Abstract

The first monograph to try and make sense of the recent term 'ZAxploitation' and the network of local exploitation cinema - as well as the presence of international co-productions - that surfaced from the country during the 1970s and 80s, during the apartheid era of South Africa, frequently with the patronage of the government. Films covered include the seminal "Joe Bullet" (Louis De Witt, 1973) and the Zulu-language "Black Cat"/ "Ikati Elimnyama" (Simon Sabela, 1975), buddy-films "Death of a Snowman" (Christopher Rowley, 1976) and "The Wild Geese" (Andrew V. McLaglen) as well as obscure texts such as "One More Shot" (Ronnie Isaacs, 1984), "Black Crusader" (Tony Cunningham, 1986), "Umbango" (Tonie van der Merwe, 1986) and "Mine Boy" (Karen Thorne, 1989). Also acknowledged are the more radical anti-apartheid genre films such as gangster classic "Mapantsula" (Oliver Schmitz, 1988).