A new contender has entered the ring and is coming to bring the Masire empire to its knees. The rival gang, headed by Gavin Salat (Clint Brink), has declared war on the Masires to establish dominance in Johannesburg. To defend their turf, the Masires make a deal with their former enemy turned ally Aliko Bajo (Enyinna Nwigwe). Greed and betrayal are the order of the day as intentions remain unclear among all parties involved.

As the Masires navigate treacherous alliances and fight to protect their legacy, they present a powerful and personal depiction of strength and resilience. Maurice Paige, and Keenan Arrison join the star-studded cast, which includes household names Abdul Khoza, Thembi Seete, Llewelyn Cordier, Cindy Mahlangu, and Altovise Lawrence.

Will the Masire clan survive their biggest challenge to their legacy yet? All will be revealed on the 13th of June 2025, only on Netflix.

The post Kings Of Joburg Returns To Netflix For Explosive Season 3 appeared first on Stage and Screen.

Twitter blew up after the first episode, with #Gomora trending at number 1 on Monday – a clear indication of the nation’s need for distraction right now.

#Gomora is going to be FIRE 🔥 🔥🔥🔥 Yoh 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

— Jessica Nkosi (@JessicaNkosi) March 30, 2020

The series kicks off with the focus on the Ndaba family, consisting of Thathi (played by Katlego Danke), an ultra-rich trophy wife living a life of luxury in Sandton, alongside her bank owner husband Mbongeni (Themba Ndaba) and two bratty, spoilt children Nobuhle (Amamkele Qamate) and Langa (Siyabonga Xaba). They treat their staff with disrespect and each other with disdain. Things are not always as they appear though, and it’s soon revealed that not only is Mbongeni having an affair with his secretary, he’s also been embezzling from the bank.

Meanwhile, the middle-class Dlamini family are living honest, down-to-earth lives with father Melusi (Zolisa Xaluva) being a hard-working, dedicated schoolteacher and mother Gladys (Thembi Seete) a social worker. Son Ntokozo (Ntobeko Sishi) however, is unhappy and feels undervalued and ignored in his own home. He’s also mixing with the wrong crowd, including his girlfriend Mazet (Siphesihle Ndaba) and Bara, a hardened criminal played by a very believable Fortune Thobejane.

Viewers are purposefully thrust into the undeniable contrast between two very different worlds – the wealthy suburbs of Sandton and the hustle and bustle of Alexandra. So close together and yet so very far apart.

Running the criminal underworld of Alex is the calm and cool gangster granny Mam’Sonto (Connie Chiume), but little does she know that in a wonderful plot twist her actions are going to have far-reaching effects on the people she loves the most.

And so set the scene for a collision of these two worlds that will change everyone’s lives forever. One fateful, terrifying night is all it takes ….

There’s one thing for sure – it’s going to keep you glued to your couch every weekday.

You can watch the episodes on DStv Now or watch the series as it airs on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) every weeknight at 19:30.

The post New Local Telenovela Gomora Has Mzansi Talking appeared first on Stage and Screen.

The gritty crime-drama film tells the story of an aging, womanising, professional boxer from the Eastern Cape and his career-criminal brother who take one last shot at success and get more than they’ve bargained for. The opportunity to be part of Knuckle City arose when producer Layla Swart approached the NEF to close the gap left open by one of their investors to ensure that the movie was fully funded.

Swart and Qubeka are co-owners of Yellowbone Entertainment production house. The film was selected to participate in the Cinéfondation’s Atelier at Cannes, the biggest film festival in the world. In addition, the film was nominated to represent South Africa at the 2019 Academy Awards (Oscars) in the Foreign Language category. It went on to screen at festivals around the world and won many awards.

Knuckle City stars Bongile Mantsai, Siv Ngesi, Faniswa Yisa, Awethu Hleli, Nomhle Nkonyeni, Zolisa Xaluva, Owen Sejake and Angela Sithole. The film was produced by Yellowbone Entertainment for Mzansi Magic Movies. It was funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the National Empowerment (NEF), the Department of Arts and Culture, the Eastern Cape Development Corporation and the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) with the support of the Buffalo City Municipality and the Eastern Cape Provincial Government.

Knuckle City is distributed in South Africa by Indigenous Film Distribution (IFD).

Knuckle City opens in cinema in South Africa on 28 February 2020.

The post Knuckle City, Releases 28 February 2020 appeared first on Stage and Screen.

One man’s bandit is another man’s champion. That is the theme at the heart of Sew the Winter to My Skin, a new film by South African director Jahmil X.T. Qubeka.  The film is a searing reimagining of the story of John Kepe, a legendary outlaw of pre-apartheid South Africa..

Hailed as a Western-style manhunt thriller, the film is distinctly South African in flavour, but universal in its themes. It re-interprets the remarkable tale of Kepe, portrayed by actor Ezra Mabengeza, the self-proclaimed “Samson of the Boschberg”, born around 1898, who became a type of Robin Hood figure in 1940’s South Africa.

The history of the character is intriguing. He hid himself away in a huge cave – after whom Kepe’s Cave, close to the overnight hut on the Boschberg Hiking Trail, is named. Perched high in the mountainous Great Karoo region for 12 years, Kepe’s crimes mostly involved burglary and stealing livestock. He was first arrested in Graaff-Reinet in 1921 for housebreaking and poaching, and then again near Pearston in 1933. Kepe was found at this trial to be an habitual criminal, was once again jailed, then released in 1940 on condition that he did not leave Graaff-Reinet for five years, but he disappeared and the police lost all contact with him.

Between 1950 and 1951, the police received numerous telephone calls from people reporting stock theft and housebreaking. Stock were continually being slaughtered on the Boschberg and the farm Ongegund was broken into 13 times in 18 months.  Some people encountered a man carrying a .22 rifle on the Boschberg, who behaved like a guard and questioned them but as there was no such armed guard posted, the police realised that this must be their man.

Kepe’s fate was sealed when he was accused of murdering Dirk Goliath, a shepherd who had recognised him.  Following a huge manhunt, Kepe was finally apprehended in February 1952 and sent to trial.  Found guilty and sentenced to death, he was hanged in Pretoria that June.

Qubeka’s film focusses more on Kepe the myth, than the man, reimagining the elusive and mysterious sheep rustler as a powerful emblem of resistance to white colonial rule at the time. He also creates the fictionalised posse that is on Kepe’s trail, led by Nazi sympathizer General Botha, played by Peter Kurth and a flamboyantly moustached sidekick, Black Wyatt Earp, portrayed by Zolisa Xaluva.  The film attempts to explore the settler mentality and offers insight into the posse’s perspective and context.

Qubeka says he wanted to tell an authentic South African tale in the epic scale of the adventure films of his childhood, like Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves, Kotcheff’s First Blood and Mulcahy’s’ Highlander and fuse this with elements of the grandiose American Westerns of John Ford. Sew the Winter to My Skin, is a dream manifested for Qubeka.

The post Sew the Winter to My Skin appeared first on Stage and Screen.