Gab Post SA

The Road production team and some of it's cast took the four awards. PICTURES: Jurgen Marx JUST because the production has the highest viewership numbers or trends on social media every time they are broadcast, this doesn’t guarantee them awards. And this weekend, this theory was proved at the 11th South African Film and Television Awards where some of the local favourite shows were left empty handed when 181 judging panelists opted for "quality over quantity”. According to legendary actor and playwright Dr John Kani, who is one of the overall head judges of the awards alongside actor Jerry Mofokeng and film producer Firdoze Bulbulia, said when picking the nominees for this year’s awards they dealt with “honesty in pursuit of excellence”. “It’s very difficult for us to pick who will be the deserving winner so we had to leave it to the auditors. The process was honest, creative and these judges had a passion for the industry of South Africa ,” said Kani. And the ...

Deon Lotz and Garion Dowds in a scene from the film Shepherds and Butchers. PICTURE: WEB LOCAL PRODUCER Anant Singh and Twentieth Century Fox announced today the acquisition of the United States distribution rights by Fox to the award-winning film, Shepherds and Butchers . The film will be released in the US on various formats, including Digital HD on 24 January 2017, followed by the DVD release on 31 January.  Produced by Singh and Brian Cox (who also wrote the screenplay), the movie is helmed by multiple award winning director, Oliver Schmitz - who's worked on Mapantsula  and  Life, Above All . The film sees Academy Award® nominee, Steve Coogan Philomena as defence attorney, John Weber, while Andrea Riseborough Birdman plays prosecutor, Kathleen Marais.  Shining in his role as a 19-year-old death row prison warder is the rising star of the South African film industry, Garion Dowds. The film also sees an ensemble of well-known South African talent inclu...

Shepherds and Butchers' Review: A Seething South African Legal Drama. PICTURE:  Variety Filmaker Anant Singh is finally receiving the royal treatment he believes his movie Shepherds & Butchers deserves. The locally shot flick, starring British actor Steve Coogan and Birdman star Andrea Riseborough , will open the Jozi Film Festival next month, it was announced yesterday. This comes after Singh and the film's director, Oliver Schmitz - who also directed Mapantsula and Life Above All - pulled the film from the Durban International Film Festival over a clash of screening times. Singh, currently in Rio de Janeiro, said he was honoured that his film was invited to open the Jozi festival . He described it as "an excellent platform for South African films". Based on real events, Shepherds & Butchers is set in 1987, when South Africa still had the death penalty. A young white prison guard (played by Garion Dowds) snaps after witnessing multiple exe...