A true classic of guerrilla filmmaking, Mapantsula is now available to watch in stunning 4K after years of suppression, marking the 30th anniversary of South African Freedom Day in April 2024. Director Oliver Schmitz worked closely with co-writer and lead actor Thomas Mogotlane to produce a film under extreme censorship, and while evading the authorities, they bravely created a radical and rare anti-apartheid feature film.
Mapantsula tells the story of Panic, a small-time hood who believes he sees all the angles. But he is soon in the web of the authorities, pushed to betray the revolutionaries fighting for change. More than a gripping crime story, Mapantsula is an almost miraculous opportunity to understand South Africa from within during its struggle for freedom, centred on the choices offered to Panic by a system set out to dehumanise him. Vital, humane and unvarnished, this is the time to reckon with Mapantsula.
