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The best SAFTA-winning local content to stream

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05 September 2022
Showmax remains the best place to stream South African content.
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Halala! Showmax remains the best place to stream South African content, according to the 2022 SAFTAs.ย 

Content on Showmax won 45 awards, more than half of the content prizes given out over the weekend, and the most by far of any streaming service.ย 

Showmax Originals alone won 17 SAFTAs, the most of any channel or streamer.ย 

Taliโ€™s Baby Diaryย andย Glasshouseย were the two biggest winners at the SAFTAs overall, with five awards each, tied in first place with Mzansi Magicโ€™s telenovelaย Diep City.ย 

Hereโ€™s the best content in South Africa to stream now, across each of the key categories, all available to binge on Showmax:ย 

Taliโ€™s Baby Diary - South Africaโ€™s best comedyย 

With five awards, including Best TV Comedy, the Showmax Originalย Taliโ€™s Baby Diaryย is jointly the biggest winner at this yearโ€™s SAFTAs.

Produced by Sketchbook Studios,ย Taliโ€™s Baby Diaryย is the sequel to the first ever Showmax Original,ย Taliโ€™s Wedding Diary,ย whichย set a (then) record for the most first-day views on Showmax and was similarly the most awarded comedy at the 2019 SAFTAs, taking home five prizes, including Best Comedy.ย 

Inย Taliโ€™s Baby Diary,ย an unexpected pregnancy forces Tali into a desperate pivot from Insta-influencer to wholesome momfluencer.ย 

As Tali, Julia Anastasopoulos (aka SuzelleDIY) won Best Actress, while Kate Normington won Supporting Actress as her mother, Michelle. The series also won for Directing (Ari Kruger and Daniel Zimbler) and Editing (Richard Starkey and Gordon Midgley).ย ย ย ย 

Showmax is currently in production onย Taliโ€™s Joburg Diary,ย premiering in November 2022.ย 

Need more laughs?

โ€ขย kykNETโ€™s airport mockumentaryย G.I.Lย won three awards: Best Supporting Actor (Frank Opperman), Art Direction (Beatrix van Zyl), and Wardrobe (Cassandra Rowland)

โ€ขย The Showmax Original romcomย Troukoorsย (Wedding Fever)ย won Best Cinematography (Fahema Hendricks).

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Glasshouse - the most awarded feature film at this yearโ€™s SAFTAs

The Showmax filmย Glasshouseย won five SAFTAs, making it the most awarded feature film this year - and the joint biggest winner overall too.

Directed and co-written by Kelsey Egan,ย Glasshouseย is set after an airborne dementia known as The Shred has left humanity roaming like lost and dangerous animals, unable to remember who they are. Confined to their airtight glasshouse, a family does what they must to survive - until the sisters are seduced by a stranger who upsets the familyโ€™s rituals, unearthing a past they have tried to bury.ย 

Produced by Local Motion Pictures, in association with Crave Pictures,ย Glasshouseย won Cinematography (Justus de Jager), Production Design (Kerry Von Lillienfeld), Editing (Rowan Jackson), Costume Design (Catherine McIntosh) and Makeup and Hairstyling (Annie Butler).ย 

Before coming to Showmax,ย Glasshouseย had its world premiere at North Americaโ€™s top genre film festival, Fantasia, in Montreal, Canada in August 2021 - and also screened at Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the USA, earning multiple five-star reviews and an 84% criticsโ€™ rating onย Rotten Tomatoes.ย 

Film Threatโ€™s Lorry Kitka singled outย Glasshouseย as her โ€œfavourite film of the year so farโ€;ย Exclaimย proclaimed, โ€œKelsey Egan is a filmmaker to keep an eye onโ€; andย Comicon.comcalled the film โ€œa folk horror movie that could become a modern classic.โ€ย 

Want more award-winning local films?ย 

โ€ขย Jafta Mamabolo won both Best Actor and Scriptwriting forย Freedom,ย an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevskyโ€™s classic novelย Crime and Punishment, which Jafta co-directed with Ralph Ziman. Award-winners like Mary Twala (RIP), Kenneth Nkosi, Mandla Gaduka and Ferry Jele co-starย ย 

โ€ขย Amy Jephta won the Best Director SAFTA for South Africaโ€™s Oscar entry, the multi-award-winningย Barakat,ย about a Muslim widow trying to bring together her fractured family over Eid-al-Fitr to break the news about her new romance

โ€ขย Mandla Nโ€™sย Boxing Day, about two siblings trying to find the money to bury their gogo, won Best Made For TV Movie

