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African Couch Potato is a South African perspective on all things film and television. Hosted by award-winning TV producer, Gino Shelile, it mashes up in-studio interviews with industry professionals, titles to check out each week, a current film or series review, and a look at old movies that are worth rewatching.
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The last episode of ACP for 2025! With only a few days left of the year, Gino takes time to reflect on the amazing guests we've had the pleasure of hosting; where we are all over the world and how you managed to listen in. In a move that took many people by surprise, Netflix is planning to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, which, if successful, will make it possibly the largest media company on the planet. The downside for us is that we may lose several channels from DStv, as well as...
The season of goodwill is upon us, yet sadly, we start this episode with the horrific shooting of DJ Warras. Gino takes some time to reflect on this tragic event. Moving on, this week sees Gino relating his adventures from his hilarious recent roadtrip to Mozambique, where just about everything that could go wrong, did! Surviving the trip, Gino takes a look at the new Netflix release: Love and Wine, the story of a rich guy working for his dad's company, who falls for a med student and pretend...
Luto Mpunga is a South African social media personality and content creator known for her activity on TikTok, sharing videos featuring personal moments, humour, and music-related content. She is also part of the Director's Guild of South Africa. In this episode we grabbed a few minutes with her, via Zoom, to chat about the DGSA Creatives Awards. The Creatives Awards is a groundbreaking event that sets a new gold standard for recognizing and celebrating the brilliance, innovation, and artistic...
Sibusiso Mthiya is a South African media personality, producer, and presenter known for hosting inspirational shows and it was a pleasure to welcome him to the studio for a chat with Gino about his career and his plans for the future, as well as talking openly about his faith and growing up without a present father figure . Sibusiso might be known to older listeners from his days on Kideo and YoTv Land where he started at the age of 6 years old. He talks to Gino about those early days and how...
December is here, Christmas is round the corner and so are the holidays. And how are we going to kick off the celebrations? With a resounding win by the Springboks. For the first time, Gino got to watch the Boks with his Dad on his birthday. And how? Because DStv has unlocked the Premium package to all Compact subscribers until the end of December, but only on the decoder, not DStv Stream. ACP has a look at the Open Chats Podcast which scored a win with the South African Social Media Awards (...
The war is over, but the silence remains. The South African Border War left broken nations and haunted lives. Unspoken War reveals the hidden cost of a conflict few speak about and even fewer truly understand. This week Gino gets the chance to talk, via Zoom, in depth with the docuseries director Nikki Comninos. Born in Zimbabwe with a father in political exile and a mother busy covering war as a foreign correspondent, it is no real surprise that Nikki would end up working on documentaries. A...
Episode 20 of ACP found Gino in a sartorial spin when he was invited to speak at the inaugural Global Creative Summit that just happened in Johannesburg, but more on that later. We kick off the ep with a couple of reviews. First up is Boots on Netflix. based on the book The Pink Marine. This is the story of a gay teen who joins the Marine Corps in the late 70s. A brave move by anybody's standards; homosexuality being a big no-no in the US military at that time. "I have done everything"...
Welcome to Episode 19 of ACP and do we have news for you. This week, Gino deals with his son's birthday, faces up to Frankenstein and looks forward to the King of Pop on the silver screen First up, while finding animé content for his son's birthday, Gino finds out that ratings vary from country to country and that what is ok in one country is definitely not suitable in others. Next, after months of waiting, director Guillermo del Toro's ambitious adaptation of author Mary Shelley's cla...
November is here already, and to welcome it in Gino takes a quick look at whats hot and happening on the local scene. We kick off the episode with a couple of reviews; Bad Influencer on Netflix is a drama centred round celebs buying and selling faux gear, followed by Slay Queens on Showmax. This docuseries picks up on first-hand accounts of those ladies who hook up for cash. In the news, the SABC TV licence crisis is not getting any better, while Multichoice's Shaka iLembe scored big on the j...
Where to after Silwerskerm? For 25 year-old Mikayla Joy Brown and her 30 year-old brother Jesse Brown the answer was the prestigious BFI London Film Festival. Their film Finding Optel just started streaming on Showmax last week so Gino grabbed the opportunity to chat to co-director, writer and lead actress, Mikayla, about what inspired her, how they pulled it together and what it was like being at the London Film Festival. The heartwarming, quirky detective story Finding Optel is all about te...
