With the COVID lockdown defining most of our reality from March through 2020, most of us turned to binge streaming to entertain ourselves and navigate the blues of a rather scary time. And Showmax has now revealed how home confinement impacted the shows chose to watch on the video streaming platform.

BIG INCREASE IN LOCKDOWN STREAMING

In South Africa, there was a 50% spike in active users and a doubling of in-play events during the strictest lockdown period across all categories – international series and movies as well as local movies, series, and kids’ content.

Showmax currently carries some of the biggest HBO series in Africa, such as Game of Thrones and Girls, in addition to the growing interest in recently launched titles like The Undoing, The Third Day and Industry.

HBO titles, such as ‘Industry’, were a hit during this year,.

EVERY NIGHT BECAME A MOVIE NIGHT

At the start of lockdown, there was a big increase in people watching movies during the week. Ordinarily, movies tend to be more popular over weekends when people are at home. Popular titles include After (2019), Anna (2019), Hustlers (2019), John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and The Invisible Man (2020).

RELATED: WHAT SOUTH AFRICANS STREAMED ON NETFLIX IN 2020

KIDS STREAMING

More families turned to Showmax to keep the kids entertained and we saw a large increase in people utilising our kid-friendly catalogue with hits like Paw Patrol, UglyDolls, Henry Danger and Victorious remaining favourites.

SOUTH AFRICAN STORIES

When it comes to South African content, views continue to grow strongly even as lockdown has relaxed. We saw some of our biggest lockdown spikes in views of South African titles this year, including Showmax Originals Life With Kelly Khumalo and Somizi & Mohale: The Union as well as The River, The Queen, Legacy, Gomora, Lockdown, The Recce and Frank & Fearless.

RELATED: A REVIEW OF THE 10 BIGGEST MZANSI TV SHOWS IN 2020

A SPIKE ON BIG SOCCER MATCHES

Now that live sport is gradually opening up around the world, we see regular spikes in subscribers tuning in to live stream their favourite football teams on Showmax Pro, which launched this year in South Africa. All Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, and DStv Premiership games are available to stream on Showmax Pro, brought to you by SuperSport.

18 MOST BINGED SERIES ON SHOWMAX IN 2020

Wondering what other South Africans have been binge-watching this year? In alphabetical order, here are some of the most-binged titles, based on the highest completion rate and total number of viewers, in the last six months. If these aren’t on your watchlist yet, they’ll make for ideal holiday viewing.

• Banshee
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Game of Thrones
• Good Karma Hospital
• House
• Insecure
• Lockdown
• Madam & Mercy
• Modern Family
• New Girl
• Ray Donovan
• Rick and Morty
• Sex and the City
• Suits
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• The Walking Dead
• True Blood
• Younger

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Watch the trailers and read up on 15 of the best internationally acclaimed African films currently streaming on Showmax

ZOG 

Zog was named Best Animation at the 2020 International Emmy Kids Awards and won the 2020 Children’s Programme Award from the Royal Television Society, among other honours like Kidscreen, Annie and British Animation Awards nominations.

Animated in Cape Town by Triggerfish and produced by the UK’s Magic Light Pictures, the 27-minute animated short captures the magic of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s bestselling picture book, with an all-star voice cast including the likes of Kit Harington, Sir Lenny Henry and Tracey Ullman. It’s co-directed by multi-award-winning South African Daniel Snaddon (Stick Man) and two-time Oscar nominee Max Lang (The Gruffalo and Room On The Broom).

Zog is the keenest but clumsiest pupil in his class at Dragon School, where he longs to win a gold star as he learns how to fly, roar and breathe fire. He keeps meeting a kindly young girl who patches up his bumps and bruises, but can she help him with his trickiest school assignment yet: capturing a princess?

THE SNAIL AND THE WHALE

The Snail and The Whale won the 2020 Venice TV Award for Children/Youth, as well as Best Voice Performance (for Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins as the snail) at the 2020 British Animation Awards, where it was also nominated for Best Longform Animation and Best Use of Sound.

The Snail and The Whale follows the amazing journey of a tiny snail who longs to see the world and hitches a ride on the tail of a huge humpback whale. It’s a joyous, empowering tale about our wonderful world and discovering that, however small you are, you can make a difference.