โ€ขย Ryan Krugerโ€™s cult alien-abduction-in-Cape-Town sci-fiย Fried Barryย won two SAFTAs: Original Music (Ebenhaezer Smal [Haezer]) and Sound Design (Ebenhaezer Smal [Haezer], Keagan Higgins, Rob Brinkworth and Gustav Stutterheim).ย 

4 Mure - South Africaโ€™s best drama seriesย 

kykNETโ€™sย 4 Mureย won three SAFTAs: Best TV Drama; Makeup & Hairstyling (Minke Swart); and Wardrobe (Mariechen Vosloo).ย 

Each 25m episode in the five-part anthology is set in the same hotel room, with the same housekeeper (Lida Botha), but with different stories, characters and genres.ย 

The all-star cast includes SAFTA winners Tinarie van Wyk-Loots, Tarryn Wyngaard, and Deon Lotz; Silwerskerm winners Beer Adriaanse and Carel Nel; 2022 SAFTA Best Actress: Comedy nominee Ilse-lee van Niekerk (Troukoors); and Lidaโ€™s husband, Johan Botha.ย 

Produced by Marche Media (Kanarie),ย 4 Mureย is directed by Jaco Bouwer (SXSW winnerย Gaia, upcoming Showmax Originalย Spinners).ย 

In their four-star review,ย Channel24ย saidย 4 Mureย โ€œcan effortlessly compete on an international level when it comes to the creativity and qualityโ€ฆ A beautifully crafted limited seriesโ€ฆ This is edgy Afrikaans with a foreign, subtitled, indie look and feel to it. Itโ€™s got an air of Wes Andersonโ€ฆ and maybe even a hint of Ryan Murphy... The storylines bubble with thatย Black Mirrorย type of secrecy that feels fresh, clever, and unexpected.โ€

Need more local drama?

โ€ขย M-Netโ€™s crime dramaย Reykaย won four SAFTAs: Best Actress (Kim Engelbrecht), Directing (Catharine Cooke and Zee Ntuli), Scriptwriting (Rohan Dickson), and Cinematography (Tom Marais)ย 

โ€ขย Mzansi Magicโ€™s izinkabi dramaย eHostelaย won two SAFTAs: Best Actor (Thobani Nzuza as Mdeni) and Sound (Joel "Juelz" Mahlatjie)

โ€ขย Natasha Loring won her first SAFTA, for Best Supporting Actress, as Sienna in the Showmax Original psychological thrillerย DAM, which also earned Sue Steele the Best Art Direction SAFTA.

โ€ขย kykNETโ€™s family dramaย Nรชrens, Noord-Kaapย won Best Editing (Regardt Botha, Markus Van Schalkwyk and Eva Du Preez)

โ€ขย Mzansi Magicโ€™s church dramaย Umkhokhaย won Best Original Music/Score (Zithulele Khwela).ย 

The Wife - the Zulu brothers are officially the best!

Mzansi Magicโ€™sย DiepCityย was the big telenovela winner, winning five awards, including Best Telenovela and Most Popular TV Soap or Telenovela.ย ย 

The first Showmax Original telenovela,ย The Wife, didnโ€™t go home empty handed though, with the SAFTA jury agreeing with the 5am Club that the Zulu brothers are the best, giving Best Actor to Bonko Khoza as Mqhele and Supporting Actor to Abdul Khoza as Nqoba. This is Bonkoโ€™s first SAFTA win and Abdulโ€™s second.ย 

Produced by Stained Glass, the record-breaking, Twitter topping first season ofย The Wifefollowed Hlomu, a journalist who fell in love with taxi driver Mqhele, not realising that when you marry a man, you marry his secrets.ย 

Showmax is currently in production on S3 ofย The Wife,ย premiering in November 2022.ย 

Watch Bonkoโ€™s Showmax x Actor Spaces masterclass on acting here:ย https://youtu.be/yK0R6mInwK8.ย 

Need more soaps and telenovelas?

โ€ขย kykNETโ€™sย Suidoosterย was named Best Soap Opera for the first time at the 2022 SAFTAs. The soapie follows three families - The Octobers, the Samsodiens and the du Plooys - as they work, live and love side by side at Suidooster, a small shopping and business centre in Ruiterbosch in Cape Townย 

โ€ขย 1Magicโ€™sย The River,ย which airs on Showmax daily, won Best Original Music/Score for Brendan Jury

โ€ขย M-Netโ€™sย Legacyย won Best Scriptwriting for Gwydion Beynon and Phathutshedzo Makwarela

โ€ขย kykNETโ€™sย Binnelandersย won Best Directing: TV Soap for Danie Joubert

โ€ขย kykNETโ€™sย Arendsvleiย won Best Supporting Actress for Shaleen Surtie Richards, who passed away in June 2021.

