Nelson Mandela is a global icon of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries. But this might not have been if it were not for the heroic fight to save Mandela’s life by a legal team led by an Afrikaner revolutionary, Bram Fischer. This is the story of how Mandela was saved from the death penalty in the Rivonia trial of 1963.

On a winter’s day, July 1963 the police raid a farm in Rivonia on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Nine black and white leaders of the banned ANC and “Umkhonto we Sizwe” (the Spear of the Nation) are arrested. And a tenth member, arrested earlier is added to the group of nine, Nelson Mandela.

More than anything the Apartheid regime wanted to sentence freedom fighters to death: not only as a warning to their fellow activists but also to get rid of some of Apartheids’s most feared enemies; in essense to decapitate the liberation movement.

When the families of the suspects try to find a lawyer to defend the accused, the potential candidates are afraid or unwilling to accept the mandate. Widely respected legal mind Bram Fischer also hesitates. He is the Dean of the Bar Association, counsel for major mining magnates and scion of a prominent Afrikaans family.

But Bram hesitates for other reasons: he has a secret that only a few people and his wife, Molly Fischer, know. Bram should have been the eleventh accused, and it was only by chance that he was not present at the farm in Rivonia when his fellow activists were arrested.

He decides to take on the defence. During the trial Bram not only has to unravel the manipulated evidence by the prosecutor, and expose bribed or tortured witnesses, he must also protect himself from detection by witnesses.

During the trial Bram sees more and more reasons to move away from his principles of nonviolence, and becomes prepared to support violent acts of sabotage and the armed uprising of the people. The death penalty for the accused could be the spark igniting the powder keg, and parallel to the trial Bram is fervently trying to organise the underground resistance.

Then the secret police uncover Bram’s double role and the State Attorney is forced by the Minister of Justice, Balthazar Vorster, to play this card. Bram has a moral dilemma: does he defend his clients, or take care of the welfare and safety of his family?

The film stars Peter Paul Muller, Alles is Liefde, Gooische Vrowen, as Bram Fischer, Sello Motloung, The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Generations, as Nelson Mandela, Antoinette Louw, Die Laaste Tango, Swartwater, Izel Bezuidenhout, Dis Ek, Anna, Agent 2000: Die Laksman en Morne Visser, Dis Ek, Anna, The Forgiven.

Directed by Jean Van De Velde, An Act of Defiance, won the 2017 Movies that Matter Film Festival – Audience Award in the Hague, Netherlands.

An Act of Defiance was the opening film in the Cape Town International Market & Film Festival (2017) and has achieved the following awards from various festivals:

• 2017 Dutch Film Awards – Best Actor
• 2017 Dutch Film Awards – Best Screenplay
• 2017 Cape Town Film Festival – Best Actress
• 2017 Cape Town Film Festival – Best Screenplay
• 2017 Mill Valley Film Festival – Golden Audience Award
• 2017 Movies that Matter Film Festival – Audience Award

The film’s partners include Richard Claus & Co, Spier Films and Cinema Management Group. It is a South African-Dutch co-production, with thanks and recognition to Richard Claus, Michael Auret, Hugh Rogers, Patricia Van Heerden and Dr. Lwazi Manzi as producers.

An Act of Defiance is distributed in South Africa by Indigenous Film Distribution.

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Queer cinema has steadily grown to become one of the leading forces in film internationally over the last five years. And South Africa is no different. Etienne Kallos’s film Die Stropers, which won critical acclaim at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, opens nationwide on 15 March and is the latest in a series of award-winning films about gayness.

The South African-French-Greek-Polish co-production, by first-time Greek-South African director Kallos, is an intense psychological drama exploring the coming-of-age of a new generation of Afrikaans youth. Set against a severe and dusty landscape, it tells the story of obedient Afrikaans teenager, Janno, played by Brent Vermeulen, whose deeply religious mother, Marie, brings home a troubled street orphan and drug addict, Pieter, portrayed by Alex van Dyk, to foster on the family’s remote cattle farm in the Free State.

It explores the thorny issue of identity and sexuality in a provocative and darkly moving way. As Pieter goes through withdrawal, Janno takes him under his wing, introducing him to the farm, the local prayer group and the church boys’ rugby club. But Pieter is far worldlier than Janno, and instantly spots the fact that Janno has a crush on his best friend. Pieter also introduces Janno to the lively nearby black community, and reveals that he has been selling his body to local men for cash. Janno finds this shocking, but he’s also envious.

In South Africa, Skoonheid, directed by Oliver Hermanus, was the first Afrikaans film to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Queer Palm in 2011.

Inxeba (The Wound) won 19 awards of excellence at festivals around the globe, including the BFI, the African American Film Critics Association, and the International Queer & Migrant Film Festival in Amsterdam. At home, the film walked away with 8 SAFTAs.

In 2018 Kanarie, the tale of a queer teenage man who gets called up for military service, sparked international interest and raked in several international accolades before even hitting the big screen in South Africa. It won the Silwerskerm Film Festival award for Best Feature Film, among other awards, as well as Best LGBTQ film at the Cape Town International Film Festival. It went on to win awards in Chicago and Atlanta in the US. Kanarie was also part of the Official Selection at the 2018 OutFest in Los Angeles, as well as the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival.

Die Stropers had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation from the audience. The film has already won a number of international awards including:

• Sundance/Mahindra ‘Global Filmmaker Award’
• Gan Foundation, ‘Prix Opening Shot Award’
• Rome International Film Festival ‘Alice Nella Citta Jury Award for Best First Feature’
• Cheries-Cheris Film Festival, ‘Grand Prix’ Award
• African Film Festival of Khouribga, ‘Best Director’ Award

Die Stropers is a Spier Films production. The film’s investors include the KwaZulu Natal Film Commission, Agence Film France, the Greek Film Institute, the Polish Film Institute, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and produced by Spier Films. The film’s producers are Sophie Erbs, Cinema de Facto (France) and Thembisa Cochrane, Spier Films (South Africa). The executive producers are Dr Lwazi Manzi and Michael Auret, Spier Films.

Die Stropers is distributed in South Africa by Indigenous Film Distribution.

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