Sanktuary Films and kykNET's Afrikaans road trip movie Die Kwiksilwers does boffo box office business after Covid

Thinus Ferreira

The Afrikaans buddy road trip movie Die Kwiksilwers has become the Afrikaans film with the highest box office gross during its opening weekend since South Africa's cinemas reopened after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Die Kwiksilwers, produced by Jordy Sank and Gabriella Blumberg's Sanktuary Films, and distributed by Filmfinity, was the 5th highest-grossing film at the South African box office during its opening weekend over the first weekend of May 2025.

Die Kwiksilwers was only surpassed by the American releases of Thunderbolts, Sinners, A Minecraft Movie en The Accountant 2.

Die Kwiksilwers tells the story of four older women who go on a road trip through South Africa's Karoo region, starring Lida Botha, Susanne Beyers, June van Merch and Theresa Sedras.

Another three Afrikaans films, including one from Namibia and another one on Netflix, will still be released this year.

"Die Kwiksilwers had a terrific opening weekend - the best opening weekend for an Afrikaans film since theatres opened after Covid," Pieter Geldenhuys, Filmfinity distributor, tells me.

"After its first week in theatres, Die Kwiksilwers stood at R750 000 and attendance of 7 306. We hope it's a good sign for the road ahead."

He says "Filmfinity is positive about Afrikaans films. We have already released two this year: Som van Twee and Die Kwiksilwers and both were very well received. We hope that more are made after a relatively quiet period after Covid."

Die Kwiksilwers is a full commission from kykNET, with Sanktuary Films that pitched the idea to kykNET three years ago, after which it was approved for debut at the kykNET Silwerskermfees.

It was fully funded by kykNET and had its premiere last year at the kykNET Silwerskermfees, after which it premiered in South African theatres the first weekend of May 2025.

"KykNET remain committed to the production of Afrikaans films even with tight budgets," says Waldimar Pelser, M-Net director for premium channels. "It's an important vehicle to tell stories with a long shelf-life and which will be enjoyed by future generations."

Jordy Sank, director and writer of the film, tells me "It's wonderful that people immediately fell in love with Die Kwiksilwers and wanted to go on a wild road trip with these characters."

"Last year we could already see that Die Kwiksilwers was a movie that this community really, really wants to go and see."

He says it's important for South African stories to return to cinema. "It's a phenomenal time for South African storytellers and filmmakers to create and get their stories out to inspire people."

He says that behind-the-scenes during filming in the middle of the Karoo on a farm without electricity or cellphone reception, "it was incredible to just watch the performances of Lida Botha and the rest of the veteran cast with so much energy and excitement".

Veteran film critic Leon van Nierop tells me that Die Kwiksilwers was "really made with the audience in mind and the film and cinemagoers immediately found each other".

"The audience knows what it's about. They can see it's fun and upbeat and joyful. People want to relax but a lot of people want to sit inside a theatre with other Afrikaans-speaking people and for a change laugh in and about Afrikaans inside a cinema."

He says it's important to celebrate Afrikaans film.

"Afrikaans is 100 years old. A hundred years ago, it was six years before the Afrikaans film Moedertjie. We should be proud on what we are doing as an industry and we should tell our own stories in an accessible way."

"In Die Kwiksilwers we have a bunch of old ladies who are eccentric but the film makes them accessible and funny. We are used to older Afrikaans women depicted as aunties in Daar Kom Tant Alie and Tant Ralie se Losieshuis - as caricatures or stereotypes."

"In this case, the characters are real people. It shows that age is just a number. They are older but they haven't yet started to open the fridge door to cool off, they're still living past the fridge door".

According to Leon van Nierop, Die Kwiksilwers' box office performance "should serve as motivation for people to make other and more Afrikaans films to be released in cinemas".

"The industry should be daring and courageous and bold and not scared and realise that Afrkaans and Afrikaans film is relevant. There was a time when people were ashamed of Afrikaans film. That time has long passed. Don't be scared to share Afrikaans films with audiences in cinemas."

On 23 May Die Dekontruksie van Retta Blom will be released, and on 29 August the Namibian film, My F*k Marelize will have its premiere in cinemas.

Semi-Soeter from Anel Alexander and Joshua Rous will be released soon on Netflix, although a release date isn't yet known.

Netflix SA didn't respond to a media query about Semi-Soeter's release date, why the streamer decided to invest in creating this Afrikaans follow-up film to Semi-Soet, or whether Semi-Soeter might get a limited release in South African cinemas.

2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Showcasing the tenacity of South Africa's film industry.

by Thinus Ferreira 

As 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees launched as a hybrid-event - the year's first major film festival of the calendar as South Africa starts to return to a semblance of what once was - there's a collective sigh of relief under attendees from across the local film and TV industry who had to survive the past two years under unimaginable circumstances.

