The Xhosa initiation film "Inxeba"
("The Wound") is South Africa's entry for next year's
90th Academy Awards in the category Best Foreign
Language Film. The only time South Africa has
won a foreign-language Oscars honour was in 2006 with
Gavin Hood's Tsotsi.
In 2004, Darrell Roodt's Yesterday was
nominated and, in 2010, Oliver Schmitz's Love, Above
All made the short list. Now all eyes are on
Inxeba.
The National Film and Video Foundation's Peter Kwele
said: "The committee applauded the film as a masterpiece
in terms of script, directing and performances, which
are believable and captivating.
"It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the
United States earlier this year ¡V the most difficult
festival to get into ¡V and has been sold to 22
territories to date, which is evidence of its global
appeal."
In response to the news, Inxeba director, John
Trengove, said: "We didn't set out to make a
crowd-pleasing film, so to be selected is mind-blowing.
"To be honest, this would not be a satisfying moment if
it wasn't for the overwhelming love and goodwill we
received from South African audiences in the past few
weeks."
During its limited run on circuit this past week,
audiences have raved about Inxeba. It will open
for a full run early next year. ¡V Source:
channel24.co.za |