South Africa & the politics of cinema

*Peter Davis

From the very beginning of commercial cinema in South Africa, film-making was a political activity. Cinema is a highly popular medium, and was seen by the authorities as capable of profoundly influencing the black masses for good or ill. So it had to be tightly controlled. At the same time, cinema for the whites was born in propaganda with De Voortrekkers, and from the 1930's onwards the newly-created Afrikaans-language cinema became an arm of propaganda for the Afrikaner Nationalists. When the National Party came to power, it created an ersatz black cinema unashamedly intended as pabulum for the masses. During much of the period of apartheid, there developed a struggle between anti-apartheid and pro-apartheid forces for control of the media which was critical to the fall of apartheid. South African cinema never experienced a development free from state interference, and to that extent was completely "unnatural". Now, in the new South Africa, with all the pressures of globalisation, especially in the entertainment media, it may be too late for an indigenous cinema to develop.
Peter Davis is a documentary producer-director of long standing. He has produced more than 60 documentaries and worked on many others in different capacities, from cameraman to writer. During the apartheid period, he produced about 8 documentaries on South Africa, all of which were shown worldwide. In 1976, he was briefly detained and expelled by the authorities. Since the demise of apartheid, he has made SANGOMA, a documentary on traditional healers in Zululand. He is also a collector of historical films from South Africa, and the author of a study of cinema in South Africa entitled "In Darkest Hollywood".