News

Jane the Virgin will become a proud young Zulu woman in a South African remake of the romantic comedy-drama format.

The format’s rights holder, Propagate International, has licensed the rights to Alta Global Media to develop a South African version of the series, which will be shot in the local language and run to 12 episodes.

The adaptation will be targeted at Sub-Saharan African territories. It’ll be based on The CW’s version of Jane the Virgin, which ran for five seasons on the network after Ben Silverman, who is now Propagate’s Chairman and Co-CEO, acquired rights to the format from Venezuelan network Rctv International.

The U.S. show had veered from the format of the original Venezuelan telenovela Juana La Virgen, created by Perla Farías Lombardini.

South African director Mandlakayise Dube, known for most recently helming Netflix film Silverton Siege, is on board to direct the pilot.

Producer Tendeka Matatu’s London and South Africa-based production company Ten10 Films is expanding and rebranding as Ten10 Entertainment.

The Ten10-produced neo-noir thriller “Cold Harbour” is currently streaming on Netflix.

The name change reflects the outfit’s rapidly growing global slate of original series and film projects, which will be overseen by new head of development Jafta Mamabolo, an actor, writer, director and producer from Johannesburg.

Based out of South Africa, Mamabolo’s primary mandate is to expand the company’s Africa-focused entertainment slate. The first projects that he will oversee include young adult series “Abel & Ashanti” with producer Bill Borden; the African-futuristic “Akebul-an Chronicles” with Fremantle; and a limited series based on the book “Call Me American” by Abdi Nor Iftin.

Mamabolo first found continental acclaim in Africa at age 11 when he landed a prime role on “Soul Buddyz,” then Southern Africa’s most-watched youth program. His acting...

Ambitions clash against a violent backdrop in Sara Blecher's Otelo Burning. But while its late '80s South Africa setting might suggest obvious ways to invoke Shakespeare's Othello, the insidious jealousy here isn't primarily about lust or military glory -- it's over surfing. Though sorting through the way Blecher's tale does and doesn't line up with Shakespeare's proves distracting in the end, the allusions may draw deserved arthouse attention to a finely acted film that can stand on its own. Charismatic if sometimes inarticulate, Otelo (Jafta Mamabolo) is one of a trio of black teens who discover surfing, quickly seeing it as

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Blecher Rides Waves, Inelegantly

Cutting her teeth with the surfing 2010 short doc Surfing Soweto, director Sara Blecher has forged ahead, tackling similar territory with her fictional wave bound feature debut, Otelo Burning. Often feeling a bit puerile, films that fixate on surfing tend to use the sport as an over arching symbol of freedom and escape, and Blecher’s film is no different. A quartet of friends face a myriad of adolescent problems, only to find that surfing could be their ticket away from their issues to fame and fortune atop a gloriously blue break. It does however successfully employ the played out athletics to explore racial tensions and political unrest that plagued South Africa before the end of apartheid during the 90s with surprisingly grim inflection of tonal balance.

Blecher sets the familiar pieces in play with our dark skinned leading teens, Otelo (Jafta Mamabolo) and his little brother...

Sublime in its rich ocean scenery, where you will indulge in for most of the film, the majestically photographed Otelo Burning is actually set in the South African province of Lamontville in the late 1980’s, around the time when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. But the refreshingly unconventional and gripping film isn’t a political narrative; that serves as more of a backdrop. Written by Sara Blecher, James Whyle and The Cast Workshop, and directed by Blecher (Surfing Soweto), Otelo Burning is a coming of age story - based on real life events - about three boys: Otelo Buthelezi (Jafta Mamabolo), his best friend named New Year (Kenneth Nkosi- Paradise Stop,...

There's free-spirited bad-taste fun in Kick-Ass, while Holly Grainger and Thomas Turgoose impress in The Scouting Book for Boys

While comic-book non-hero Scott Pilgrim battles his heartthrob's evil exes in cinemas in Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Kick-Ass (2010, Universal, 15)

posits another bona-fide dweeb entering a colourfully costumed fantasy world on an extras-packed DVD. Snappily adapted from Mark Millar and John Romita Jr's strip by screenwriter Jane Goldman and director Matthew Vaughn (who previously teamed up on the touching fantasy Stardust), this follows the misadventures of wannabe crime buster Dave Lizewski, aka Kick-Ass (Aaron Johnson), who becomes strangely immune to pain after getting his head very publicly kicked in. An overnight internet sensation, the hapless anti-hero soon finds himself outclassed by Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz), a firebrand young crime-fighter with a flick-knife, a filthy mouth, and a deadly way of dispatching bad guys learned from her fat-Batman father Big Daddy (Nic Cage,...

Anchor Bay have just sent us this brand new hard hitting trailer for their new movie, Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema. Inspired by a true story, Gangsters Paradise: Jerusalema is an unflinching look into the crime, corruption and the transgressions of those looking to survive in the most crime-infested district of Johannesburg.

The movie is directed by Ralph Ziman and stars Daniel Buckland, Robert Hobbs, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, Motlatsi Mahloko and Jafta Mamabolo. It’s scheduled for release 9th July.

Check out the trailer below and tell us your thoughts in the comments.