The Best Of 2014: South Africa

Stuart Muller, Contributing Writer; South Africa

December 27 2014, 1:00 PM

The South African cinema scene continues to grow from strength to strength. Exciting new directing and acting talent seems to appear each year, and a burgeoning generation of riveting young film-makers is now established and gaining global momentum. This year they produced exemplary work in genres as diverse as action, drama, comedy, noir, documentary, and art-house thriller (or whatever Of Good Report is).

Catch trailers for some of the best South African films to grace our screens in 2014 in our gallery, as well as a couple of other African productions that particularly captured our eye or imagination.

Four Corners: A harrowing story of boyhood in the ganglands of Cape Town (South African submission for Foreign Language Oscar in 2014).

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Cold Harbour: A moody African film noir with a powerhouse lead performance (reviewed on Twitch).

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Of Good Report: Stunningly demented and acted art house thriller, which deservedly swept the African Academy Awards (reviewed on Twitch).

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The Last Boers Of Patagonia: Short documentary about Afrikaners who left South Africa for Argentina, 100 years ago (feature documentary forthcoming).

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Fatherland: A gut-wrenching coming-of-age documentary about young boys who go to a bushcamp run by extremist Afrikaners.

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1994: The Bloody Miracle: An important documentary that illuminates the role of extremist factions, black and white, during South Africa's tumultuous transition out of Apartheid (reviewed on Twitch).

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Death Metal Angola: A beautiful documentary about a couple who run an orphanage in Angola, where they plan the first death metal concert after the country emerges from thirty years of war (reviewed on Twitch).

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Hyena Boys: Crazy documentary short about hyena-raising nomadic animal trainers in Nigeria.

Hard To Get: A sexy action film with a strong female lead from an exciting new director (reviewed on Twitch).

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Love The One You Love: A unique, lurid, and powerfully emotional film from an exciting new feminine South African voice (reviewed on Twitch).

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