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It opens this week in a limited theatrical run at the new Mist Harlem Cinemas in NYC, and gets an enthusiastic thumbs up from S&A, meaning you really Should see it if you're in New York, while it's available. Sublime in its rich ocean scenery, where you will indulge in for most of the film, the majestically photographed Otelo Burning is actually set in the South African province of Lamontville in the late 1980’s, around the time when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. But the refreshingly unconventional and gripping film isn’t a political narrative; that serves as more of a backdrop. Written by Sara Blecher, James Whyle and The Cast Workshop, and...

Blecher Rides Waves, Inelegantly

Cutting her teeth with the surfing 2010 short doc Surfing Soweto, director Sara Blecher has forged ahead, tackling similar territory with her fictional wave bound feature debut, Otelo Burning. Often feeling a bit puerile, films that fixate on surfing tend to use the sport as an over arching symbol of freedom and escape, and Blecher’s film is no different. A quartet of friends face a myriad of adolescent problems, only to find that surfing could be their ticket away from their issues to fame and fortune atop a gloriously blue break. It does however successfully employ the played out athletics to explore racial tensions and political unrest that plagued South Africa before the end of apartheid during the 90s with surprisingly grim inflection of tonal balance.

Blecher sets the familiar pieces in play with our dark skinned leading teens, Otelo (Jafta Mamabolo) and his little brother...

Sublime in its rich ocean scenery, where you will indulge in for most of the film, the majestically photographed Otelo Burning is actually set in the South African province of Lamontville in the late 1980’s, around the time when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. But the refreshingly unconventional and gripping film isn’t a political narrative; that serves as more of a backdrop. Written by Sara Blecher, James Whyle and The Cast Workshop, and directed by Blecher (Surfing Soweto), Otelo Burning is a coming of age story - based on real life events - about three boys: Otelo Buthelezi (Jafta Mamabolo), his best friend named New Year (Kenneth Nkosi- Paradise Stop,...