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U.K.-based production company and financier Fugitive has signed a wide-ranging partnership with South African independent producer Helena Spring for a diverse slate of projects.

Spring produced “Yesterday,” a 2005 Oscar nominee for South Africa in the foreign language category. The film was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy and an Independent Spirit Award.

The new partnership will see Fugitive’s Anthony Kimble work with Helena Spring Films to develop a slate of scripted titles for TV, as well as represent them in the international market for commissions and financing.

The slate includes “Neon Gold” (8 x 60′), a cyber thriller set in a Johannesburg of the future that blends a heist adventure tale with a coming of age story; “Common Purpose,” a limited series set in 1984 Apartheid South Africa that follows a group of young people who are jailed for a crime they did not commit; and 12-part AIDS drama “The Year of Facing Fire,...

'Yesterday' movie: Leleti Khumalo and Lihle Mvelase. 'Yesterday' movie review: Fantastic central performance in South African AIDS drama To date, nowhere has the AIDS pandemic been felt more strongly than in Sub-Saharan Africa, home to approximately 10 percent of the world's population and two-thirds of the planet's 30-35 million AIDS cases. In the past thirty years, it is estimated that more than 20 million Sub-Saharan Africans have died from complications of the disease.* Even today, drug cocktails that are relatively accessible in other parts of the globe are still beyond the means of the vast majority of Africans. Writer-director Darrell Roodt's South African drama Yesterday is set in this catastrophic scenario. The film depicts the effects of AIDS in the life of a young Zulu woman who contracts HIV from her husband. Although Roodt's narrative maintains its focus on the plight of one particular individual, the (for non-Zulus) quirkily named Yesterday represents millions of other women,...

Oscar 2015 winners (photo: Chris Pratt during Oscar 2015 rehearsals) The complete list of Oscar 2015 winners and nominees can be found below. See also: Oscar 2015 presenters and performers. Now, a little Oscar 2015 trivia. If you know a bit about the history of the Academy Awards, you'll have noticed several little curiosities about this year's nominations. For instance, there are quite a few first-time nominees in the acting and directing categories. In fact, nine of the nominated actors and three of the nominated directors are Oscar newcomers. Here's the list in the acting categories: Eddie Redmayne. Michael Keaton. Steve Carell. Benedict Cumberbatch. Felicity Jones. Rosamund Pike. J.K. Simmons. Emma Stone. Patricia Arquette. The three directors are: Morten Tyldum. Richard Linklater. Wes Anderson. Oscar 2015 comebacks Oscar 2015 also marks the Academy Awards' "comeback" of several performers and directors last nominated years ago. Marion Cotillard and Reese Witherspoon won Best Actress Oscars for, respectively, Olivier Dahan...

In late 2011, after winning several literary awards and garnering global acclaim for its clever originality, South African author Lauren Beukes' science-fiction novel, Zoo City, saw its film rights awarded to producer Helena Spring (Red Dust, Yesterday, The First Grader), a fellow South African. 2 years later, in an interview with Smart Monkey TV, published yesterday, Donovan Marsh, whose South African crime drama iNumber Number was just optioned by Universal Pictures for a Hollywood remake, reveals that he's attached to write and direct the film adaptation of Zoo City. Zoo City's story revolves around a character named Zinzi December, a black South African woman. ...

Image Entertainment announced today its acquisition of domestic distribution rights to Jennifer Hudson-starrer "Winnie Mandela", the biopic focusing on the wife of South African President Nelson Mandela that debuted at the Toronto Film Festival last fall after much delay.  Based on the book by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob, the film adaptation was written and directed by Darrell Roodt ("Yesterday"). Terrence Howard plays Mr. Mandela, and the film is scheduled for a fall 2013 release. Hudson has garnered only a handful of unenviable roles since her Oscar win for "Dreamgirls" in 2006, most recently on the axed TV series, "Smash." "Winnie Mandela" could mark a return to winning ways for the former American Idol, who also lends her voice to a song by Diane Warren for the film.  Though a tepid response out of Toronto (Winnie Mandela herself has also spoken out against it).

