South Africa / 1997 / 90mins / Drama / English, Afrikaans and Zulu

Professor Zemani is well-respected in his community, though everyone knows he had an affair with one of his students and sold out his early resistance to apartheid. When Zani, brother of the young woman Zamani debauched, returns from his studies in Swaziland, he idealistically dreams of redeeming the teacher. Suleman’s strong directorial debut is “not about the eternal conflict between the ‘white devil’ and the ‘noble black,’ but simply the black people of South Africa - the state of their consciences, eduction, their brutal oppression by the South Afrikaners, sexual violence, and the place of women in the South African community.”

Ramadan Suleman

Actor, director and producer Ramadan Suleman was born in 1955 in South Africa. He studied at the School for Research in African Theater and is known for his involvement in African alternative theater. He studied film in Paris and London and has worked as assistant director with two of Africa’s legendary filmmakers: Med Hondo on Lumière Noire and Souleymane Cissé on Waati. Suleman’s short film The Devil’s Children won a Certificate of Merit at the Chicago Film Festival. Fools (1997) was his first feature film and won two prizes at the 1997 Locarno International Film Festival and four at the 1999 FESPACO. His 2004 feature film, Lettre d’amour zoulou / Zulu Love Letter (2004) won several awards at the 2006 South African Film and Television Awards and was nominated for Best Film at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. His 2010 documentary Zwelidumile, explores the impact of exile on families through the story of South African artist Dumile Feni. Learn More