{"id":13473,"date":"2021-11-10T14:44:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T12:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=13473"},"modified":"2021-11-10T14:44:39","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T12:44:39","slug":"award-winning-barakat-south-africas-official-oscars-2022-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2021\/11\/10\/award-winning-barakat-south-africas-official-oscars-2022-selection\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning “Barakat”, South Africa’s Official Oscars 2022 Selection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) has selected the multi-award-winning MultiChoice film Barakat<\/em> as South Africa\u2019s official submission for Best International Feature at the 94th<\/sup> Academy Awards\u00ae in 2022. This makes Amy Jephta the fourth female director to be submitted to the Oscars\u00ae by South Africa, and the first woman of colour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barakat<\/em> follows Muslim widow Aisha Davids as she tries to bring together her fractured family over Eid-al-Fitr to break the news about her new romance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) nominee Vinette Ebrahim (Skemerdan<\/em>s) stars as the ageing matriarch, while her four sons, still struggling to come to terms with the death of their father two years earlier, are played by Joey Rasdien (Material<\/em>), Mortimer Williams (Erfsondes<\/em>), Keeno-Lee Hector (The Riviera<\/em>) and Danny Ross (Number 37<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cast also includes SAFTA winners Quanita Adams (Forgiveness<\/em>) and June van Merch (Sara se Geheim<\/em>) as well as SAFTA nominees Bonnie Mbuli (Noughts & Crosses<\/em>, Catch a Fire<\/em>) and Leslie Fong (Isidingo<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barakat<\/em> is told in Afrikaaps, the widely spoken Cape dialect of the Afrikaans language. The first Afrikaaps dictionary is currently in development, after being announced earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am so proud that our small story about a family has reached as many people as it has,\u201d says Amy, the 2019 Standard Bank Young Artist of The Year for theatre, who also scripted South Africa\u2019s official 2018 Golden Globes submission for Foreign Film, Ellen: The Story of Ellen Pakkies<\/em>. \u201cTo be recognised by South Africa in this way is incredibly special after an extremely challenging year for our film industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amy wrote Barakat <\/em>with producer Ephraim Gordon, who co-founded the production companies PaperJet Films and Nagvlug Films with her. The pair also co-directed the critically acclaimed Showmax Original Cape Flats neo-noir murder mystery Skemerdans<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis selection was totally unexpected, but it shows that everyone\u2019s hard work on this project has paid off,\u201d says Ephraim. \u201cThis film was a blessing from the beginning and continues to be. It is our barakat<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barakat<\/em> was released in South African cinemas in May 2021 and on BoxOffice by DStv in June 2021, with New Frame <\/em>praising it as \u201ca layered, intimate and infinitely human story about family that provides a powerful counter-narrative to Muslim stereotypes\u201d and Rapport<\/em>\u2019s Leon van Nierop celebrating it as \u201ca jewel that shines in its humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The touching film, which closed Film Africa 2020, has won seven international awards so far, including Best International Feature at the 2021 Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema and Best Narrative Feature at both the Motion Pictures International Film Festival and The Reel Sisters Of The Diaspora Festival in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmy and Ephraim made their debut at South Africa\u2019s 2017 kykNET Silwerskerm Festival with their MultiChoice short film Soldaat<\/em> (Soldier<\/em>)<\/a>, for which they won Best Screenplay and Best Short,\u201d says Yolisa Phahle, CEO: General Entertainment & Connected Video, at MultiChoice Group. \u201cSo we\u2019re delighted to see them go from strength to strength on MultiChoice projects, from much-loved Showmax Originals to Oscar\u00ae contenders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nominations for the 94th<\/sup> Academy Awards will be announced on 8 February 2022, with the Oscars\u00ae ceremony taking place on Sunday 27 March 2022. South Africa won the Foreign Language Film category in 2005 for Gavin Hood\u2019s Tsotsi<\/em>, after being nominated in 2004 for Darrell Roodt\u2019s Yesterday<\/em>. Oliver Schmitz\u2019s Life, Above All <\/em>was shortlisted in 2010, as was John Trengrove\u2019s The Wound<\/em> in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barakat <\/em>was developed in partnership with kykNET, a MultiChoice-owned channel, and funded in association with The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic), the NFVF, The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Indigenous Film Distribution, the film\u2019s South African distributor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stream Barakat <\/em>here<\/a> now or watch on kykNET on 18 December 2021 at 20:00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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