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September 10, 2014 Sophie Weiner

After a warm up set by a club DJ who overstayed his welcome, and at least ten minutes of dramatic intro music, Ninja and Yolandi Vi$$er entered the stage at Terminal 5, bundled in Hazmat-orange sweatsuits, but not for long. Over the course of the few first songs, Die Antwoord’s weirdo mash-up of hip hop and dance […]

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July 7, 2014 Sophie Weiner

Shield And Spear, a new documentary by Petter Ringbom, explores the continuing transformation of South Africa via the stories of its artists. The film, which will screen at the Durban International Film Festival, sets the end of apartheid as a starting point of a story that’s continuing to unfold, in a place where “every freedom must be […]

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March 12, 2014 Marina Galperina

Johannesburg’s art photographer Roger Ballen’s new work Asylum of the Birds bares all his usual visual tropes — harsh and flat monochrome, immaculately-posed subjects, childish decorative scrawls, precariously constructed props and… poverty. Also, birds. Ballen is “fascinated with birds.” This documentary short shot by Ben Jay Crossman (Streets Of Fietas) shows his process in making the series. This involves stepping into […]

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March 5, 2014 Marina Galperina

Rehad Desai’s Miners Shot Down documentary feature just premiered at the One World Film Festival 2014 in Prague. Using unedited news and archival footage and testimonies, the film exposes the 2012 massacre of workers at the Lonmin-owned platinum mine in Marikana. The police had opened fire on protesting miners and killed 34, then falsified documents and testimonies. Some of the […]

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May 6, 2013 Andy Cush

Attend South Africa’s OppiKoppi music fest this summer will be greeted by perhaps history’s friendliest UAVs: a fleet of drones that will drop beers by parachute to anyone who orders them. In the video below, the flying booze bots are operated by remote control, but festival organizers eventually hope to make them fully automatic, with […]

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