As South Africa marks three decades since its first democratic elections, a historic moment that dismantled the apartheid system and ushered in Black-majority rule, the country is at a crossroads. Inequality is rife. Crippling blackouts have pushed the economy to a tipping point. The ruling African National Congress — the party of Nelson Mandela — is in crisis, at peril of losing nationwide elections this year for the first time since it swept to power.
For many South Africans, the heady promises of that democratic transition have largely been left unfulfilled.
It is a moment of reflection and uncertainty, too, for the country’s film and TV industry, which amid the broader soul-searching is still striving to find its identity. “In many ways, you can say the industry is growing. It’s booming,” says Layla Swart of Yellowbone Entertainment, whose credits include the Canal Plus-Showmax epic fantasy drama series “Blood Psalms,” co-created by producing partner Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, as well as Qubeka’s Toronto premieres “Knuckle City” and “Sew the Winter to My Skin.” “But then, in many ways…I think it’s been unstable and chaotic.”