The Snail and the Whale is produced by the Oscar-nominated Magic Light Pictures and animated in Cape Town by Triggerfish, with South African Daniel Snaddon co-directing with two-time Oscar nominee Max Lang (The Gruffalo and Room On The Broom).

The half-hour adaptation of The Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler’s best-selling children’s book is also voiced by British Comedy Award winner Rob Brydon as the whale and Golden Globe nominee Dame Diana Rigg as the narrator. Rigg – best known as Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones; Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers; and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, James Bond’s wife in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – passed away in September 2020.

RAFIKI | Romance film

Wanuri Kahiu’s Rafiki was named Outstanding Film – Limited Release at the 2020 GLAAD Media Awards, which recognise and honour media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community and the issues that affect their lives.

Rafiki beat out the likes of Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory, nominated for both Oscars and Golden Globes this year; 2020 Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee Portrait of A Lady On Fire; Sundance audience award winner Brittany Runs a Marathon; and South African favourite Kanarie, starring Schalk Bezuidenhout.

“Good Kenyan girls become good Kenyan wives,” but Kena (Samantha Mugatsia, who won Best Actress at Carthage 2018 and FESPACO 2019 for the role) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva) long for something more. When love blossoms between them, the two girls are forced to choose between happiness and safety.

The Kenyan film has a 93% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Variety calling it “impossible not to celebrate”; RogerEbert.com “a lyrical ode to finding a kindred spirit amidst an uncaring majority”; AV Club “bursting with life”; and Washington Post “a small revelation, not least because it marks the breakthrough of a filmmaker of such exhilarating, cheerfully courageous vision.”

MOFFIE | Drama film

Currently on the longlist for the Golden Globe’s Foreign Film category, Moffie won the Film Critics Special Jury Prize at the 2020 Dublin International Film Festival and has a 100% critics rating from Rotten Tomatoes, with Variety raving, “South African auteur Oliver Hermanus makes his masterpiece with this brutal but radiant story of young gay desire on the Angolan war front… establishing him quite plainly as South Africa’s most vital contemporary filmmaker… Both a shiver-delicate exploration of unspoken desire and a scarringly brilliant anatomy of white South African masculinity. It fair takes your breath away.”

Adapted from an autobiographical 2006 novel by André Carl van der Merwe, Moffie is set in South Africa, 1981, with the white minority government embroiled in a conflict on the southern Angolan border. Like all white boys over the age of 16, Nicholas Van der Swart (Kai Luke Brummer) must complete two years of compulsory military service to defend the Apartheid regime.

The threat of communism and die swart gevaar is at an all-time high. But that’s not the only danger Nicholas faces. He must survive the brutality of the army – something that becomes even more difficult when a connection is sparked between him and a fellow recruit.

Coming to Showmax from 31 December 2020, Moffie is produced by South African-born Eric Abraham, who has produced two Oscar-winning films: Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida and Jan Sverak’s Kolya. Abraham is also the founder and benefactor of The Fugard Theatre in Cape Town.

DIE VERHAAL VAN RACHELTJIE DE BEER | Drama film

Die Verhaal Van Racheltjie De Beer won the Kidseye award at the 2020 Rhode Island Film Festival, an Oscar-qualifying festival in the USA, as well as three Golden Horns – for Cinematography, Sound Design, and Original Score – at the 2020 SAFTAs.

South Africa’s wilderness in the 1800s: Five years after their mother died, Racheltjie and five-year-old Jamie find themselves on their way to the gold fields with their father, Herman, to start a new life. But winter is closing in fast, and when Jamie goes missing in a freak snowstorm, Rachel must brave the deadly cold to search for her little brother…

The beloved heroine of this Afrikaans folktale is brought to life by Zonika de Vries (Dis Koue Kos, Skat). The stellar cast includes SAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Marius Weyers, Naledi Lifetime Achievement Award winner Sandra Prinsloo, and SAFTA winners Antoinette Louw (An Act of Defiance, Goodbye Bafana) and Seputla Sebogodi (Generations, The Republic), with newcomer Johannes Jordaan as Jamie.

