A movie set in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra, ‘Thina Sobabili’, is hoping to be nominated for the foreign movie section of the next Academy Awards. ‘Thina Sobabili’, meaning ‘The Two of Us’, is by first-time director Ernest Nkosi, according to Variety magazine. The nomination was announced on Monday by the South African Academy Awards selection committee […]

Fifteen-year-old South African Leroy Mokgatle has triumphed at the esteemed Genee International Ballet Competition in London by winning the gold medal. He also won the Margo Fonteyn Audience Award. Watch the incredible Leroy dancing ‘Freedom’: https://youtu.be/GCBh8QJ6P0o The Royal Academy of Dance event was held at the famous Sadler Wells. Past Genee medallists have gone on to […]

Viola Davis was the biggest news of the Emmy Awards last night, becoming the first African-American to win the Award for best actress in a drama series. And this morning her name has trended in the top three on Twitter in South Africa with media celebrating her win (see below). The 50-year-old actress who studied at Juillard […]

The first official trailer from ‘The Jungle Book’ has been extremely well received around the world, including in South Africa where it is trending in the Top 10 on Twitter. Since Disney uploaded the video to YouTube yesterday, it has received over 2 million views, and is being touted as “wild”, “spectacular”, “terrifying” and “fantastic” […]

This is no five-step waltz, no quadrille, and by no means is it a cakewalk. It’s more like a cactus tango or a dusty Jitterbug, this Nama Riel dance they do so well out here in the Northern Cape Karoo. It’s ‘Stomp the Yard’ in Calvinia, Williston, Brandvlei and beyond. The cheering crowd forms a square […]

The partly South African-produced movie ‘Remember’, about a man who discovers that the Nazi who killed his family during the war is alive in the United States and goes to find him, received a 10-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week. ‘Remember’ – which was co-produced by renowned South African […]

ZA News, the satirical puppet company in Cape Town, has created a Suzelle-type DIY video, ‘Su-Zuma DIY’, lampooning the controversy over Jacob Zuma’s residence at Nkandla and called “How to Renovate Your Home for Next to Nothing.” Watch the ZA News video – Su-Zuma DIY – below (or larger version above).

The profits of Taylor Swift’s latest music video “Wildest Dreams,” which debuted at the Video Music Awards (VMA) Awards on Sunday – and has already been viewed 14 million times – will go to African conservation. The money garnered by the video will go to the Africa Parks of America organisation, which partners with governments throughout Africa […]

Africa’s stories are being retold in a modern format, from an African perspective, to an audience who may not know them…from the founding of Botswana by King Khama III to the bravery of Bilal Ibn Rabah and the quest of Adama in a foreign, war-torn land. African history is about to get a reboot in one […]

Along the coast of South Africa from Cape Town to Durban, South African sand artists have been raising awareness about Africa’s wildlife and the poaching crisis…so that the photos international tourists take back home with them, carry this important message to the rest of the world. The beach sculptors are famous for creating newsworthy masterpieces – from the […]

A family taking a stroll in the Mafube Mountain Retreat, between Clarens and Fouriesburg in the Eastern Free State, stumbled across a wonderful treasure today. Duncan Irvine, owner of Rapid Blue production company (with hits like Strictly Come Dancing), uploaded a photo to Facebook with this message: “Out for a walk on our farm and our […]

Check out the trailer for the much-anticipated documentary film The Boers at the End of the World – about a group of South African expats unlike any others – which will have its world premiere at the end of this month in Camps Bay. The 80-minute documentary feature film is about a century-old community of Afrikaners who live in a remote region […]

Check out Suzelle in her latest DIY video…with tips on how to make a braaied brandy banana split (or is that braaied banana brandy split?). Suzelle, who understandably smaaks herself as quite the braai “mistress” (since her “How to make a Braai Pie” video launched her to local fame) is joined by Ultimate Braai Master host Justin Bonello […]

BBC Lifestyle this week announced its judge and presenter line-up for new local commission The Great South African Bake Off. The series, which will search for the nation’s best amateur baker, will be judged by renowned chefs Shirley Guy and Tjaart Walraven and presented by comedians Anne Hirsch and Donovan Goliath. The ten-part series is produced […]

She didn’t mean to…but she did. South African Oscar-award winning actress Charlize Theron invited President Obama to a strip club. To be fair she was trying to fill an awkward pause in the conversation. And she just blurted out the invitation when he mentioned that appearing on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show helped him reach a […]

South Africa’s favourite DIY goddess, Suzelle, is very proudly featured in the latest Checkers TV commercial. “I finally made it!” says YouTube star Suzelle. “I am in the new Checkers TV ad with my new best friend Nataniël! I am so excited x” Afrikaans celebrity Nataniël (le Roux) is a singer, songwriter and entertainer who released his […]

A fab picture of American rocker Steven Tyler during his trip to South Africa in December 2014 has been posted by the V&A Waterfront today. Some lucky fans (or children of fans!) posed for a photo with him at the Louis Vuitton store at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. The Aerosmith frontman – with […]

Trevor Noah, who has officially moved to New York in preparation for his new role as host of Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’, has revealed that his incredible international career is largely thanks to a couple of drunk friends. Speaking on the ‘Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’ in the USA on Friday night, Trevor said that becoming […]

For a bunch of South Africans abroad, they’ve found a fantastic way to earn money, see the world…and have some fun. It’s like a fantasy. The Disney Fantasy. Sonnike Smit from Witbank, along with over 50 other South Africans, is working aboard the fourth ship in Disney’s Cruise Line fleet, the Disney Fantasy. “We travel […]

I’ll be the first to admit I know nothing about standup comedy. I’ve probably seen a couple of comedians live, and several dozen on YouTube. I can’t figure out Sarah Silverman (but she seems nice enough) and I adore Amy Schumer (that face, that unexpected whammy in the stomach, that brilliant Roast of Charlie Sheen!). […]

A Cape Town-based multi-national company has created the largest picture of Cape Town ever taken. It’s 200,000 pixels wide! Yesterday FanCam uploaded a link to the 360º photo with the words “a picture of our home town…Sorry, a BIG picture of our STUNNING home town.” The gigapixel image of the City Centre was captured from the top of […]

Congratulations to Levy Sekgapane, a young tenor from South Africa, who has scooped first place in the Belvedere Opera Competition, the most prestigious and largest singing competition for young opera singers in the world! The finals of the 34th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Opera contest were held on Saturday night, 4 July 2015, at Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam. […]

It was confirmed today that legendary singer and songwriter Rodriguez will be returning to South Africa early next year. This time he will be performing in Johannesburg and Cape Town again, as well as in Durban and Port Elizabeth. His last tour to the country was sold out within minutes of bookings being opened…so if you’re keen for […]

It was May, 1976…and as a lowly young reporter for the Pretoria News, I discovered that Siberia comes in many forms. Because I had disgraced myself and gotten a TV review horribly wrong, I was assigned a new position in life: Magistrates Court reporter. The position was seen as the grubby, greasy little bottom rung in the […]

Groot Marico, 1979 – It’s a lovely Saturday out here in the Bushveld…I’m sitting under a fever tree on a farm in the Western Transvaal (now Northwest Province) talking to a Marico family and drinking their mampoer very slowly and, if I may say so, quite thoughtfully. It’s all so very Herman Charles. [The late […]