In the world's never-ending quest to confuse us as much as possible, two new horror flicks are under way with the same title, Safari. The good news? They couldn't be more different. Read on for the details regarding both of them.

Last week Bloody Disgusting dropped the news that Safari, a found-footage thriller, was gearing up to start shooting on October 15th in Johannesburg, South Africa. Directed by Academy Award nominee Darrell Roodt (Little One, Yesterday) and written by Dark Was The Night scribe Tyler Hisel, the pedigree is right for this one to be a cut above.

That film “centers on a band of American tourists, stranded and hunted in the heart of the South African wilderness. Their struggle to survive the elements and the vicious predators lurking the African plain is documented by the video cameras meant to record their vacation.” Rocky Myers (Vamp U) and Kim Argetsinger...

We are pleased to give you the trailer, poster and images from Screen Media Films' "White Lion," a film helmed by Michael Swan which opens on October 15th in limited areas. Shot in South Africa, the film stars Jamie Bartlett, John Kani , Aj Van Der Merwe, Thabo Malema and Ayrton Loureiro. Swan, credited with work on "Wake of Death" with Jean Claude Van Damme as well as "Prey" and "Yesterday" wrote the screenplay alongside newcomer Janet van Eeden. A young Shangaan named Gisani finds himself destined to protect a rare and magnificent white lion cub named Letsatsi who is cast from his pride and is forced to survive on his own. After many perilous adventures young Letsati befriends Nkulu, an older lion who teaches him how to survive in the harsh African wilderness...

Elias Koteas has been cast in "Winnie," the Winnie Mandela biopic. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson have already been cast as Nelson and Winnie Mandela, with Wendy Crewson having recently joined the cast as a political activist. Koteas will play a racist officer in the apartheid police state who rises in power and becomes intent on stopping the anti-apartheid activists.South African director Darrell James Roodt ("Yesterday," "Cry, The Beloved Country") is directing. The film is shooting in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Robbin Island.Koteas most recently appeared in "The Killer Inside Me," "Shutter Island" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." He will next appear in the thrillers "Let Me In" and "Dream House."...

Wendy Crewson has joined the cast of Equinoxe Films' biopic "Winnie." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson have been cast as Nelson and Winnie Mandela. Crewson will play Mary Botha, who becomes a social worker in South Africa after witnessing a police assault on a black youth.South African director Darrell James Roodt ("Yesterday," "Cry, The Beloved Country") is directing. Andre Pieterse of Ma-Afrika Films and Michael Mosca of Canada's Equinoxe Films are producing. Pieterse and Roodt wrote the screenplay, which is based on the book "Winnie Mandela: A Life" by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob.The film is shooting in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Robbin Island. Crewson has appeared in the films "Away From Her," "A Home...

Terrence Howard will play Nelson Mandela in "Winnie," the drama about the former wife of South Africa.s first black president, Nelson Mandela.According to Variety, Jennifer Hudson has been cast as Winnie Mandela. South African director Darrell James Roodt ("Yesterday," "Cry, The Beloved Country") will direct. Andre Pieterse of Ma-Afrika Films and Michael Mosca of Canada's Equinoxe Films are producing. Pieterse and Roodt wrote the screenplay, which is based on the book "Winnie Mandela: A Life" by Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob. Principal photography begins May 31 in the South African locations of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Transkei and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.

'I'm enjoying myself,' star says of work on her second album and the upcoming film 'Winnie.'

By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Jennifer Hudson and Sway on the 2010 Grammy Awards red carpet

Photo: MTV News

Jennifer Hudson has achieved a lot in a short time and already has a Grammy and an Oscar under her belt. Now with a few more films on her résumé and a husband and baby at home, she is ready to get busy working on more projects, including a new album and movie.

"I'm actually recording my album right now," she revealed to MTV News on the red carpet at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (January 31). "And getting ready for my next film, which is [about] Winnie Mandela. So it's a bit busy, but I'm enjoying myself."

She performed at "Earth Song" at the Grammys with Usher, Celine Dion,...

Singer/actress has reportedly signed on for 'Winnie,' about Nelson Mandela's former wife.

