Joe Bullet

Joe Bullet is a South African action film. It was the first South African film to have an all-black cast, to appeal to black audiences.[1] The film was followed by a 1982 sequel Bullet on the Run.[2]

Joe Bullet
Directed byLouis de Witt
Written byTonie van der Merwe
Produced byTonie van der Merwe
StarringKen Gampu
Joe Lopez
Abigail Kubeka
Jimmy Sabe
Cocky Tlhotlhalemaje
Sydney Charma
CinematographyLouis de Witt
Edited byOscar Burn
Music by"Silver Threads" (theme song)
Production
company
Bullet Films
Distributed byGravel Road Entertainment Group
Release dates
1 January 1973 (South Africa)
12 June 2015 (Sydney Film Festival)
Running time
79 minutes
CountrySouth Africa
LanguageEnglish

Background

Independently released in 1973, Joe Bullet played at the Eyethu cinema in Soweto. The film was premiered without approval from apartheid censors and after two screenings the film was banned, although the ban was eventually overturned.[3] For about 40 years the original film reels were stored by the writer and producer Tonie van der Merwe's, who kept the reels every time he moved home.[4]

The film was restored by Gravel Road Distribution under the supervision of its original producer, Tonie van der Merwe.[5]

Screenings

Joe Bullet was scheduled to appear at the MoMA annual film preservation festival in 2014.[6] According to Variety on 18 October 2014, the film was to be screened at the New York fest on 8 and 13 November.[7] It was announced on 24 January 2017 on Channel24.co.za that after 44 years the film was to be screened at the Bioscope Independent Cinema in Johannesburg on 24 January and at the Company Gardens in Cape Town on 25 January.[3]

Story

A local soccer team gets caught up in the criminal underworld scene.[5]

Described by The Guardian as being modelled on something between Shaft and James Bond, Joe Bullet drives sports cars, drinks, does karate, shoots guns, throws knives, and climbs up mineshafts.[8] Singer Abigail Kubeka also has a role in the film.[5]

Re-release

The film was made available to the public in Blu-ray format on 11 September 2017. It is part of the Vault series from 88 Films, a British film label.[9]

References
  1. "The propaganda films of apartheid-era South Africa". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  2. "Bullet on the Run (1982) - IMDb".
  3. "Film banned in South Africa to screen for the first time in 44 years", Channel24.co.za, 24 January 2017.
  4. Ryan Lenora Brown, "Blaxploitation movies, South Africa style? A lost era of film sees new light", The Christian Science Monitor, 12 March 2017.
  5. CD Anderson, "Classic South African action film returns to the big screen", Brand South Africa, 2 February 2017.
  6. Tambay A. Obenson, "Exhibit Featuring Earliest-Known Feature Film Made w/ Black Actors Now At MoMA (NYC). See It!", IndieWire, 11 November 2014.
  7. John Hopewell, "Cohen Media Group Inks Eight-Film Gaumont Classics’ Deal for North America (EXCLUSIVE), Deals go down at Lumière Fest’s upbeat Classic Film Market", Variety, 18 October 2014.
  8. Gavin Haynes, "Sollywood: the extraordinary story behind apartheid South Africa's blaxploitation movie boom", The Guardian, Wednesday, 15 April 2015.
  9. "First Look at New Documentary to Be Included on Upcoming Joe Bullet Blu-ray Release (UPDATED)", Blu-ray.com, 6 July 2017.
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