While still on lockdown we bring you the best hits to stream on Showmax now. We all know by now that last month Gomora dethroned The Queen as the most-watched show on DStv, with over 2.5 million viewers for a single episode on Mzanzi Magic!
READ – Rapulana Seiphemo joins The Queen on Mzansi Magic!
Other interesting shows to binge on are How To Steal A Country, (Sh)e, Loving Thokoza, The Beautiful People, Kings of Mulberry Street.
Gomora the twisty telenovela stars SAFTA winner Katlego Danke (Isidingo, Generations) as Thathi, a spoiled trophy wife whose posh Sandton life is stripped away in an instant. With no money and no job, Thathi is forced to pull her teenage kids out of their private schools and enroll them in a public school in Alexandra. They also have to move back in with her mother, Mam’Sonto (SAFTA winner Connie Chiume from Black Panther), a woman whose strict standards and grandmotherly care for her family mask her true nature as the queen of crime in Alexandra.
READ – Meet GOMORA’s Architectural Talent Kgothatso Malange!
The all-star cast also includes SAFTA winners Themba Ndaba (The Queen, Hopeville) and Zolisa Xaluva (Sew The Winter To My Skin), as well as Blood & Water star Ama Qamata and Thembi Seete of Boom Shaka and Zone 14 fame, but it’s the fresh faces, like Ntobeko Sishi and Siphesihle Ndaba, that have really got Twitter buzzing.
Gomora was created by executive producer Kutlwano Ditsele (The Herd) with Gwydion Beynon and Phathutshedzo Makwarela of Tshedza Pictures, who brought us the two most-awarded shows at the 2020 SAFTAs: Best Drama winner The Republic and Best Telenovela winner The River, which was also up for an International Emmy last year. Amanda Lane (Is’thunzi) is a co-creator.
READ – Jovislash Celebrates Gomora In All Its Glory On New Album!
The first 20 episodes of Gomora are available to binge now, with new episodes coming to Showmax at 8pm on weekdays from 25 May 2020.
GOMORA | Binge the first 20 episodes; new episodes at 8pm on weekdays from 25 May.
First on Showmax, How To Steal A Country, co-directed by Emmy winner Mark J Kaplan (The Village Under The Forest, The Lion Sleeps Tonight), Desai turns his unflinching gaze to another defining moment in South Africa’s recent history: the rise and fall of the Gupta family.
As editor Ferial Haffajee puts it in the documentary, “They came here as traders. They sold shoes out of the boot of their car… And they left here as multi-billionaires.” Desai’s take on how they accomplished that is a suspenseful detective story uncovering one huge bribery scandal after another, involving the top echelons of political power and several well-known multinational corporations. – HOW TO STEAL A COUNTRY | First on Showmax.
(S)HE also the first on Showmax, winner of Best Feature Film at Jozi Film Festival in 2019, (S)he is a 52-minute film from Sean Steinberg, who also made the award-winning short Axis Mundi and wrote on hit series like The Girl From St Agnes and iNumber Number.
READ – Here Are Two Noteworthy Experiences In GOMORA!
After qualifying to compete in the 2016 Olympic trials for swimming, Penny Kemp, an intersex teenager, is forced to undergo gender treatment while dealing with being ostracised by one of her teammates. (S)he is a coming-of-age drama that speaks to what it means to be a teenager, what it means to be accepted, and what it means to stand up for who you are. – (S)HE | First on Showmax.
Loving Thokoza, Lockdown’s award-winning creator Mandla N makes his eagerly anticipated feature film debut with Loving Thokoza, set in the chaotic months leading up to South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.
Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa (Isidingo, uHambo) stars as Charlotte Grootboom, a recently graduated English teacher who comes to Johannesburg to stay with her uncle (SAFTA winner Hamilton Dlamini from Isithembiso and Five Fingers For Marseilles), while she looks for a job at a Model C school. Unable to find work, she instead takes a teaching job at an Apartheid-ravaged school in Thokoza, where she fights to set up a debating society.
READ – A Look at the Works of GOMORA Based Creative, Kabelo Kungwane!
Loving Thokoza is also a love story set in a time of uncertainty, as Charlotte falls for ex-APLA comrade Moscow (SAFTA winner Mduduzi Mabaso from Rhythm City), who is struggling to find his place in this unstable new South Africa.
