Keyword Soweto

The plot centers on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The stage version presents a school uprising similar to the Soweto uprising on June 16, 1976. A narrator introduces several characters among them the school girl activist Sarafina. Things get out of control when a policeman shoots several pupils in a classroom. Nevertheless, the musical ends with a cheerful farewell show of pupils leaving school, which takes most of act two. In the movie version Sarafina feels shame at her mother's (played by Miriam Makeba in the film) acceptance of her role as domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film version) is imprisoned.

With Nelson Mandela freed from prison, South Africa is changing fast - but big challenges lie ahead. In the township of Soweto children have taken charge of their schools, trading formal (albeit poorly-funded) education for incitement of rebellion against the injustices between the black and the white populations.

When local soccer team The Eagles fall prey to a series of onslaughts from a mysterious gangster only a week before the championship final, the team turns to the one man that can help save their chances at victory – Joe Bullet (Ken Gampu). Joe will have to battle against villainous henchmen, escape booby-trap bombs and bring his martial arts expertise to the fore in order to survive an attack from a deadly assassin. In the end he will have to infiltrate the mysterious gangster’s hide-out in a dangerous cat-and-mouse rescue mission to save not only The Eagles’ two kidnapped star players, but that of his beautiful love interest, Beauty (Abigail Kubeka). The odds will be stacked against him, but he’s the man that fights crime, the man that no one can tie down! Joe Bullet!

Three separate stories create a gripping yet compassionate portrait of small-town characters immersed in the intimidating, alluring, and dangerous world of big-city Johannesburg and Soweto.

A musical trip through southern Africa to the tunes of the post-apartheid generation. Kwaito music originated in the 1950's in the dusty streets of South Africa's townships such as Sophiatown, Pimville and subsequently in Soweto. It is inseparable from the Pantsuela culture of the rebellious youth gangs during the Apartheid regime. Since there was no money for musical instruments or for extravagant costumes, they concentrated on their dancing and singing skills and, turning the streets into their stage. Currently almost fifty years later - Kwaito culture is experiencing a renaissance in a manner completely inconceivable in those days.