By Christopher Campbell

Jennifer Hudson

Photo: Jeffrey Mayer/ WireImage

Jennifer Hudson won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "Dreamgirls" in 2007, and a role she's recently signed on for looks like a strong contender for another big win.

According to Variety, Hudson will play the title role in "Winnie," a South African film about the former wife of Nelson Mandela. The film, which is adapted from Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob's biography "Winnie Mandela: A Life," will be directed by Darrell Roodt, whose film "Yesterday" was nominated for the foreign language Oscar in 2005.

Winnie Mandela should be a challenging character to play. She's a heroine of the anti-apartheid movement, having fought the South African government first alongside her husband and continuing while he was in prison. But she's also far from being a complete role model.

Oscar 2005: Best Foreign-Language Film Entries (Afghanistan to China) Oscar 2005: Best Foreign-Language Film Entries (Croatia to Malaysia) Mexico, Innocent Voices, Luis Mandoki, director; The Netherlands, Simon, Eddy Terstall, director; Norway, Hawaii, Oslo, Erik Poppe, director; Palestine, The Olive Harvest, Hanna Elias, director; Philippines, Crying Ladies, Mark Meily, director; Poland, The Welts, Magdalena Piekorz, director; Portugal, The Miracle According to Salomé, Mário Barroso, director; Romania, Orient-Express, Sergiu Nicolaescu, director; Russia, Night Watch, Timolir Bekmambetov, director; Serbia and Montenegro, Goose Feather, Ljubiša Samardic, director; Slovenia, Beneath Her Window, Metod Pevec, director; South Africa, Yesterday, Darrell Roodt, director; Spain, The Sea Inside, Alejandro Amenabar, director; Sweden, As in Heaven, Kay Pollak, director; Switzerland, Mein Name Ist Bach, Dominique de Rivaz, director; Taiwan, 20 : 30 : 40, Sylvia Chang, director; Thailand, The Overture, Itthisoontorn Vichailak, director; Uruguay, Whisky, Juan Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll, directors; Venezuela, [...]...

HBO Films president Colin Callender has been tapped as this year's recipient of the Humanitas Prize's Kieser Award, which is given to an individual "whose work has helped to promote a greater appreciation for the dignity of each member of the human family." Under Callender's leadership, HBO Films has earned nine Humanitas Prizes -- an award established in 1974 to "encourage, stimulate and sustain writers in their humanizing task and give them the recognition they deserve" -- as well as 39 Emmys, 18 Golden Globes and four Peabodys. HBO Films' recent honors include Oscar nominations for Maria Full of Grace and Yesterday; Golden Globes, including a win for Empire Falls as best miniseries or motion picture made for TV; and Primetime Emmys for such titles as The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (which earned nine Emmys) and Warm Springs (which won five).

HBO Films president Colin Callender has been tapped as this year's recipient of the Humanitas Prize's Kieser Award, which is given to an individual "whose work has helped to promote a greater appreciation for the dignity of each member of the human family." Under Callender's leadership, HBO Films has earned nine Humanitas Prizes -- an award established in 1974 to "encourage, stimulate and sustain writers in their humanizing task and give them the recognition they deserve" -- as well as 39 Emmys, 18 Golden Globes and four Peabodys. HBO Films' recent honors include Oscar nominations for Maria Full of Grace and Yesterday; Golden Globes, including a win for Empire Falls as best miniseries or motion picture made for TV; and Primetime Emmys for such titles as The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (which earned nine Emmys) and Warm Springs (which won five).

Some of what HBO giveth, PBS will taketh away. As a result of new, more stringent federal guidelines on indecency, the public television service will need to make a few small edits before it distributes the HBO film Dirty War to affiliates, PBS president and CEO Pat Mitchell told TV critics Saturday. Under an agreement announced last week, Dirty War, about a fictional radiological attack on London, will air Jan. 24 on HBO and then Feb. 23 on PBS stations. The agreement also includes two other films: Sometimes in April, about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and Yesterday, a drama about AIDS in South Africa. One scene in Dirty War shows brief glimpses of frontal nudity as people exposed to radiation are hosed down. That scene will be edited, Mitchell told reporters during PBS' portion of the Television Critics Assn. press tour at the Universal City Hilton. In addition, there will be "a couple of word changes here and there," PBS senior programming executive Jacoba Atlas said. She said the changes already had been made for an international version of the film.