Welcome to this week's serving of African Couch Potato; on the menu are some reviews and some news. As an appetizer, Gino looks at School Ties, nominated for an international Emmy and directed by previous guest Richard Finn Gregory, this alarming documentary series explores the culture of sexual grooming at all-boys’ schools in South Africa and is currently on Showmax. Our next course will also be on Showmax, an upcoming documentary series on the Angolan Bush war. Titled Unspoken ...
What's going down on the local scene? Welcome to African Couch Potato's News, Views and Reviews with your host Gino Shelile. This episode we kick off with Reviews, looking at three shows currently on Netflix. Monster - The Ed Gein Story - Season 4 of the anthology series about high-profile crimes or killers that captured public attention and notoriety. High Infidelity - Larissa finds out her husband is cheating on her with her colleague. She does the unexpected, forgives her husband and...
2025 looks like the breakout year for this episode's guest. With a starring role in Amazon Prime's Wheel of Time and her latest film, Finding Optel, having its international premiere at the prestigious BFI London Film Festival later this month, singer, actress, voice artist, writer and business owner Zenobia Kloppers joins us, via Zoom, from Cape Town to talk about her illustrious career. Widely acclaimed for playing the title role in 2019's Fiela se Kind, Zenobia's credit list on IMDB is qui...
News, views and reviews this week as Gino casts his eye over what's happening on the local scene in the world of TV and Film. First up, some big news. Les Français sont ici! - the French are here! In a major shift in Africa’s entertainment landscape, following regulatory approval and realignments with local broadcasting laws, French media giant CANAL+ has officially completed its buy out of South Africa’s pay-TV leader, Multichoice. The deal marks one of the most significant forei...
There are many aspects to Film and TV production and usually people specilalise in one particular discipline, either in front of the camera or behind it. Occasionally you come across one of those who doesn't "stick to the script" and does something of everything. One such is Kagiso Latane. Director, Editor, Scriptwriter, Photographer, Voice Artist and Actor, Kagiso joined Gino, via a somewhat less than perfect internet Zoom call, to talk about his start in the industry and his constant drive ...
Showmax recently dropped the trailer for Season 3 of Youngins, which holds the record for the most first-day views of any series on the African streamer since its relaunch. And you don't have long to wait - its happening this Friday. Gino got the chance to chat to the talent behind the drama’s dynamic casting, actress and casting director, Keneilwe Matidze. Keneilwe is no newcomer when it comes to Showmax Originals, as she cast Adulting, Outlaws, and Law, Love & Betrayal, among others. In...
Bringing it home this week! In this episode Gino turns his attention to what's coming up in Jozi. Each year, thousands of young South Africans come together to explore career paths in animation, visual storytelling, gaming, VFX, and tech. And where do they do this? AVIJOZI, of course. What's that, we hear you say! AVIJOZI is the brainchild of one Nosipho Maketo-van den Bragt. After initially pursuing a career as a lawyer, Nosipho discovered her true calling was to apply her legal ...
In our bid to bring you all the best from the African diaspora as well as what's happening in your own backyard, this ep sees Gino reach out to L.A. to chat via Zoom, to Tendayi Nyeke, writer, director and producer of the brand new comedy, Loved Out. Born in Zimbabwe and having lived and worked in Australia, the UK, and South Africa, Tendayi Nyeke's producing work has been nominated for South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA) in multiple genres. Also, a former Writer's Guild of SA co...
When it comes to movies, everyone knows who the actors are, but how much thought goes into who actually decided they would be right for the role? Not much, we guess. Well, this ep is going to change all that. Welcome to the "Queen of Casting", Christa Schamberger. Following last weeks chat with the writers/producers of Khaki Fever, it seems only right for Gino to talk to the lady behind the actors. Just how difficult was it finding actors who could do nudity but could also do comedy - not as ...
Game rangers getting into the bush! However you want to read that, that is what this week's episode is all about. Just days before it debuts at kykNet's Silwerskerm, Gino joins the writing/production team and real-life couple Brett Michael Innes and Nick Ahlers via Zoom, to talk about Showmax's new raunchy bush romp Khaki Fever. Set in a game lodge with more sexual tension than a high-school romance, Khaki Fever follows a group of buff game rangers who set up a season-long challenge: wh...
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