With both in-person screenings and panels, as well as virtual streaming taking place, the individually QR-coded, proven double-vaxxed and lanyard-clad crowd - smaller and more subdued than in previous years - are darting since Wednesday from Rotunda sessions and short films screenings to feature film discussions and breakaway catch-up coffee dates. 

A sense of relief permeates The Bay Hotel as attendees - ranging from the country's top TV and film execs to producers, directors, actors, distributors, film commissions and industry bodies are allowing themselves to slowly exhale. 

Waldimar Pelser, M-Net director for kykNET channels, says he's immensely looking forward to "what the lockdown period released in filmmakers".

"I'm also looking forward to take a guess as to which of the short film filmmakers within a few years will end up as the producers of big feature films and which of them will achieve success in television".

"The Silwerskermfees film festival remains an incubator of new talent and people who go on to achieve breakthroughs on the small screen on kykNET, and on the big screen- and you never know who they'll be."

The 10th Silwerskermfees is also the first time that Nomsa Philiso, the MultiChoice Group's new executive head of programming is attending.

"For me, as long as I've been in the industry I have been, I've not been to the Silwerskermfees - my first interaction with it was during Covid, it was remote; so I'm really looking forward to be interacting with everybody, and from a partnership point of view to reassure our providers that we're here and we're looking forward to working with them."

She says local South African film festivals like the Silwerskermfees are crucial to grow and maintain the country's film and TV industry. "It's part of our industry development because it's a platform to showcase some of the content that we would ordinarily not see".

"As a broadcaster you're often focused on certain things and sometimes you might miss the gems. Forums like these allow you to tap into spaces where you wouldn't ordinarily. And it's also the interaction with people and networking and building our industry."

'Boere-Cannes'

The veteran South African film critic Leon van Nierop who has been part of the Silwerskermfees since the very first edition with just 18 people that started in Prins Albert screening 6 older films in the Jan Rautenbach Schouburg, says the Silwerskermfees has morphed in the "Boere-Cannes", taking place the past few years at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town a bit like the Cannes Film Festival.

"It's for Afrikaans people but also South African people and Karen Meiring [former kykNET director] had the insight and vision to bring the Silwerskermfees to this fantastic setting. The short film initiative is also fantastic: You first learn, and you're mentored. And some of those short films then become feature films."

"That's why the festival is important because it's also a learning school - with all different kinds of conference sessions and workshops."

Leon says he's looking forward to watch a movie with a cinema audience. 

"Not a lot of films have been produced the past two years. So, to suddenly see what was made like Gaia, made in 2020 for the big screen and waiting since then for a release date - I'm looking forward to seeing that."

"And just the atmosphere that is here - it's a networking atmosphere, so you can network with the people who you couldn't see and was impossible to do the past two years. It's great to see all of the familiar faces."

Seeing people in person

Paul Venter, manager director and producer at Homebrew Films, says "I think what we're all looking forward to the most is seeing people in person".

" It's about sitting down and making connections because you can Zoom and you can email and you can do what you want, but there's no substitute for grabbing someone by the shoulder after a film and saying 'Let's quickly catch up' and the next minute you're going to make another film."

"So it's that kind of energy and dynamics that we miss and which is the advantage of a film festival".

He says it's important for something like the Silwerskermfees to exist because "it's a decade later and they've done 50 feature films, they've done more than 100 short films - it's just a boon for the industry as whole; it gives jobs, it helps develop new talent, it makes people excited, especially if you look around you and see the diversity and age: The young people coming in - that's why film festivals happen." 

SA's film industry is stronger together

Kaye Ann Williams, M-Net's head of local content and independent films, says she's also looking forward to seeing everyone in person and "connecting with people and chatting with them. It's been sorely missed".

"Why something like the Silwerskermfees is important is the networking - this is how people make deals and form partnerships and build relationships and think of their next big story. We've all missed this. You don't get the same vibe with a virtual event."

Nicola van Niekerk, M-Net senior manager for scripted content and factual entertainment at kykNET, says "the most important thing about this year's Silwerskermfees is that it really showcases the tenacity of the South African film industry".

"While many other countries saw their film industries shut down completely for Covid our producers did not and our crews worked and we all invested in getting these films out. The films here - while they are slightly smaller and filmed under very difficult conditions - show just the absolute willpower and the growth of our industry and how strong we are together".

