Tsotsi is a hit at home
2006-03-04 18:59
Johannesburg - A tale of blood, bullets and poverty, Oscar contender Tsotsi rings true in its home market of South Africa - which is why it has proved such a hit.
Tsotsi is the story of a 19-year-old gangster from the South African township of Soweto, who steals a car and shoots its owner, only to discover a baby in the back seat.
The film takes the gangster on a journey of personal redemption but not without a series of shootings, car-jackings and murder.
Not only has the pacey drama won an Oscar nomination for best foreign film, it has scored as one of South Africa's most successful home-grown films with a broad appeal to both black and white, rich and poor.
Helen Kuun, marketing manager for local films at Ster-Kinekor Distribution said: "We have never had a South African film that has crossed over so completely to different audiences.
"We are getting the township audiences and we are getting the art house audiences."
Tsotsi has grossed R3-m after four weeks in cinemas and drawn audiences of 40 000 people, from white professionals in the smart suburbs of Johannesburg and Cape Town, to real-life gangsters from black townships.
Excluding the populist films made by local comedian Leon Schuster, Tsotsi looks set to be South Africa's most successful film in a decade, more than doubling takings from Yesterday, which was nominated for an Oscar last year, and beating Hollywood films about Africa, such as Hotel Rwanda.