President Thabo Mbeki has applauded film director Zola Maseko for winning a top award for his film Drum at Africa's premier film festival in Burkino Faso at the weekend.

Mr Maseko won the "crown of olives" accolade made famous by the Greek historian Herodotus.

President Mbeki said through the film, Maseko and his crew reminded South Africans of their victory as a nation.

"The Drum story evokes powerful memories of opposition, in picture and word, to the tyranny of apartheid and of the mettle of key players such as Henry Nxumalo and Anthony Sampson," said the President.

Mr Mbeki added that South African filmmakers had placed the country on the global stage.

Among recent South African productions that have won international acclaim is uCarmen eKhayelitsha, a Xhosa film that won a Golden Bear Award at the Berlin film festival last month.

 And the isiZulu film Yesterday was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category  at the Oscar ceremony last week.

"This gives momentum to the revival of thought, innovation, art and music that lies at the heart of the African century that is unfolding.

"South Africa's golden age of film appears to be dawning. We salute our filmmakers for showing that one of the defining features of African art remains 'more than telling the story'," the President said. - BuaNews

By Mahlatsi Mgidi