 The movie is directed by Matthys Boshoff (Vlees van My Vlees, Huggies’ award-winning Baby Marathon campaign), who co-wrote the script with Brett Michael Innes (Fiela se Kind, Sink).

YVONNE ORJI: MOMMA, I MADE IT! | Comedy special

In her first HBO comedy special, Nigeria’s Yvonne Orji, better known as Molly from Insecure, has the audience rolling with laughter as she brings her razor-sharp wit and confidence to the stage. Both celebrating and poking fun at her strict, formative Nigerian-American upbringing, Yvonne shares her unique journey from pre-med to comedy, talks about parental pressures to get married, and takes us along to Lagos to meet her family and friends.

Entertainment Weekly calls Momma, I Made It! “an hour of joy”, IndieWire hails it as “a rip-roaring standup special,” and Fast Company says it’s “the laugh the black community needs right now.”

In 2020, Yvonne also recently earned her first Emmy nomination and her fourth Black Reel nomination in a row as Molly in Insecure.

LUSALA | Drama movie

Lusala won the Rimbaud award at the 2020 Les Rimbaud du Cinéma, held in France at the oldest active cinema in the world.

Brian Ogola (18 Hours and Poacher) stars as Lusala, adopted by an affluent Nairobi family a decade ago, but now imposed on to leave home and start on his own. Eager and willing at first, he makes the most of his life, until the demons from his past return, and he has to face them on his own. Stycie Waweru (Jo in Supa Modo) co-stars.

Lusala is the directorial debut of Mugambi Nthiga, who co-wrote Kati Kati and Supa Modo, and acted in Nairobi Half Life and Stories of Our Lives – four critically acclaimed Kenyan films awarded at Toronto, Berlin, and AFI respectively, among many other festivals.

BUDDHA IN AFRICA | Documentary

Buddha in Africa won a Special Mention at Docudays 2020 in Ukraine and also took home Best Documentary and Best Directing at the 2020 SAFTAs.

In a Chinese Buddhist orphanage in Africa, a Malawian teenager finds himself torn between his African roots and Chinese upbringing. Once the star performer with dreams of becoming a martial arts hero like Jet Li, Enock is now in his final year of school and has to make some tough decisions about his future. Will he return to his relatives in his home village or study abroad in Taiwan?

Directed by South African Nicole Schafer, Buddha in Africa was praised by Variety as “a complicated portrait of what’s been described as the latest chapter in Africa’s long struggle against colonization.

STROOP: JOURNEY INTO THE RHINO HORN WAR | Nature documentary

Stroop: Journey Into The Rhino Horn War was nominated for the Doclights / NDR Naturfilm Producer Director Award at Wildscreen, arguably the most prestigious wildlife filmmaking event in the world.

The gripping wildlife crime thriller takes the viewer on a rollercoaster ride between Africa and Asia. Two first-time filmmakers, award-winning editor Susan Scott (The Last Lions) and 50/50 presenter Bonné de Bod, embed themselves on the frontlines of the rhino poaching crisis, where they are given exclusive access to the war as it unfolds on the ground.

Carving out six months for the project, the two women quickly find themselves immersed in a world far larger and more dangerous than they had imagined, only emerging from their odyssey four years later. The resulting film has won over 30 international awards, including Best of Festival at The International Wildlife Film Festival, and was shortlisted for two awards at Jackson Wild.

Scott and de Bod’s new film, Kingdoms of Fire, Ice & Fairy Tales, is now streaming on Showmax.

NOUGHTS + CROSSES S1 | Alternative history series

South African costume designer Dihantus Engelbrecht earned a Costume Design – Drama nomination from the 2020 Royal Television Society Awards in the UK for his work on Noughts + Crosses, a controversial six-part BBC One series based on Malorie Blackman’s multi-award-winning novel.

South African Masali Baduza (Trackers) and BAFTA winner Jack Rowan (Born To Kill, Peaky Blinders) play Sephy and Callum, two star-crossed lovers in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet, in an alternate universe where Africa colonised Europe, rather than the other way round. Shot largely in Cape Town with Film Afrika, the series also stars South African actress Bonnie Mbuli (Invictus, Wallander) as Sephy’s mom, Jasmine. Koby Adom – who is from Ghana, was born in Cote d’Ivoire, and grew up in London – is one of the two directors.

