South Africa’s Screen Industries Face ‘Beautiful,’ ‘Chaotic’ Period of Transformation, Reinvention Three Decades After End of Apartheid

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jake Gyllenhaal was a serious contender to play Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, and it appear losing the role to Christian Bale has never impacted Gyllenhaal’s desire to play the Caped Crusader on the big screen. Making the press rounds in support of his new Amazon Prime Video action movie “Road House,” Gyllenhaal was asked by Screen Rant if he was still interested in playing Batman. “Oh, man.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor “Catch Me a Killer” comprises many firsts: It is a series about South Africa’s first-ever criminal profiler, the first-ever woman to occupy such a position and, now, the first-ever series entirely shot in South Africa to be in International Panorama competition at Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival. Abacus Media Rights(AMR), an Amcomri Entertainment company, handles world sales. Based on the eponymous book by psychologist Micki Pistorius, “Catch Me a Killer” sees “Game of Thrones” breakout Charlotte Hope in the lead role as the psychology professor turned serial killer profiler.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Indie streamer Mubi has acquired worldwide streaming rights to South African artist William Kentridge’s prestige series “Self-Portrait As a Coffee Pot” which explores how art is made in the digital age. The nine-episode series by Kentridge – who is celebrated around the world for his influential works comprising animation, installations, theater, opera and films – first previewed as a rough cut at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival.

Cara Delevingne has officially made her stage debut in the musical Cabaret!

A man has died three days after he was involved in a horror crash on the A9 near Aviemore.

It's been more than a decade since Lisa Appleton rose to fame when she was a housemate on Big Brother, with her having pursued various opportunities in the years since.The reality TV star, now 55, appeared on the ninth series of the show, which was broadcast in 2008. Lisa was evicted from the house a week before the final and has remained in the spotlight following her stint on the Channel 4 show. She's kept herself busy with appearances on various shows, but has also found work away from cameras.

Rick Moranis was spotted for the first time in over three years in the same city where he was randomly attacked in October 2020. The “Ghostbusters” actor, 70, was photographed Tuesday braving the wet New York City weather in a blue jacket, dark khaki pants, black tennis shoes and a colorful beanie.Moranis has rarely been seen in public since Marquis Ventura punched him in the head, knocking him to the ground. The actor was walking on Central Park West around West 70th Street on his way to his nearby apartment building when the incident occurred.Ventura was wearing an “I ❤ NY” sweatshirt at the time.His rep at the time said the actor was “fine.” Moranis was spotted at Trader Joe’s on Broadway nearly a week after the altercation, and Ventura was later sentenced to two years in prison on several counts of assault.Moranis, who hasn’t starred in a live-action flick since Disney’s “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” in 1989, took a step back from acting in 1992 to focus on being a dad to daughter Rachel and son Mitchell after his wife, costume designer Ann Belsky, died of breast cancer.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” epic biopic — the frontrunner to win the best picture Oscar on Sunday — was the biggest spender among this year’s 10 films nominated in the category. According to data from TV and streaming ad measurement firm iSpot, ads for “Oppenheimer” led the field among 2024 Oscars best picture nominees, with $25.7 million in estimated national TV media value from Jan. 1, 2023-Feb.

Former Made In Chelsea star Lucy Watson has shared a selection of snaps over the past week, in which she welcomed her son, Willoughby, into the world. Lucy who welcomed the little one just last Saturday (2 March) is in a state of bliss as she navigated the first days of parenthood with her husband, James Dunmore.

If you’re part of the Bills Mafia, you’ll know that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was in a 10 year long relationship with his ex, influencer Brittany Williams before they split last year.

Michael McIntyre left a weight-loss clinic based in Austria with a fear of apples, bizarrely. In a new interview with The Sun, the 47-year-old comedian recalled checking into the £4k per night establishment for one week in total, where he managed to shed two stone. "I went to this place called the Mayr Clinic and lost quite a bit of weight, which I kept off for a little while.

EXCLUSIVE: South Africa’s Showmax is to tell the unbelievable true story of a convicted murderer and rapist who faked his own death by burning in his cell and escaped prison for a year. Scroll down for a trailer.

Thinus Ferreira Guest Contributor South African rural community thriller “Snake,” the closing film of the 6th Joburg Film Festival, is a feature that wouldn’t have been made if it wasn’t for streamer money. Based on the heart-wrenching 2011 book by Tracey Farren, who also penned the screenplay, a powerless farm girl Stella, played by 9-year-old Lamiyah Barnard, becomes the only one who can stop a smarmy and mysterious interloper who arrives with a flute and dazzles everyone in a rural town, hiding his nefarious intent while going on a killing spree.

Nineties star Stacey Dash seems to have discovered the fountain of youth, dazzling fans with her age-defying looks that rival her Clueless days. The timeless beauty, now 57, shot to fame alongside Hollywood newcomers in the cult classic 1995 film, Clueless, where she portrayed the fashionable and quick-witted Dionne Davenport. Somewhat based on Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma, Clueless was released in 1995, and it was written and directed by Amy Heckerling.

Thinus Ferreira Guest Contributor Producing successful Black female-fronted comedy in South Africa is no joke but Black female producers and writers Reabetswe Moeti-Vogt and Zoe Ramushu are determined to bring about change in front of and behind the lens. Their film “Real Estate Sisters” screened this week at the 6th Joburg Film Festival in South Africa.

Christopher Vourlias Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions, which recently wrapped the action-thriller “G20” for Amazon Studios and MRC Film in Cape Town, is planning to return to South Africa to film the true story of a young African refugee’s improbable journey to the U.S., the company’s head of film production and development, Melanie Clark, revealed this week at the Joburg Film Festival. Developing the film with a working title of “The Refugee,” Clark said Davis and Tennon’s production banner is “actively working on [it] with some local partners and are in the process of figuring out how to shoot it” in South Africa, adding that “we do plan to shoot that here.” The veteran production executive described the project as “the true story of a young Sierra Leonean boy who lost his mother in [the country’s civil war] and found himself alone, because no family would take him in any refugee camp.

Christopher Vourlias South Africa’s Known Associates, the fast-growing parent company of Johannesburg-based Known Associates Entertainment (KAE) and Cape Town-based Moonlighting Films, is launching into unscripted programming, Variety can reveal. The company has acquired a 60% stake in Zero Gravity, a production outfit founded in 2017 by former Endemol Shine Africa and Trace Studios CEO Sivan Pillay, and will team up with South African media giant Primedia to “relaunch multiple new high-end unscripted formats,” according to Pillay.

Christopher Vourlias Akin Omotoso, the filmmaker behind Disney Plus’ Giannis Antetokounmpo biopic “Rise,” has been attached to direct “The Plot to Save South Africa,” an adaptation of Justice Malala’s gripping book about a 1990s white supremacist plot that almost plunged the young democracy into civil war. “The Plot to Save South Africa” will be produced by Johannesburg-based production outfit Ochre Moving Pictures, which signed a deal with Netflix last year to adapt multiple books for the streaming service alongside Omotoso.

Three people escaped and were treated by fire crews after a flat burst into flames in Oldham on Tuesday evening (February 27).

Former Emmerdale star Charley Webb appeared taken aback by how grown-up her son appeared after undergoing a big change. The actress has previously defended her son's appearance after comments about their long hair.