She says she's looking forward to seeing the audience reaction to Indemnity, the Travis Taute Gambit-produced film starring Jarrid Geduld as a proudly South African action film, as well as Stiekyt set in the world of drag artists and produced by Homebrew Films.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees - Day 1: Programme director Ricky Human on the growing need to tell authentic local stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: With South Africa's global co-productions still in infancy, MultiChoice to announce Afrikaans series with Canal+.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Not a white napkin to be found - how South Africa's event industry is starting to bounce back.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 3: 'You're not going to work with that hair' - South African women in film share their stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: M-Net boss Jan du Plessis: 'We're fully committed to growing local film.'

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: Number of South Africa's cinema screens to remain flat post-Covid.

ALSO READ: 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees awards: Barakat and Gaia the big winners.  

South Africa's film critics weigh in on MultiChoice's decision to block MGM from its subscribers; DStv subscribers say they feel 'cheated'.

You're reading it here first. 

South Africa's most notable film critics are now weighing in on MultiChoice's decision to block the MGM movie channel (DStv 140) from DStv Premium subscribers - at the same time as DStv subscribers are blasting the pay-TV operator, saying that they feel that they are "being cheated" by the South African satellite TV operator.

It is the first time MultiChoice is not making a TV channel available on its most expensive bouquet, a move described as an "unprecedented decision".

The notable and well-known South African film critic Leon van Nierop tells TV with Thinus he finds MultiChoice's actions to block MGM from DStv Premium subscribers "strange".

MGM, supplied by Chello Zone in the United Kingdom and shown on competitor TopTV since May 2010 was made available on DStv since yesterday afternoon but only to lower DStv packages - not to DStv Premium.

"I think if you're a top subscribers of DStv, that you have to receive ALL the available TV channels and entertainment," says Leon van Nierop.

"The price DStv Premium subscribers pay should also be inclusive of this channel. Especially MGM which has such a treasure chest of musicals and which comes with such a rich history of contributing to the film industry - it's actually unmissable for movie lovers."

The notable and famous South African film critic Barry Ronge told TV with Thinus that what would interest him is if the MGM channel went back and showed some of the "real black-and-white movies" MGM made and films such as MGM's Marie Antoinette and work of Alfred Hitchcock. "If it's that kind of thing, I would be grateful. I will have to see what they're offering."

Barry Ronge said "the big thing for people right now is that they're paying a lot to see movies on DStv. And if they keep seeing them over and over again, it's not good. If a movie channel buys a tranche of movies with for instance Joan Crawford people will look at that."

"The success of The Great Gatsby with the original one which was black-and-white and with so many stellar performances that people then go back to, shows that there's a lot of people who relish the idea of watch classics. However it has to be the pick of the bunch otherwise you get stuck with some of those horrible crime and Westerns they throw in. Some of those MGM motion pictures were quite bad."

MGM movies  in November on the channel - which MultiChoice is not allowing DStv Premium subscribers to watch - include Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Kings of the Sun (1964), Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), Wuthering Heights (1970), Play Dirty (1969), The Alamo (1960) and many more DStv subscribers haven't seen in years, if ever.

In response to a media enquiry, MultiChoice said its blocking MGM from DStv Premium subscribers to spare them repeats.

"As MGM contains library content that has already been seen by our Premium customers, a decision was made not to include this channel on the Premium package," said MultiChoice.

The blocking of MGM from DStv Premium subscribers ironically comes in the same week in which MultiChoice is making all of its premium TV channels freely available to lower-tiered DStv subscribers as part of a marketing exercise. Yet MGM is not made available to Premium subscribers.

DStv subscribers are livid about the MGM channel block and say they're "being cheated". They say MultiChoice should reduce the problem of repeats on existing channels instead of blocking an available TV channel.

DStv subscriber Gerald Umraw says "I feel like many others that we are being cheated. I do not expect DStv to make decisions on my behalf when they suggest that DStv Premium customers will not like to watch repeats. What if I want to watch repeats of some movies that I enjoy? I suggest you reconsider your decision and make MGM available to Premium customers, after all that's the reason why you charge us R700 per month."

"Will this now become a norm where DStv will block certain channels from DStv Premium subscribers? This was never the case in the past, so I do not see why it has to be now. I am a DStv Premium subscriber like many others and expect the very best DStv has to offer," he says.

Cindy Morgan says "there's so many repeat channels that we can block for ourselves from our decoders, but give us the premium paying subscribers' choice to do so. Don't do it on our behalf. We have a right to the MGM channel."

Neldri Rabe says "as per the excuse that MGM will be showing things that were on DStv before, we are receiving CBS Drama and CBS Action that are showing shows so old they have been on the SABC channels ages ago. How does this work? Sorry but I don't agree with this. If we don't get all the channels as per what it should be - we are after all paying the premium rate - then you are going to start losing customers."