30 April 2020

Stream the big winners at SAFTAs 2020 on Showmax

Want to watch the best local productions out there? Then stay glued to Showmax, where over 66% of the winners in the TV categories are ready for a mega-binge, including all the telenovela winners, 12 out of the 13 drama winners, the best reality, natural history, lifestyle and variety shows, as well as the best documentary and short film winners.

Here are six of last night’s big winners you can stream right now.

The River

With 10 awards, 1Magic’s The River was the most awarded series overall at the SAFTAs – for the second year in a row. This follows its International Emmy nomination last year.

Set against a backdrop of the dirty business of diamond mining, 1Magic’s thrill-a-minute telenovela The River sees two different but interdependent worlds collide in spectacular fashion. One side of the river is home to exquisite mansions populated by society’s upper crust, like the Dlaminis, who will go to any lengths to maintain their wealth; the other by those, like the Dikana family, who have little to show for their hard work.

Produced by Tshedza Pictures, who also make Best Drama winner The Republic, The River won Best Telenovela, Best Actress (Sindi Dlathu) and Best Supporting Actress (Mary-Anne Barlow) as well craft awards for Directing, Script, Editing, Sound, Cinematography, Wardrobe, and Hair and Makeup.

Other winners in the category included Arendsvlei, which won Best Actor for Roberto Kyle and a craft award for Art Direction; The Queen, which won Best Supporting Actor for Loyiso MacDonald; and Isibaya, which won Best Music.

Thank you @SAFTAS1 and the @nfvfsa for this recognition. I dedicate my Best Actor in a Telenovela win to all othered individuals out there… Your stories will have life for as long as I can tell them ✊🏽🌷🤍 #SAFTAs14 #LoveSATalent pic.twitter.com/PxzBEhkfeT
— Roberto Kyle (@ThatRobertoGuy) April 30, 2020

The Republic

With seven awards, Mzansi Magic’s The Republic was the most-awarded drama series and the second most awarded series overall.

Set in an alternative universe in present-day South Africa, The Republic follows the country’s first female president, Lufuno Zandile Mulaudzi (Florence Masebe), who’s determined to fight corruption and turn the country around.

Produced by Tshedza Pictures, who also make Best Telenovela winner The River, The Republic won Best Drama, Best Actress (Florence Masebe) and Best Supporting Actor (Seputla Sebogodi) as well as craft awards for Directing, Scriptwriting, Cinematography, Sound, and Music.

Other winners in the category included eHostela, which won Best Actor for Wiseman Mncube; iThemba, which won Best Supporting Actress for Brenda Ngxoli; Ifalakahe, which won craft awards for Best Wardrobe and Makeup and Hair and Die Spreeus, which won a craft for Editing.

Ok. It's official. I'm crying like a fool. Thank you, Mohlaloga. This means a lot. 🙏🏾 https://t.co/VeRr88JoxV
— Mme a Masakona (@FloMasebe) April 30, 2020

Living the Dream with Somizi

2020 is turning into quite a year for Somizi: he tied the knot a second time with Mohale, watched their Showmax wedding special break records on the platform, and last night Living The Dream With Somizi was named Best Structured or Docu-Reality Show at the SAFTAs.

Watch: Living the Dream with Somizi Season 5, first on Showmax from 4 May 2022

Elders: Japan

At last night’s SAFTAs, kykNET’s Elders: Japan won Best Lifestyle Show.

In this travelogue, Erns Grundling, who gave us Elders: Die Camino, heads to Japan to walk two more pilgrimages and see if the country is ready for the Rugby World Cup.

He attempts to conquer Mount Fuji in thick snow, and interviews several international rugby players ahead of the World Cup. He also explores Japan’s wonderful culture, cuisine, incredible cities and scenery, and even tries to be a samurai warrior, ninja and sumo wrestler.

This fun series will entice you to put Japan on your travel bucket list.

Buddha in Africa

At last night’s SAFTAs, Buddha in Africa won both Best Documentary and Best Directing.

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.”

Buddha in Africa screened at IDFA 2019, arguably the world’s top documentary festival, as part of their prestigious Best of Fests line-up, after winning Best South African Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival.

Stroop: Journey into the Rhino Horn War

At last night’s SAFTAs, Stroop won for Best Natural History and Environmental Programme.

Stroop: Journey into the Rhino Horn War is a gripping wildlife crime thriller of a documentary that 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 25 international awards, including Best of Festival at The International Wildlife Film Festival, and was shortlisted for two awards at Jackson Wild, arguably the Oscars of the wildlife filmmaking world.