A showcase of SA storytelling
SHOWMAX: A VERITABLE FEAST OF LOCAL OFFERINGS
From a dethroned trophy wife to the rise and fall of the Gupta brothers.
South Africa is on top on Showmax, with a host of new shows and films that tell engrossing local stories. Here are six unmissable shows:
GOMORA (new episodes at 8pm on weekdays)
Last month, Gomora dethroned The Queen as the most-watched show on DStv, with over 2.5 million viewers for a single episode on Mzansi Magic.
The twisty telenovela stars Safta-winner Katlego Danke (Isidingo, Generations) as Thathi, a spoiled trophy wife, whose posh Sandton life is stripped away.
Thathi is forced to pull her teenage kids out of their private schools and enrol them in a public school in Alexandra.
They also have to move back in with her mother, Mam’Sonto (Safta-winner Connie Chiume from Black Panther), a woman whose strict standards mask her true nature as the queen of crime in Alexandra.
HOW TO STEAL A COUNTRY
With the Emmy-winning Miners Shot Down and One World Human Rights Documentary Film Festival winner Everything Must Fall, Rehad Desai made the definitive documentaries on Marikana and #FeesMustFall respectively.
Now, in How To Steal A Country, co-directed by Emmy winner Mark J Kaplan (The Village Under The Forest, The Lion Sleeps Tonight), Desai turns his unflinching gaze to another defining moment in South Africa’s recent history: the rise and fall of the Gupta family.
(S)HE
Winner of Best Feature Film at the Jozi Film Festival in 2019, (S)he is a film from Sean Steinberg, who also made the award-winning short Axis Mundi and wrote hit series like The Girl From St Agnes and iNumber Number.
After qualifying to compete in the 2016 Olympic trials for swimming, Penny Kemp, an intersex teenager, is forced to undergo gender treatment, while dealing with being ostracised by one of her team-mates.
LOVING THOKOZA
Lockdown’s award-winning creator Mandla N makes his eagerly anticipated feature film debut with Loving Thokoza, set in the chaotic months leading up to SA’s first democratic elections in 1994.
Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa (Isidingo, uHambo) stars as Charlotte Grootboom, a recently graduated English teacher who comes to Johannesburg looking for a job at a Model C school.
MADAM & MERCY (new episodes at 9pm on Wednesdays)
Evodia “Madam” Mogase and her daughter, Mercy, walked off the set during The Real Housewives of Johannesburg reunion – and into their very own Mzansi Magic reality show, now streaming on Showmax.
With a touch of glam, a lot of love, and Madam’s trademark wit, the 13-episode reality format follows the Versace girls and their uncompromising love for the finer things – from surprise birthday boat cruises, to Versace charity parties, to shopping sprees.
But it’s also an intimate glimpse into fertility struggles and lobola negotiations.
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
The Beautiful People is a 10-part documentary series that follows a group of American, British and Brazilian fashion models as they follow the sun to Cape Town for the summer season.
Each episode delves into the reality of their day-to-day interactions as they try to find work, make friends and build their careers over a three-month period.
The show goes behind the scenes into the day-to-day business of modelling – the auditions, the challenges, the insecurities and the fierce competition for work over the peak season.
Featuring appearances from The Model Agency’s Carole White and America’s Next Top Model’s Aminat Ayinde, The Beautiful People offers viewers a true reality check on the business of selling your looks. – Citizen reporter