Six local Showmax classics perfect for Women’s Day watching

Women’s Day is on 9 August and that means a public holiday is here! If you’re the type that’s looking to kick back, relax and chill in front of the TV, Showmax has some recommendations for you. Local content that’s perfect for women’s day? Coming right up…

Women’s Day brilliance streaming on Showmax

Sink

Rachel, a Mozambican domestic worker living in Johannesburg, is forced to make a life-changing decision after her daughter dies while under the care of her employers: return to poverty-stricken Mozambique or continue working for the people responsible for the death of her child. Things become even more complicated when she finds out that her employers are expecting their first child.

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Described as “an uncomfortably close look at the smothering maid/madam relationship as it plays out in so many South African homes”, the film is an important reminder of how far SA still has to go.

The film also took home five SAFTAs last year.

Dis Ek, Anna

Based on a true story told in an award-winning book of the same name, Dis Ek, Anna is a courtroom drama about the case of a woman who killed her stepfather after suffering years of sexual abuse.

With children being the victims of 41% of reported rapes, we can’t shy away from the problems society is facing.

The film took home six SAFTAs, including best film.

Tess

Sassy 20-year-old Tess sells her body on Cape Town’s streets. She survives by popping painkillers and through her wry humour. But her life turns upside down when she falls pregnant.

Director Meg Rickards coaxed an award-winning performance from rising star Christia Visser in the title role. The film is also set in Cape Town’s own Muizenberg, which really doesn’t feature in enough content.

This film might not have won a SAFTA but is sure as hell was nominated for a lot of them.

Elwani

After her University graduation, Elelwani (Florence Masebe) returns to her rural family to introduce her boyfriend and announce their plans to emigrate and spend the rest of their lives together, but her father has promised her to the local king instead.

Billed as the first Venda feature film, the movie also features stunning visuals from Tsotsi cinematographer Lance Gewer.

The film is written and directed by Ntshavheni Wa Luruli (Berlin-winner The Wooden Camera), who captures the urban-rural tensions so many South Africans live with.

Little One

A six-year-old girl is left for dead outside a township in Johannesburg but is found by a woman (Lindiwe Ndlovu) who takes her to hospital and then oversees her recovery.

“Darrell Roodt’s film Little One is a poignant, moving, and minimalist narrative which is unapologetically South African,” said the South African Academy Award Selection Committee, who choseLittle One as our 2013 Foreign Film Oscar entry.

u-Carmen eKhayelitsha

In this update of George Bizet’s classic opera, Carmen, Pauline Malefane plays a township woman who will not be tamed, who seduces a religious policeman into a fatal affair.

u-Carmen eKhayelitsha became the first South African film to win the Golden Bear at Berlin – the top award at one of the world’s top film festivals. It has a 95% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Village Voice saying that the adaptation “was basically the best decision ever.”