This Film Has Been Banned
The South African feature film, "Of Good Report," deals with the relationship of a teacher with his underage student. The local censors decided it is a crime to screen it.
Blog
Weekend Music Break 46
Electrique DJs, Fena Gitu and Jaaz Odongo have the perfect Summer tune for you. Technically, we’ll have to call it “Kenyan” house music: Another great video by director Nicky Campos, this time for South Africans Cassper Nyovest and OkMalumkoolKat: “9 quatrains to paint a reality,” Enyam Scandalocks calls it. The reality he describes is Lomé’s. Koreg on […]
The Making of Hashim Amla
Hashim Amla’s appearances on the cricket pitch and its meaning, reflects similarly on South Africa’s own, ongoing, liberation struggle.
On the Pain of Violent Men
TRIGGER WARNING: sexual violence Let me start by saying that I feel very ambivalent about causing two workers to lose their source of income. It makes me uncomfortable to have deprived anyone of a wage in this time of crisis. ‘Getting someone fired’, more than a victory, makes me feel miserable, concerned, confused. There are […]
The New Yorker Goes to Mali
I do know a bit about Mali, but I hardly recognize The New Yorker's Jon Lee Anderson’s version of it.
The Banned Film
South Africa's film censor bans the film 'Of Good Report' by Jahmil XT Qubeka, which deals with predatory teachers.
5 New Films to Watch Out For, N°28
Here’s another pick of five interesting-looking new films that have come out recently. Born This Way is a film by Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann about gay activists and members of “Alternatives Cameroun,” the first LGBT organization in Cameroon — a cause made all the more urgent by the recent killing of Camfaids director and activist Eric […]
Mandela Day
The writer, an American graduate student at the time, goes in search of Nelson Mandela to tell the story of Mandela's alma mater, the University of Fort Hare.
Julius Malema’s next move
In South Africa, many youth votes are up for grabs for the first time, from the generation facing 70% unemployment and with little loyalty to the ANC of their parents.
At the Protests for Trayvon Martin in New York City
The picture above shows Times Square on Sunday night, during the protest for Trayvon Martin. As I took this photo the woman with the loudspeaker was yelling out “We are here to say that black lives have value.” That is what the demonstrations boil down to. When the Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman, something snapped […]
A Season in the Congo
A review of Aimé Césaire's 'A Season in the Congo' (Une Saison au Congo) at the Young Vic theatre in London.
How to be a man
The simple fact that all forms of violence in South Africa have a male face tells us there’s something fundamentally wrong with ideas around manhood there.