Film & Cinematography News South Africa

RapidLion Film Festival announces 2020 nominees

RapidLion, the South African International Film Festival, has announced the nominees for the 2020 RapidLion Awards.

The RapidLion Award is designed and manufactured to represent the pinnacle achievement of any filmmaker from Africa, the Brics countries and the African diaspora. It aims to remind RapidLion film entrants that excellence comes through hard work and ferocious focus, and that these qualities can lead to greatness.

A particularly special award is the Lionel Ngakane Lifetime Achievement Award. Last year's winner:

Every year RapidLion celebrates the South African film industry by paying homage to one of the country's great industry players.

The RapidLion 2020 nominations are:

RapidLion Lifetime Achievement Award:


  • Lionel Ngakane

Best Student Short (South Africa):


  • Umama Talia Smith (Director)
  • Nocturnal Siyabonga Mbele (Director)
  • Our Albertina. Chantel Clarke (Director)

Best Student Short (Brics):


  • Winner Best Student short South Africa
  • The bribe (Russia) Alexey Kharitonov (Director)
  • The bleeding news (China) Tianxiao Huang (Director)

Best International Short:


  • The letter reader (SA) Sibusiso Khuzwayo (Director)
  • The Stolpersteine (Germany) – Stumbling stones Reza Mosadegh (Director)
  • Foggy town (China) Qin Linq (Director)
  • The teary sword (India) Ravi Rachi (Director)

Best Humanitarian Film:


  • Baxu and the giants (Namibia – Florian Schott (Director)
  • White gold (South Africa) – Luke Bradford (Director)

Best Documentary Feature:


  • The mountains agonized (India) Subrat Kumar Sahu (Director)
  • Your turn (Brazil) Eliza Capai (Director)
  • A punk daydream (Belgium) Jimmy Hendrickx (Director)
  • In another life (Belgium) Philippe De Pierpont (Director)
  • Vanishing kings (USA) Lydia G. Reynolds (Director)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:


  • Alae El Bachiri - Monsters
  • Jet Novuka - Letters of hope
  • Cao Yang - My grandfather’s story
  • Zolisa Xaluva - Knuckle city

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:


  • Hao Yibing - My grandfather’s story
  • Kate Henshaw-Nuttal - The ghost and the house of truth
  • Katerina Miroshkina - Dream Team
  • Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots - Gat in die muur
  • Jalila Talemsi -The wife

Best Actor in a Leading Role:


  • Abdelouahid Zaouki - Monsters
  • Yan Tsapnik - Dream Team
  • Gary Green - Fried Barry
  • Chen Youwan - My Grandfather’s Story
  • Andre Odendaal - Gat in die muur

Cinematography:


  • Gareth Place - Fried Barry
  • Willie Nel - Knuckle City
  • Ma Liang - My Grandfather’s Story
  • Kabelo Thathe - The Ghost and the house of truth
  • Guy De Lancey -Gat in die muur
  • Elliot C. Rosen - Monsters

Best Screenplay:


  • Knuckle City – Jahmil X.T. Qubeka
  • My Grandfather’s story – Liu Junfeng
  • Letters of hope – Naledi Bogacwi & Vusi’Africa Sindane
  • Monsters – Aksel Rifman
  • Dream Team - Ippolita Kupreyanova & Irina Chechina

Film Editing:


  • Stephen Du Plessis - Fried Barry
  • Aksel Rifman - Monsters
  • Layla Swart - Knuckle city
  • Wang Wei - My grandfather’s story
  • Marc Baleiza - The ghost and the house of truth

Directing:


  • Liu Junfeng - My grandfather’s story
  • Aksel Rifman - Monsters
  • Maxim Zykov & Filipp Abryutin - Dream team
  • Akin Omotoso - The Ghost and the house of truth
  • Jahmil X.T. Qubeka - Knuckle city
  • Ryan Kruger - Fried Barry

Best of South Africa:


  • Fried Barry – James C Williamson (Producer)
  • Letters of hope – Ndiyathemba Modibedi (Producer)
  • Gat in die muur – Johan Vorster & Brendon Hargroves (Producers)
  • Knuckle city – Layla Swart (Producer)

Best of Brics:


  • My grandfather’s story – Jiang Zhong (Producer)
  • Dream team - Oksana Lakhno & Dmitry Yakunin & Filipp Abryutin (Producers)
  • Karup – Shinith Pattiam (Producer)
  • Winner Best of South Africa

Best of Africa and the African Diaspora:


  • Monsters - Abderahim Harbal (Producer)
  • The ghost and the house of truth - Ego Boyo (Producer)
  • Winner Best of South Africa

Best Film Overall:


  • Best of Brics
  • Best of Africa and the African Diaspora

The RapidLion awards ceremony takes place on 14 March and the festival takes place 6-15 March, both at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg.

Tickets for the fifth annual event range from R45 for a single screening, R155 for a day pass to R1,750 for an all-access pass for the entire festival. For ticket sales and full details on prices, click here, and for more information on RapidLion, visit RapidLion.co.za.

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