Bioskop bonanza

Showmax is going all-out with local content on its catalogue and the best place to start is the Mzansi Bioskop Collection of short films. They’re an hour long and the perfect way to settle in for something serious but snappy.

What’s on the viewing menu? These five flicks, for starters …

Ibutho (2018)

What’s more dramatic than a warrior who gives up his family and life to fight a civil war, only to return home to find that he’s alive while his wife and child are dead?

But there’s a catch to this tale of a vengeful Zulu soldier who is plotting revenge while hiding and recuperating in a village: his hostility is put on pause and his beliefs to the test when he meets a young orphan with all the potential for a better life, only for the boy to dream of becoming a killer like the hero of Ibutho.

Nkosazane (2018)

The tale of Snow White gets a Mzansi makeover as a young princess discovers the truth about her king dad’s demise: her evil stepmother had him murdered so that she could take over the kingdom and sit on the throne. But while the new queen is happily sitting on the throne, she isn’t paying much attention to her princess stepdaughter whose clenched fists are a sign of the fight in her – and she’s not giving up until she can let her father rest in peace.

Isehlukaniso (2018)

Move over, Romeo + Juliet. Even generations of clan fighting isn’t enough to discourage two star-crossed young lovers from wanting to be together. The fact that they’re separated by a sacred river isn’t going to stop them either. Where there’s a will, there’s a way and for our hero and heroine, giving up on love isn’t an option. The fact that they could unite their families and possibly end the fighting is an added bonus.

Nkanyezi (2018)

Three siblings are forced to live with their abusive aunt and uncle after their parents die and in the beginning, they’re powerless against the abuse they suffer, from being treated badly and beaten, to everything else nasty you can think of. Tired of being slaves and living a worthless life, eldest son Melusi searches for help and the power within to stand up to his abusers and give his siblings a chance at a proper life.

1881 (2018)

A group of farmworkers seize their opportunity and buy their employer’s farm when he moves to Europe. But life as their own bosses isn’t nearly as good as they expected, because they’re now targets for rival farmworkers who want to see them fail. Burning down buildings, destroying crops, spreading gossip and rumours – they have to face sabotage from the people they’re trying to inspire.