In this episode of The African Cinema Podcast, we explore how South African cinema evolved under the shadow of apartheid — from state-sponsored propaganda to underground resistance films.

From the rise of strict censorship in the 1960s to the emergence of anti-apartheid films like Mapantsula and Sarafina!, this episode unpacks how filmmakers used the screen as a battlefield for truth, survival, and freedom.

Whether it was through coded critique, smuggled scripts, or global co-productions, cinema during apartheid was never neutral — it was either complicit or courageous.

🎬 In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• How apartheid policies shaped film production and censorship

• The role of the Publications Control Board in banning and editing films

• How state-backed institutions like SANLAM and SABC controlled media narratives

• The emergence of the B-scheme film system and its limitations

• Key figures like Jans Rautenbach, Simon Sabela, Anant Singh, and Oliver Schmitz

• Why Mapantsula and Place of Weeping became turning points in South African film history

• Jans Rautenbach – Pioneer of Afrikaans psychological cinema

• Simon M. Sabela – First Black South African film director (U'Deliwe)

• Darrell Roodt – Director of Place of Weeping and Sarafina!

• Anant Singh – Producer of numerous anti-apartheid films

• Ster Films / Kinekor

• Publications Control Board

• SANLAM Insurance Group

• SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation)

• Katrina (1969)

• Boesman and Lena (1973)

• U'Deliwe (1974)

• Mapantsula (1987)

🎧 Tune in and discover how cinema became a weapon of both oppression and defiance.