South Africa's Renegade Reels

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Opening Shots

   • Litheko Modisane

   Pages 1-23

3. From Africa to America, and Back Again: Come Back, Africa (1959)

   • Litheko Modisane

   Pages 25-69

4. Propagandistic Designs, Transgressive Mutations: uDeliwe (1975)

   • Litheko Modisane

   Pages 71-96

5. Engagé Film and the Public Sphere: Mapantsula (1988)

   • Litheko Modisane

   Pages 97-124

6. Gender in the New Nation: Fools (1998)

   • Litheko Modisane

   Pages 125-155

7. Orchestration of Debate through Television Drama: Yizo Yizo (1999, 2001)

   • Litheko Modisane

   Pages 157-174

8. Closing Shots

   • Litheko Modisane

   Pages 175-187

9. Back Matter

   Pages 189-228

   PDF

Despite incredible political upheavals and a minimal national history of film production, movies such as Come Back, Africa (1959), uDeliwe (1975), and Fools (1998) have taken on an iconic status within South African culture. In this much-needed study, author Litheko Modisane delves into the public critical engagements around old 'renegade' films and newer ones, revealing instructive details both in the production and the public lives of South African movies oriented around black social experiences. This illuminates the complex nature of cinema in modern public life, enriching established methodologies by expanding the cultural and conceptual boundaries of film as a phenomenon of textual circulation.

• Africa
• cinema
• complexity
• film
• gender
• television

'Litheko Modisane's reading of key films from contemporary South Africa is both highly original and critical. His analysis of how cinema and representations of race in South Africa are inseparable is brilliant. This book is a creative and unique contribution not only to South African cinema but also to critical race theory; it offers an important perspective on the issue of African cinema in its global circulation.' - Frieda Ekotto, Hunting Family Fellow, Humanities Institute, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

'Finally, a comprehensive monograph on the location of film in the public spheres of repressive and post-repressive regime conditions! That this happens through the lens of black-centered films in South Africa allows South Africa's Renegade Reels to inaugurate a fresh assay of a once disavowed, but rapidly democratizing public sphere. Modisane's book offers instructive analyses of the intellectual chutzpah and staying power of film, in spite of or because of social, economic, and political constraints. It compels one to rethink the meaning of film.' - Njabulo S. Ndebele, Emeritus Professor and Research Fellow, Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative, University of Cape Town, South Africa

'Strategically focused and refreshing in its analytical approach, South Africa's Renegade Reels spotlights particular films in South African history to explore political debates and social issues. Modisane addresses how the circulation of films generates varied debates across different historical eras and how these films have informed engagements on black identity. Combining close textual readings of the films with production context and public discourse, the arguments presented are cogent to the dynamic re-thinking of South African cinematic representations.' - Jyoti Mistry, Associate Professor, Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Litheko Modisane teaches in the Department of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He earned his PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is also an Honorary Research Associate, Archive and Public Culture Research Initiative, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

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