Mapantsula

The lives of Black South Africans in the township of Soweto are the background to this powerful, absorbing and thoughtful film. It is the first international Black African feature film and it was made under the noses of South African authorities, who thought it was a gangster film. Unlike many political films, “Mapantsula” is a story viewed through the eyes of an anti-hero, a small time black gangster known to his friends as Panic. Panic is a smooth opportunist who takes down anyone, white or black. In Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans with English subtitles.

Credits

production company

Haverbeam

David Hannay

producer

Max Montocchio

director

Oliver Schmitz

Duration

01:39:00:00

Production places

South Africa

Production dates

1988

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

324906

Language

English

Audience classification

MA

Subject categories

Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers

Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Gangster films

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Apartheid

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Blacks - South Africa

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Racism

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - South Africa

History → Apartheid

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - overscan

MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - overscan

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/80858--mapantsula/ |title=Mapantsula |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=17 May 2022 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

South Africa, 1988

Please note