Loving Thokoza was shot in just nine days with all new heads of department promoted from within Black Brain Pictures. – LOVING THOKOZA | First on Showmax.
Watch Madam and Mercy – Evodia ‘Madam’ Mogase and her daughter, Mercy, walked off the set during The Real Housewives of Johannesburg reunion – and into their very own Mzansi Magic reality show, now streaming on Showmax.
With a touch of glam, a lot of love, and Madam’s trademark wit, the 13-episode reality format follows ‘the Versace girls’ and their uncompromising love for the finer things, from surprise birthday boat cruises to Versace charity parties to shopping sprees. But it’s also an intimate glimpse into fertility struggles, lobola negotiations, and their unique mother-daughter bond.
READ – Katlego Danke is deeply grateful to be part of Gomora!
The first season of Madam and Mercy also features those closest to the duo’s heart, including Madam’s baby girl, Princess, as well as her other half, Peter. – MADAM & MERCY | Binge the first six episodes; new episodes at 21:00 on Wednesdays.
Five models. Three months. One city.
The Beautiful People is a 10-part documentary series that follows a group of American, British, and Brazilian fashion models as they follow the sun to Cape Town for the summer season. Each episode delves into the reality of their day-to-day interactions as they attempt to find work, make friends, and build their careers over a three-month period. The show goes behind the scenes into the day-to-day, real-life business of modeling – the auditions, the challenges, the insecurities, and the fierce competition for work over the peak season. Featuring appearances from The Model Agency’s Carole White and America’s Next Top Model’s Aminat Ayinde, The Beautiful People offers viewers a true reality check on the business of selling your looks.
READ – Zupta documentary ‘How To Steal A Country’ out!
Directed by entertainment journalist Nicky Greenwall, The Beautiful People screened at many of the world’s top fashion film festivals, including The International Fashion Film Festival, London, and La Jolla. – THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE | First on Showmax.
There’s a lot to stream on Showmax.com – the choice is really yours as the platform is growing with plans ahead for greater content.
THE KINGS OF MULBERRY STREET | First on Showmax
The Kings Of Mulberry Street – In 1980s Sugarhill, gangsters reign supreme, taking what they want and bullying the local Indian community. But two nine-year-olds – cheeky Ticky and timid Baboo – decide to go up against the crime lords and protect their families.
Directed by Judy Naidoo and shot largely in Verulam and Tongaat in KwaZulu-Natal, The Kings of Mulberry Street was the ninth biggest South African film at the local box office in 2019 and also screened at Schlingel, one of the main children’s film festivals internationally.
2020 SAFTA WINNERS
Nearly 66% of the 2020 SAFTA winners in the TV categories are available to binge now on Showmax, with more to come soon. This includes all the telenovela winners, 12 of the drama winners out of 13, and the best reality show (Living The Dream With Somizi), natural history (Stroop), lifestyle (Elders: Japan) and variety shows (Mooi), as well as the best documentary (Buddha in Africa) and short film winners (The Letter Reader).
READ – LISTEN: Mandla N says the prison will be shutdown on Lockdown S5!
With 10 awards, The River was the most-awarded series overall at the SAFTAs – for the second year in a row. This follows its International Emmy nomination last year.
Set against a backdrop of the dirty business of diamond mining, 1Magic’s thrill-a-minute telenovela The River sees two different but interdependent worlds collide in spectacular fashion. One side of the river is home to exquisite mansions populated by society’s upper crust, like the Dlamini’s, who will go to any lengths to maintain their wealth; the other by those, like the Dikana family, who have little to show for their hard work.
READ – Celebrating Success That Is GOMORA Founded Sneaker, Bathu!
Sindi Dlathu won the Best Actress SAFTA as mining magnate Lindiwe Dlamini-Dikana, following on from DStv Mzansi Viewers Choice Awards Favourite Actress in March 2020. The River also won Best Telenovela, Best Supporting Actress (Mary-Anne Barlow) as well as craft awards for Directing, Script, Editing, Sound, Cinematography, Wardrobe, and Hair and Makeup.
READ – EC’s Film Hub to be named after actress Nomhle Nkonyeni!
New episodes of The River start again from Monday, 25 May 2020.
To see everything on Showmax in May, click here. Please note this release schedule is subject to change.
MGOSI.co.za