The Multichoice Group’s local content excellence across its channels and platforms has been recognised with 176 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA) nominations. The nominations reflect the Group’s long-standing financial, educational, and practical investment in telling our own African stories.
Streamer Showmax leads the charge with a total of 118 nominations – 36 for its Showmax Originals and 82 for licensed content – followed by 59 for kykNET shows, 54 across Mzansi Magic, 1Magic and Mzansi Wethu, 12 for M-Net shows, nine for third-party content and four for SuperSport. Indeed, the only category in which a MultiChoice-related show didn’t receive a nomination is ‘Best Online Content’ – out of 90 judging categories.
Shaka iLembe leads the individual show nominations with 17, with 11 each for The River and Outlaws as the most nominated telenovelas and nine for Binnelanders as the most nominated soapie. Thembinkosi Mthembu is nominated for four individual awards – three for ‘Best Actor’ and one for ‘Best Supporting Actor’. In the former category, he is nominated as Best Actor in a Drama for his roles in both Adulting and Shaka iLembe and Best Actor in a Telenovela for Outlaws, with his Best Supporting Actor nomination coming for his role in The River.
Documentary producers IdeaCandy received 11 nods for their work across Convict Conman, Rosemary’s Hitlist, ‘n Gids vir Louzanne, Call of the Wild, Langafsstand, Habits of Gen Z, and Sex and Pleasure, with a 12th for ‘Best Short Film’ for Thrift Tot Die Dood.
On kykNET, Taktiek scored six nominations, and the channel’s films also received all three nominations in the ‘Best Made for TV movies’ category. Binnelanders received nine nominations – including five nominations for the cast.
SuperSport’s nominations are for Rise: The Siya Kolisi Story in the ‘Best Documentary Feature’, ‘Best Achievement in Sound – Documentary’ and ‘Best Achievement in Editing – Documentary’ as well as for Born Racer in ‘Best Achievement in Editing – Documentary’.
“We’ve been saying at MIP Africa all week that nobody has as much skin in producing local content across our continent as we do – and the number of nominations our shows, series, documentaries and films have received is evidence of exactly that,” says Nomsa Philiso, CEO: General Entertainment at MultiChoice Group. “Congratulations to all of the nominees, across all categories for the recognition these nominations bring to their work. We couldn’t be prouder to see best-in-class South African talent flying our storytelling flag and demonstrating the amazing quality of our industry and its people”.
For the full list of nominations, visit the SAFTAs website.
Voting:
Lines open on 9 September for categories to be decided by viewer vote.
Find out more about the MultiChoice Group’s local content at www.multichoice.com or on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok.
Broadcast:
The SAFTA’s Craft show will be streamed live on the SAFTAs YouTube page and across social media platforms on 25 October, allowing fans to join the celebration of behind-the-scenes artistry. The main awards show will be broadcast live on Mzansi Magic (Channel 161) on 26 October.
Follow the South African Film & Television Awards on social media:
Twitter: @SAFTAs_1, Facebook and Instagram: @saftassa, TikTok: @saftas_sa