Banned (2024)

• political
• historical
• documentary

Logline

The story of South Africa's first film with an all-african cast, Joe Bullet, which was banned by the Apartheid government shortly after release.

Plot Summary

Banned follows the story of the iconic film Joe Bullet 1973. Produced in 1971, starring Ken Gampu, Sol Rachilo, and Abigail Kubeka, it was the first film to feature an all-African cast. Shortly after its release in 1973 at the Eyethu Cinema (Soweto), it was banned by the government. It was never screened again. It features the original surviving cast Kubeka and Rachilo, producer Tony Van Der Merwe, and banned filmmaker Kevin Harris. The voices of Dr. Gcina Mhlophe, Dr. Mbongeni Ngema, and Dr. Kgotso Nkhatho narrate the atrocities of censorship at the peak of apartheid South Africa.