Africa Is a Country

Reality TV

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Reality TV

By
Sean Jacobs

The practice of renting out Cape Town’s “scenery” and its cheaper film crews can have its misunderstandings. Take “Safe House,” the new “action thriller” starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, that’s really set in South America. I can only imagine the cliches about South America for which South Africa stands in here. Anyway it sounds more like “Training Day”:

A movie starring Denzel Washington was a little too thrilling for a Cape Town neighbourhood that has experienced gang violence.

Callers to talk radio said they feared gang fights had returned to the township when they heard the sounds of automatic gunfire overnight.

Denis Lillie, head of the Cape Film Commission, said today the producers had been authorised to film a sequence involving car chases and the firing of blanks, and had informed residents in the immediate neighbourhood. But he says the sound carried further than expected.

Lillie says the Cape Town community is getting “used to the fact that people want to film here”. The movie, Safe House, is described as a crime thriller.–SAPA.

Further Reading

Drip is temporary

The apparel brand Drip was meant to prove that South Africa’s townships could inspire global style. Instead, it revealed how easily black success stories are consumed and undone by the contradictions of neoliberal aspiration.

Energy for whom?

Behind the fanfare of the Africa Climate Summit, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline shows how neocolonial extraction still drives Africa’s energy future.

The sound of revolt

On his third album, Afro-Portuguese artist Scúru Fitchádu fuses ancestral wisdom with urban revolt, turning memory and militancy into a soundtrack for resistance.

O som da revolta

No seu terceiro álbum, o artista afro-português Scúru Fitchádu funde a sabedoria ancestral com a revolta urbana, transformando memória e militância em uma trilha sonora para a resistência.

Biya forever

As Cameroon nears its presidential elections, a disintegrated opposition paves the way for the world’s oldest leader to claim a fresh mandate.

From Cornell to conscience

Hounded out of the United States for his pro-Palestine activism, Momodou Taal insists that the struggle is global, drawing strength from Malcolm X, faith, and solidarity across borders.

After the uprising

Following two years of mass protest, Kenya stands at a crossroads. A new generation of organizers is confronting an old question: how do you turn revolt into lasting change? Sungu Oyoo joins the AIAC podcast to discuss the vision of Kenya’s radical left.