Times (UK) praised it as “mesmerising… It’s important, this one. We’ll be talking about it for years.”

FAMALAM S3 | Sketch comedy

Black sketch comedy finally took centre stage in 2020, with HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show nominated for three Emmys and BBC3’s Famalam up for a BAFTA, with Nigerian star and co-creator Gbemisola Ikumelo competing for Best Female Performance in a Comedy. Teaser sketches from Famalam have gone viral repeatedly on Facebook Watch, with six of the sketches already over 100 million combined views there.

In Season 3, we see our favourite aunties handle their nephew coming out, learn how to make White People Chicken, watch the rudest Midsomer Murders ever, catch up with the Nigerian prince who no one emails back, and see two cartels going to war – over the booming avocado trade… Look out for Ivorian Tom Moutchi doing a killer Idris Elba imitation too.

The Independent (UK) praises Famalam as “a sublime achievement of satire,” saying, “Like all the best sketch shows, Famalam is a mix of comforting recurring characters and scenes, but tweaked with a delightful and clever wit on every outing.” Similarly, The Guardian hails Famalam as “quickfire, playful comedy, rooted in the black British experience.”

TRACKERS S1 | Action series

Fresh from outperforming Game of Thrones – and everything else on M-Net last year – Trackers was released internationally by HBO and Cinemax in June 2020.

Based on Deon Meyer’s bestselling novel, Trackers has an 88% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In America, Meaww raved, “Packed with thrills and chills, Trackers whisks viewers towards a violent conspiracy involving organized crime, state security, and an international terrorist plot…

James Gracie and Thapelo Mokoena take centre stage with their amazing performances,” while The New York Times called it “a more polished product than Blood & Water…  more easily entertaining…. James Gracie… can do a lot with silent looks of doubt and reproach.” In Israel, Haaretz called it “the guilty pleasure” of the week, adding, “it comes to life when it places Cape Town front and center.” And in New Zealand, Stuff called it “a high-octane thriller… a good rollicking story.”

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. “It is impossible not to be completely consumed by Knuckle City,” wrote The Globe and Mail when the film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, describing it as “Raging Bull meets Rocky, but in South Africa” and praising its navigation of “the painful issues of toxic masculinity, age and the impossible-seeming choices one can be forced to make to ensure the survival of themselves and the people they love… Mantsai’s performance is gripping, electrifying and heart-breaking.”

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.

THE GHOST AND THE HOUSE OF TRUTH | Crime drama

At the end of November 2020, The Ghost and The House of Truth was named the third most nominated film at the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), where it’s up for seven awards, including Best Film and Best Director (Akin Omotoso, who previously won the category for Vaya).

Bola Ogun (BAFTA Breakthrough Brit winner Susan Wokoma from Enola Holmes) is a dedicated counsellor who facilitates reconciliation sessions between convicts and the victims of their crimes. But when her own daughter goes missing, her belief in forgiveness is tested.

Shot in Makoko, Nigeria, the award-winning crime drama also stars AMAA Best Actress winner Kate Henshaw (Chief Daddy, 4th Republic) as Folashade, a police inspector in the Child Protection Unit, and AMAA Best Young Actor winner Kemi Lala Akindoju (Dazzling Mirage, Banana Island Ghost, Fifty), who also co-produced.

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 also won Best Short at the 2020 SAFTAs.

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.

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Showmax has really gone all out for Christmas this year. After such a  challenging year for literally everyone, we reckon feel-good family Christmas vibes are not as much the overload of corniness they used to be in ancient times (the historical period that ended on December 31st, 2019).

This year, the streaming platform has assembled its biggest ever collection of Christmas films for local audiences, with a total of eight films! There are Christmas specials from HBO and Adult Swim; and over 30 international films, including Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) in the 2019 blockbuster Last Christmas.

Here’s what you can stream;

A ZULU CHRISTMAS | Movie | 25 December

In A Zulu Christmas, a young boy – who is used to the city life, being spoiled by his mother and getting his way – has to spend Christmas with his grandmother on her farm in KZN. Will he rediscover his heritage and find a deeper meaning in Christmas?