AFI Fest 2004 has rolled out an eclectic roster for its 18th annual Los Angeles International Film Festival, ranging from The Assassination of Richard Nixon, directed by Niels Mueller and starring Sean Penn, to Yesterday, directed by Darrell James Roodt. In addition to Assassination, this year's special screenings include Tim Daly's Bereft, Christophe Barratier's Les Choristes, Ray McKinnon's Chrystal, Robert Lepage's Far Side of the Moon, Asia Argento's The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, Terry George's Hotel Rwanda, Daniel Anker's Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust, Ariel Vroman's Rx, Mark Wexler's Tell Them Who You Are, Nicole Kassell's The Woodsman and Yesterday.

Screened at the Toronto International Film Festival

The devastation of AIDS on South Africa could not be captured more intimately and with more effect than Darrell James Roodt's new drama Yesterday.

The socially conscious director of such South African movies as Cry, The Beloved country and Dangerous Ground has now turned his attention to the HIV crisis in his motherland, and has conceived a moving, inspirational tale designed to spread the word.

Without a doubt, it's a message movie presented amidst majestic breath-taking landscape. But because he keeps the narrative low-key @ as well as investing the emotions in a very likeable lead character @ Yesterday maintains a political punch and reins in the tear-jerking schmaltz. It doesn't hurt that this is a wondrous picture visually making great use of the incredible expansive landscape to distil the personal intimate struggle of people facing obstacles beyond their control.

The film begins as a mother and her young daughter are walking across the harsh, dusty terrains of Zululand to try and see the doctor in a neighboring remote town. The trek takes hours and when they arrive, they are too late, the line is too long and the mother is told to come back when the doctor returns next week.

So, mother and daughter head home to their meager but placid village full of contented people and friendly neighbors. The selfless and dedicated woman assumes her bad cough will sooner or later go away. It doesn't. When she finally gets to see a physician she learns the dreaded virus has infected her body. Her husband, the obvious transmitter has been away from home fro months and is working in an underground mine in Johannesburg.

With little money, a shortage of health facilities and even less hope for optimism, the woman named Yesterday, because her father thought "things were better then," wills herself to stay strong so her last wish @ to survive long enough to see her daughter go to her first day of school @ is fulfilled. Meanwhile, the film tone grows darker as the ignorance and prejudices of villagers turn. Sociable neighbors now give them a cold shoulder.

The character of Yesterday is perhaps a little too saintly @ she is portrayed to be so pure of heart, she feels no malice even to the husband who gave her the disease and physically assaulted her when she informed him of the truth @ on the other hand this is the kind of proud black strong woman character that Oprah would approve and endorse if given a chance. "I am not brave, it is just the way things are," Yesterday explains in the film.

Starring in the lead is Leleti Khumalo, whose handsome face conveys a depth of dignity and soul, making her more than a do-good two-dimensional victim. She previously starred in the musical "Sarafina!". Acting with restraint, she makes the most touching scenes even more hearttugging.

In short, this is a simple elegant film. Yesterday is also the fist film to be presented completely in the Zulu language. Tragic and uplifting, Roodt leaves little doubt of where his allegiance lies. But for a cause this good, it's easy to forgive the film's dramatic faults.

YESTERDAY

HBO Films presents

In association with Distant Horizon and The Nelson Mandela Foundation

Credits:

Writer/Director: Darrell James Roodt

Producers: Anant Singh, Helena Spring

Director of photography: Michael Brierley

Production designer: Tiaan van Tonder

Costume designer: Darion Hing

Make-up and hair: Raine Edwards

Sound Designer: Jeremy Saacks

Cast:

Yesterday: Leleti Khumalo

Beauty: Lihle Mvelase

John Khumalo: Kenneth Kambule

Teacher: Harriet Lehabe

Clinic Doctor: Camilla Walker

Village Healer: Nandi Nyembe

In Zulu with English subtitles

No MPAA rating

Running time --- 93 minutes...