry lion.
MJ Bassett (Power, Strike Back, Ash vs Evil Dead) directs the action-adventure film, which also stars BAFTA Rising Star winner Adam Deacon (Casualty), Philip Winchester (Strike Back, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), and South African stars Jessica Sutton (Motherland: Fort Salem, The Kissing Booth), Sisanda Henna (Trackers, Inconceivable, Griekwastad), Brandon Auret (District 9, Elysium, Still Breathing), Kenneth Fok (Warrior) and Greg Kriek (The Recce, Black Mirror).
This Showmax Original SA-UK film is a co-production between MultiChoice, Capstone and Mannequin, with Lionsgate Home Entertainment handling distribution in North America.
Also read: Top 5 Series Coming to Showmax in 2020
Meisies Wat Fluit | Romance
Henk and Sofia fell in love too soon, got married too soon, and now they’re getting divorced too soon. As soon as their divorce is over, they end up in bed together — for the first time in over a year. They couldn’t make the marriage work, but maybe a new type of relationship could? As long as they follow the rules.
From SAFTA- and Silwerskerm-winning writer-director Johan Cronjé (Wonderlus), Meisies Wat Fluit stars SAFTA winner Stiaan Smith (Hotel, Wonderlus and Vuil Wasgoed) as Henk and Leandie du Randt (Vuil Wasgoed, Jagveld and Thys en Trix) as Sofia. SAFTA and Silwerskerm winner Bennie Fourie (Vuil Wasgoed, Hotel) also features.
The Letter Reader | Short film
At the end of November 2020, The Letter Reader was nominated for Best Short Film at The Africa Movie Academy Awards. Directed by Sibusiso Khuzwayo, The Letter Reader has already won Best Short at Shnit South Africa, The South African Film and Television Awards, and YouTube’s I Am Africa competition.
Inspired by Thabo Mbeki’s biography, A Dream Deferred, The Letter Reader tells the story of Siyabonga, a 12-year-old boy from Johannesburg who is sent to a village in KwaZulu-Natal to live with his grandmother while his parents are sorting out their marital problems. As a city boy who is not accustomed to doing household chores, Siyabonga struggles to adapt. He discovers the power of words as he reads letters that put a smile on people’s faces, until one day, a letter with bad news lands in his hands…
The late Andile Gumbi, best known for playing Simba in The Lion King musical, leads the cast, while multiple-SAFTA winner Lance Gewer (Tsotsi, Happiness Is A Four-Letter Word) DoPs.
Knuckle City | Boxing movie
At the end of November 2020, Knuckle City was named the most nominated film at the 2020 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), where it’s up for 12 awards, including Best Film, Best Actor (SAFTA winner Bongile Mantsai from Inxeba | The Wound), Best Director (multiple-SAFTA winner Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, who is also making the upcoming Showmax Original Blood Psalms), and Best Supporting Actress (Faniswa Yisa from upcoming Showmax Original Dam).
In South Africa’s powerful 2020 Oscar entry, an ageing, womanising professional boxer (Mantsai) and his career-criminal brother (Thembekile Komani) take one last shot at success and get more than they’ve bargained for.
A rare South African film with a 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Knuckle City was the most awarded film at this year’s SAFTAs, taking home six awards, including Best Director and Best Actor for Mantsai, who also won Best Actor at last year’s Durban International Film Festival, where Knuckle City was the opening night film, and at Africa International Film Festival in Nigeria.
Don’t have Showmax yet? Find yourself a Showmax-enabled Smart TV, a Showmax media player, or grab yourself a DSTV decoder to get in on the action!