Devilsdorp - the best made for TV documentary in SA

IdeaCandy's Showmax Original true crime seriesย Devilsdorpย was named Best Made For TV Documentary at the SAFTAs.ย 

In 2016, a spate of brutal Appointment Murders gripped the town of Krugersdorp, leaving sales people and consultants terrified to book meetings in case they were the serial killerโ€™s next victims. The investigation led detectives to a series of unsolved cold cases, the so-called Satanic Murders, and to links between 11 Krugersdorp killings between 2012 and 2016. They discovered these were the work of the Electus per Deus (Chosen by God) cult.

Alongside extraordinary footage of exorcisms, church meetings, and trial testimonies and judgments,ย Devilsdorpย features first-hand accounts from the likes of Captain Ben Booysen, the senior investigating officer; deputy director of Public Prosecutions Gerrit Roberts; Discovery claims specialist Shane Chatzkelowitz; and journalist Marizka Coetzer. The family of the victims also share their stories, as do church members who knew the perpetrators.ย Netwerk24ย journalist Jana Marx, author ofย The Krugersdorp Cult Killings: Inside Cecilia Steynโ€™s Reign of Terror, narrates the series.ย ย 

โ€œOur thoughts are forever with those families who lost their loved ones,โ€ director David Enright said on Facebook after the win. โ€œYour courage remains inspirational.โ€

Need more true crime?ย 

โ€ขย VIAโ€™sย Die Staat Teenย was named Best Factual Programme at the SAFTAs. In this true crime series, state prosecutors open their confidential files to tell the story of the most challenging or memorable court cases of their legal careers, including the murders of Uyinene Mrwetyana and Gill Packham.ย 

DJ Zinhle: The Unexpected - the best soapie reality TV in SA

DJ Zinhle: The Unexpectedย won Best Structured Soapie Reality Show at the SAFTAs.ย 

The 13-part, 30-minute BET Africa reality show follows theย Umlilo-hitmaker through her pregnancy with her second child, Asante, whose father isย musician Bongani Mohosana, popularly known as Murdah Bongz. DJ Zinhle also has a daughter with rapper AKA.

Look out for appearances from close friends like Pearl Thusi and Nomuzi โ€˜Moozlieโ€™ Mabena.ย 

#wearedyinghere - the best short film in South Africa

Named Best Short Film at the 2022 SAFTAs,ย #WeAreDyingHereย chronicles the journey of three soldiers forced to survive in a war they did not choose. As the war against women rages around them, they attempt to find solace to process their pain under the constant threat of their enemy lurking in the shadows.ย #WeAreDyingHereย takes on the violent culture of harassment, abuse, rape and femicide, taking a necessary pause to gain insight into the experience of living as a woman.

Executive produced by Siya and Rachel Kolisi, the short film is an adaptation of the original stage production by award-winning poet, performer and theatre director Siphokazi Jonas, who stars alongside her co-writers, Fleur du Cap-nominated theatre performer and musician Babalwa Makwetu and spoken word artist Hope Netshivhambe. Itโ€™s directed by Black Reel Award nominee and Mandela Washington Fellow Shane Vermooten (Freedom Road,ย Kusasa,ย Bypass), and produced by Bianca Schmitz (Kusasa,ย Bypass) and Siphokazi Jonas.ย 

Die Broer Toer - the best lifestyle show in South Africa

kykNETโ€™sย Die Broer Toerย was named Best Lifestyle Show at the 2022 SAFTAs.ย 

Three brothers, three bikes, no licenses, one big adventure โ€“ all the ingredients forย Die Broer Toer.

Actor Bennie Fourie (G.I.L.,ย Hotel) is famous for being funny, but he and his brothers, Reynold and Wilbrie, are also well-known for their legendary road trips. From road tripping in a souped-up Nissan Sani at university to hiking trails with the family - if thereโ€™s a road, theyโ€™ll take it.ย 

Even as the demands of adulthood pull Bennie, Reynold and Wilbrie in opposite directions, they always manage to find time for one more trip - or in this case, a seasonโ€™s worth of them, from the Tankwa Karoo to Riemvasmaak,ย Vioolsdrif to the Koue Bokkeveld.

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