Directed by Thabo Ntsako Mashaila (Uhambo), A Zulu Christmas stars Deli Malinga (Imbewu), Thembinkosi Mthembu (The River), Sphumuzo Sidzumo (Matwetwe), Ayanda Banda (Omen) and SAFTA winner Nomsa Buthelezi (Lockdown, Our Perfect Wedding).

ROBOT CHICKEN: SANTA’S DEAD (SPOILER ALERT) HOLIDAY MURDER THING SPECIAL | Stop-motion

Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken was one of three nominees for Best Short Animated Program at the 2020 Emmys, for its Christmas special, Santa’s Dead (Spoiler Alert) Holiday Murder Thing Special (also known as S10, ep 11). Think Murder of the North Pole Express, with Inspector Jesus on the case and a train full of fairytale suspects.  

Listen out for the voices of Robot Chicken co-creator and three-time Emmy winner Seth Green as Santa, four-time Golden Globe nominee Jason Alexander (George in Seinfeld) as Krampus; and Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) as Ginger.

Warning: This isn’t really in the Christmas spirit…

SOMERKERSFEES | Movie | First on Showmax, 1 December

In Somerkersfees, a dysfunctional family’s Christmas beach holiday forces them to come to terms with their flaws, differences, hate and love for each other.

Directed by  multi-award-winning theatre director and SAFTA nominee Jaco Bouwer (Rage, Dwaalster, Die Spreeus), Somerkersfees stars Milan Murray (Liewe Kersfeesvader, Die Waterfront), Edwin van der Walt (Wonderlus), Marguerite van Eeden (Sara Se Geheim), Joanie Combrink (Fynskrif, Dwaalster), Marvin-Lee Beukes (Wonderlus, Die Byl) and SAFTA winner Lionel Newton (Triomf).

POSBUS 1 | Movie | First on Showmax, 1 December

In Posbus 1, when Ben (Carel Trichardt from Rhodes) and his wife’s address is given out as Santa’s, they get thousands of letters from hopeful children. When Ben’s wife dies, he burns every letter except one, which sends him on a journey of healing. Cindy Swanepoel (Binnelanders), Charlie Bouguenon (Vuil Wasgoed), Melissa Willering (Getroud Met Rugby), and Thapelo Aphiri (Parable) co-star. Posbus 1 is directed by Nico Scheepers, who won Best Director at Silwerskerm 2017 for Die Maan Val Bewusteloos.

HERB & MOON | Movie | First on Showmax, 5 December

In Herb & Moon, Herbert Brenner (SAFTA winner Robert Whitehead from Legacy) may be losing his marbles but he’s not prepared to lose his granddaughter. Can an outspoken man with rusty joints break out of his old age home, make his way across town, overcome his daughter and son-in-law’s attempts to keep him from his granddaughter, and give Gemma her Christmas gift?

Herb & Moon is directed by SAFTA winner Tim Greene (Skeem, Hard Copy, Taryn & Sharon), with Keenan Arrison (Shirley Adams, When We Were Black) co-starring.

A BOERE-KRISMIS | Movie | 5 December

In A Boere-Krismis, Lara Toselli (Tali’s Wedding Diary, Swaaibraai) stars as Claire, a failed comic-actor-director-screenwriter-producer-playwright-presenter who uses her Afrikaans fiancé’s family to further her career by documenting their disastrous Christmas Day.

Johann Vermaak (It’s Complicated, Swaaibraai) co-stars as her fiancé, alongside the likes of SAFTA winner Louw Venter (Swartwater, Die Laaste Tango), Albert Maritz (Alles Malan, Dwaalster), SAFTA nominee Cintaine Schutte (Fynskrif, Ekstra Medium), Silwerskerm winner Carel Nel (Rage, Slaaf, Hum), Lida Botha (Rage) and Sean Cameron Michael (Black Sails).

A Boere-Krismis is directed by Silwerskerm winner Willem Grobler (Hum) and produced by Marche Media (Kanarie).

EUPHORIA SPECIAL | Christmas Special | 7 December 2020

Zendaya became the youngest ever best actress Emmy winner this year for her performance in Euphoria as Rue, a 17-year-old who returns home from rehab with no plans to stay clean, and falls for the new girl in town, Jules (played by trans superstar Hunter Schafer). Euphoria also won 2020 Emmys for Original Music and Lyrics for All For Us by Labrinth, as well as Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic).

