Why did South African authorities allow Cry Freedom to be screened when Steve Biko's writings were banned?
Cry Freedom is a 1987 film about Bantu Stephen Biko. He was a black South African and an organiser and activist against the then South African apartheid regime. The film was actually shot on location in Zimbabwe and Kenya due to political turmoil in South Africa.
Quite incredibly, the film was released in South Africa despite his writings still being banned at the time of release.
Q. Why did the South African authorities allow the release of the film despite Steve Biko's writings still being banned at the time of release?
Best Answer
It was probably allowed initially in 1988 to avoid giving its message any status, but was quickly banned by the police afterward.
Initially the film was allowed a 1988 release by South African censors on the grounds that:
“Even if the film was intended to evoke a revolutionary response among viewers, it fails dismally,” Kobus van Rooyen, chairman of the publications appeals board, had said in approving the film. Source.
The scornful tone of this statement suggests the South African government was trying to downplay the film and not give it the status that a banning would have bestowed on it. By that time, home video technology would have made a true banning difficult anyway. However, the police confiscated the film prints on opening day and the film was ultimately banned.
Its successful South African release in 1990 was probably part of the government’s softening stance on Apartheid policies.
It was later released in April 1990, probably as part of President F.W. de Klerk's policies aimed at racial reconciliation in that year, which of course included the February 1990 release of Nelson Mandela.
Pictures about "Why did South African authorities allow Cry Freedom to be screened when Steve Biko's writings were banned?"
What is the purpose of Cry Freedom?
Cry Freedom delves into the ideas of discrimination, political corruption, and the repercussions of violence.Is Cry Freedom historically accurate?
Cry Freedom and District 9 both give mainly historically accurate representations of race relations in South Africa under apartheid. Cry Freedom, released in 1987 as a propaganda tool against apartheid (which continued from 1948 to 1994), shows historical events that actually took place.Cry Freedom | \
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