Women’s Day movies to watch on Showmax

By TV Plus6 August 2021

Women’s Day movies to watch on Showmax

Settle in for Women’s Day on Monday, 9 August with strong female characters who’ll inspire you to greater things. Check out these fantastic female-led films.

Five Tiger

This 10-minute drama short is a difficult watch because it’s so relevant to the modern world many women find themselves in. Caught between a rock and a hard place, god-fearing Fiona (Ayanda Seoka) is forced to look after her ailing husband and daughter, but she has no education and no formal job. In desperation, she gets into a sex-worker relationship with her local pastor. It’s not just the trauma of being forced to have sex for money to barely survive – the cruel man abuses Fiona’s trust and lowers her further when he only pays her R50 (five tiger), half of what she agrees to charge to sell her body.

The sex trade is rife across the African continent and sees the workers abused mentally and physically, sometimes even murdered, while their pimps and clients continue with their lives, making money off the women. Fiona though, continues to fight her war against the world and make sure that her people are cared for, even at great personal sacrifice. The film was nominated locally and internationally, including for Best South African Short Film at the Durban International Film Festival and Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Joko Ya Hao

This 36-minute drama short is meant to empower and inspire and give women the boost to reach for their dreams. Being a pastor is often thought of as being for men only in churches around the world. That’s not a problem for newly widowed Noziziwe (SAMA-winning singer Simphiwe Dana), who takes on the challenge of becoming a church leader. Even when she’s knocked down, Noziziwe continues to stand up and fight back.

It’s set in 1955, so there is something of a political element to the film but that’s not the main message being shared. Being a woman is hard work because men will always try to hold them back, whether it’s out of the fear of being bested or just a cruel inferiority complex. Through her trials and tribulations, Noziziwe’s fight for her dream transforms her into a community symbol of resistance and a grounding forced for the people around her who’ve had their dreams trampled on.

Loving Thokoza

Enhle Mbali portrays idealistic varsity graduate Charlotte Grootboom in this SAFTA Best Picture-winning movie set during the apartheid era. Charlotte has dreams of being a teacher but those hopes and ambitions take a knock when she joins a predominantly white school. But rather than let the cruel racial regime beat her and hold her down, Charlotte uses it as inspiration to try break the barriers put up by the government and to prove not only that she can achieve her dreams, but that she’s more than people give her credit for.

In the end, the righteous will prevail because one woman refuses to give up against the cruelty of others. Charlotte takes on the challenge of working at a run-down school in the township of Thokoza and she helps her students realise their potential, while giving herself renewed hope at the same time.

Swirl

The full title is Swirl: A Letter to Hair on the Cape Flats… and as you can guess, it centres on characters from the Cape Flats and how their hair is as important to them as their family names. The movie focuses on young hairdressing student Elaine (Chanelle Davids).

Her dream is to win a contest at her hair salon school and use the cash to open her own salon once she graduates. When she doesn’t win (which everyone claims was a “no brainer”), Elaine’s personal life starts falling apart.

Her cruel headmistress discovers that she’s been running a small salon at home and sues her, then Elaine’s hair starts falling out because of the stress. Forced now to stop using chemicals like relaxer, Elaine starts to see herself in a new light and it brings her closer to her strict mother who’s been trying to transform Elaine into something “more acceptable” to society. Instead, Elaine has lost herself by trying to fit in. Now, the true beauty will shine through as the young woman stands up for herself and takes control of her life.

Pearls Of Wisdom

Nhlakanipo (Amina Jack) dreams of a better life and to achieve that, she auditions for the Johannesburg School Of The Arts, using her drama talents as a foot in the door. And she gets in, which means the world to her and her single mother, Pearl (Linda Sokhulu). But with that great promise of a brighter tomorrow, Nhlakanipo needs to deal with the massive modern stresses of being a teenager.

Everything from young love and peer pressure, to the fight to fit in and not be bullied comes into play in her young life, and the once-sheltered teen is forced to fight for dear life to survive. Along the way she’s going to learn a number of life lessons, not all of them pretty. But she will come out smiling when she realises that no matter what anyone says, her mother has always believed in her, given her pearls of wisdom when it comes to advice about life, and she hasn’t let anyone hold her back from achieving great things. And this is only just the beginning of her life.

All movies listed are available to stream now on Showmax.

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