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...
Welcome to this episode of ACP and the latest in news, views and reviews from Gino's couch, but first BIG news! We are making it even easier to get your Couch Potato fix. We are now happening on YouTube, and you can get real-time updates and reviews as they happen on our brand new WhatsApp channel. Look out for Mzansi Film News, Views and Reviews. Local news sees the launch of a brand new family intervention show where family members confront each other about underlying issues that have cause...
When we think of East London, many of us think of the motor industry. What we don't think of is culture, but that is all about to change with the inaugural Cultured Roots Film Festival taking place in the first week of September. The festival celebrates African identity, heritage, and innovation through film—rooted in the cultural heart of East London in the Eastern Cape. ACP caught up with the festival's director, Sivuyiswe Giba, over Zoom, about the what, why, where and when, as well as her...
ACP has had many online conversations, both nationally and internationally, but this episode is a first; our very first Zoom chat to China. This week Gino talks to fellow APVA winner John Paul Rugaba about his Sangyin Podcast. JP is busy studying at the Central China Normal University (CCNU) in Wuhan in Central China, where he is one of an international student population of about 700, spread across various disciplines. He started the Sangyin Podcast in August 2022, with the goal of bec...
As the schools go back, it was time for Gino to brush up on his ABC's. Not his schoolwork, but the notorious serial murderer of the 90s, dubbed "The ABC Killer". In 1995, journalist Tamsen de Beer was working the night shift at The Star newspaper when she got a call from someone claiming to be South Africa’s most prolific serial killer, a man who would go on to be convicted of killing nearly 40 women in the space of just over a year. Today, that man is serving 2 410 years in prison.&nbs...
Welcome to African Couch Potato once more. This week Gino looks at what's going down on the local scene, which includes a new movie set in Durban about a group of homeless men surving on society's fringes. Staying in Durban, it's part 2 of the latest Housewives Reunion. We reached out on the socials and asked what you thought, well, here are some of your responses. We take a look at a couple of movies and there is news of special e-Visas that are designed to facilitate film production, confer...