Quirky SA stoners come to life in Netflix film
SOWETO Blaze, a hilarious new South African stoner-action-comedy feature, is set to premiere globally on Netflix today.
The film is produced by awardwinning Inanda-born film-maker, actress and entrepreneur Lungelo Nxele.
Soweto Blaze is a hyper-stylised stoner-comedy set in Soweto. A smalltime pot dealer’s attempts at making a better life for himself are ambushed when his dim-witted friends sweep him up in a wacky kidnapping scheme involving a feisty young woman with her own plans.
The main cast includes Matli Mohapelo, Dimpho More, Nhlanhla Masiya, Sydney Ndlovu, Nyeleti Khoza, Sello Sebotsane and Palesa Mosiea.
The film was written and directed by Brad Katzen of 33 Films, and produced by Nxele, Shaun Naidoo and Sibisiso Ngobeni.
Nxele, CEO of Mindset Concepts, said this was her first feature film and she was excited that it would go to a global audience on Netflix.
“I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating. This film brings a lot of comic relief, especially in a tough economic climate and as we approach the elections. This is purely South African comedy that would resonate with a lot of people, especially from the township.
“I’m excited to see what people are going to say about the film and whether we are going to make the top 10 on Netflix,” said Nxele.
She said it was a welcome relief to have worked on a fun production after a difficult and uncertain pandemic period which saw most film-makers struggle to survive and stay inspired.
Nxele has 15 years of experience as a television and film practitioner. Her work has received accolades nationally and internationally: in 2009 she won an Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Promising Actress in Africa and in 2012 she won the South African Film and Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series.
Katzen, whose other productions include The Domestic and ubettina Wethu, said Soweto Blaze did not shy away from the harsh reality of South African life, but rather embraced it, and presents a fun, tongue-incheek glimpse into a group of quirky characters doing whatever they can to get by in Johannesburg.
“My aim with this story was to showcase a light-hearted, fun side of South Africa that audiences locally and abroad might not be familiar with, where we empathise with characters who want to better their situation and succeed, despite facing failure at every turn.
“The theme is self-improvement and friendship,” said Katzen.
The film marks the final one in a slate of six micro-budget projects supported through a joint film fund by Netflix and the National Film and Video Foundation, an agency of the Department of Sport Arts and Culture of South Africa.
The fund aimed to create new opportunities for emerging film-makers in the local film industry after many productions locally and internationally had to be halted because of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.
The two partners contributed
R14 million each in support of the production of local films, which will have exclusive debuts on Netflix.
The six local films were categorised into two streams: four feature films with a budget of R4m each and two feature films with a budget of R6m each.