On Wednesday, it was Christmas, one of the things that used to make the day when we were growing up was entertainment.
There was no Netflix and Cinemas were few and costly so, we somehow depended on local TVs for films such as Sound of Music and the Home Alone franchise. For some reason we watched these films for years every Christmas; when WBS got its grove on, they still rolled with the same films and also introduced a few others such as Blank Cheque, Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Sister Act series, among others.
But for all the seasonal films that were always on TV, none were African.
African filmmaking has been improving over the years, with technology helping them achieve a better picture, sound recording and lighting better. However, even with all the improvements, filmmakers had not embraced telling some type of stories such as seasonal ones. For instance, even when worldwide, Valentine’s Day has been a cash cows for producers, Africans are yet to produce films targeting special holidays even when they celebrate these days.
Over the past few years however, this has changed for the festive season with different producers starting to consider the genre.
South African filmmakers and some from Nigeria have been on this hill for years, though the past few years have seen some Ugandan and Kenyan filmmakers also try out season films.
Here are some of the five you could look out for this weekend, it is a long one.
A Merry X-Mess
A Merry X-Mess is a 2023 Kenyan Christmas movie about the Nyati family’s chaotic Christmas celebrations: The Nyati family come home for Christmas, but their plans are disrupted when their competitive mother, Zawadi, signs them up for a church choir competition. Zawadi also tries to interfere with her son’s love life, while her daughter deals with African traditions and the temptation to move back home.
A Christmas Chorus
A group of out of work theatre friends comes together to save Christmas from the Coronavirus. But, ultimately, their egos and personal agendas jeopardise their efforts. Will they be able to overcome all the obstacles against them and give the country some hope over a hopeless season, or will their efforts be thwarted by their differences.
A Familiar Christmas
A Familiar Christmas is a story that celebrates how Kenyans define Christmas and what it means to them. For most Kenyans and probably Africans, Christmas means going home and reuniting with family. There’s also cooking and feasting and a lot of joy. This film tells the Christmas story from this perspective, and it’s a story that’s relevant to all audiences during this festive season.
Yoh! Christmas
The story revolves around Thando, a single, 30-year-old woman under pressure from her family. To avoid the usual questioning about her love life during the holidays, Thando lies about having a boyfriend. Now, she has 24 days to find someone to bring home for Christmas.
In the first episode of “Yoh! Christmas,” we are introduced to Thando Mokoena, a single 30-year-old physiotherapist grappling with the societal expectations of marriage and children. The pressure peaks during a family dinner when her younger brother announces his wife’s pregnancy with twins, shining an uncomfortable spotlight on Thando’s single status.
Disaster Holiday
A workaholic dad, trying to win over his kids, heads to the coast of Durban for a big work meeting, under the guise of a family road trip vacation.
