An apartheid-era Romeo and Juliet story called Free State has continued its surprise international winning streak. The film, about an Afrikaans woman who falls in love with an Indian man in the 1970s, last night picked up the best cinematography award at the Garden State Film Festival in New York. “Surprised,” is how producer Piet de Jager described his emotions when City Press called him this morning. “When you enter international competitions you never expect to win, so we’re surprised

Third World Child may be the title of one of his popular albums, but South African super star Johnny Clegg is doing his bit to ensure that education is accessible to all. Clegg performed a special unplugged concert at Lebone II College amphitheatre in Phokeng (outside Rustenburg) this weekend. All funds went to the school’s newly launched Phatsima Fund. The Johnny Clegg Unplugged performances allow the school to raise a significant amount of money to add to the Phatsima (meaning "shine")

Fruit exporter Tru-Cape had social media users raising eyebrows on Wednesday morning with a post on their website announcing an upcoming event that celebrates Dutch settler Jan Van Riebeeck picking the first apple at The Company Gardens in 1662. The post includes two Tru-Cape staffers dressed in colonial attire and smiling next to a Tru-Cape billboard. This as the #RhodesMustFall movement continues amid a growing call for decolonisation and sensitivity over colonial artefacts. “Tru-C

I admit that Unathi Magubeni’s debut novel had me shivering with fear from the first page to the last. For a fairly short book, it is crammed with shockers and twists in the tale, themes of betrayal and murder, evil midwives and heroic herbalists. It is unlike anything I have read before, teetering as it does between the dark side of traditional belief and the light. Nwelezelanga: The Star Child is written in a poetic style, nudging the reader to push beyond the bounds of their imagination.

The US sci-fi horror film Paranormal Activity was famously made on a budget of $15 000 (R227 279) and made a whopping fives times that figure during its opening weekend in 2007. A bit closer to home, director Tim Greene raised R1 million through crowdfunding to make his 2004 flick, A Boy Called Twist. Last year, a pair of South African film makers, Howard James Fyvie and Greg Kriek, went even more shoestring in the budget department – spending R50 000 to make their African zombie road trip mov

South Africa’s most downloaded and playlisted musician, rapper AKA, has also become the first local artist to hit the elusive million follower mark on Twitter. He narrowly pipped DJ Black Coffee, who has also just reached 1 million followers. AKA’s ex, DJ Zinhle, is just shy of the mark. Despite being labelled a bit of a Twitter badboy – especially at the height of his rivalry with fellow rapper Cassper Nyovest ­– AKA’s fanbase has continued to grow, translating neatly to downloads and ticke

Entrepreneur Mamello Yona caught the attention of many viewers when he appeared on the SABC’s Morning Live Sunday edition three weeks ago. And not only the good kind of attention. He was there to promote a first-of-its-kind fashion event he calls the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) Fashion Show. He said he would showcase 25 young designers at the famous downtown art gallery in a series of ramp shows to be held on Mondays. But this week the gallery wrote to him to tell him to stop using its name