Now the hit HBO drama is back with Trouble Don’t Last Always, which follows Rue as she celebrates Christmas, in the aftermath of being left by Jules at the train station and falling back into old habits.

JOE PERA HELPS YOU FIND THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREE | Christmas special | 7 December 2020

Comedian Joe Pera’s breakout Adult Swim special was called Joe Pera Talks You To Sleep: he just has that kind of voice – in a good way.

This Christmas, let his deadpan comedy get you into the Christmas spirit as he helps you find the perfect Christmas tree. As Decider says, “This Adult Swim classic is about so much more than finding the perfect Christmas tree. Pera’s folksy charm and aw-shucks sincerity combine to make his outstanding holiday special a treat that can be enjoyed by the entire family… Insanely funny.”

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0jiglJwKV8

HOME AFFAIRS: A CHRISTMAS TALE | Movie | 19 December

In Home Affairs: A Christmas Tale, a feuding family is forced to spend Christmas under the same roof. Will they end up killing each other before the turkey is served? Or will they overcome their past issues and realise the reason for the season?

Directed by Lizé Vosloo (screenwriter on Raaiselkind, Alles Malan and Nul Is Nie Niks Nie), Home Affairs: A Christmas Tale stars rising stars like Hilton Pelser (The Kissing Booth 1 and 2, Moffie), David Viviers (Rage, Tali’s Baby Diary), Bronté Snell (Sara Se Geheim) and Shamilla Miller (The Girl From St Agnes, Blood & Water, Tali’s Baby Diary) alongside familiar faces like SAFTA winner Deon Lotz (Trackers, Skoonheid), SAFTA nominee Christia Visser (Tess), and Fleur du Cap winner Rehane Abrahams (Arendsvlei, Vimeo Staff Pick short film Buitenkant).

LAST CHRISTMAS | Movie | 21 December

Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians), Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Emma Thompson (Years and Years) star for director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) in the romantic comedy Last Christmas. 

Kate (Clarke) harrumphs around London, a bundle of bad decisions accompanied by the jangle of bells on her shoes, another irritating consequence from her job as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop. Tom (Golding) seems too good to be true when he walks into her life and starts to see through so many of Kate’s barriers. As London transforms for the most wonderful time of the year, nothing should work for these two. But sometimes, you gotta let the snow fall where it may; you gotta listen to your heart.

Last Christmas features new music from Grammy winner George Michael, as well as his bittersweet holiday classic of the film’s title. The film was the 62^nd biggest box office hit of 2019.

A CHRISTMAS CHORUS | Movie | 25 December

When the Covid-19 pandemic shuts down all theatres, a group of actor friends decide to come together and create a unique Christmas Eve performance. The directorial debut of SAFTA-winning Kanarie screenwriter and composer Charl-Johan Lingenfelder, A Christmas Chorus is a musical about awakening hope and passion during dark times.

A Christmas Chorus stars Fleur du Cap winners Dean Balie (Kat and the Kings) and Edith Plaatjies (King Kong) alongside SAFTA winner Jill Levenberg (Ellen: Die Storie Van Ellen Pakkies), KKNK Kunste Onbeperk Young Voice 2019 winner Lynelle Kenned (West Side Story, Wonderlus) and 2020 Fleur du Cap nominees Bianca Flanders (Krotoa: Eva Van De Kaap) and Namisa Mdlalose (Kinky Boots), who also won the 2020 Standard Bank Ovation Award for girl. 

Produced by Marche Media (Kanarie) as a celebration of the arts, A Christmas Chorus was filmed at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town while it was closed for lockdown.

A TWISTED CHRISTMAS | Movie | 26 December

In A Twisted Christmas, a wealthy family loses everything just before Christmas and the only person willing to take them in is their long-time Muslim gardener and his family. Together, they celebrate a ‘Mubarak’ Christmas and learn the meaning of real family.

Directed by Muneera Sallies, co-writer of Encounters Audience Award winner Action Kommandant, A Twisted Christmas stars Kate Liquorish (Still Breathing, Queen Sono), Euodia Samson (Arendsvlei) and Abduragman Adams (Suidooster).

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