In a first for South African cinema, "Yesterday" - the first ever feature-length isiZulu film - has been nominated for a 2005 Academy Award in the category of best foreign language film.

"Hotel Rwanda", a South African-British-Italian co-production shot mainly in SA, also got three Oscar nominations - for Don Cheadle for best actor in a leading role, Sophie Okonedo for best actress in a supporting role, and for best original screenplay.

"Yesterday" is a completely South African project, produced by Videovision Entertainment with the support of M-Net, the National Film and Video Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The cast and key crew were all South African.

"We are ecstatic to have received South Africa's first Oscar nomination", producer Anant Singh said after the announcement of the nominations on Tuesday. "'Yesterday' is a South African film in an indigenous language and one that showcases our country's amazing creative talent in a local story".

The film, written and directed by Darrell Roodt ("Place Of Weeping", "The Stick", "Sarafina", "Cry, The Beloved Country"), took its story of an HIV-positive mother deserted by her husband to the 2004 Venice and Toronto international film festivals - and more recently to the Pune International Film Festival in India - and triumphed at each venue.

"Yesterday" scooped the inaugural Human Rights Film Award at the Venice festival, and the Best Film Award at the Pune festival.

And after its North American premiere in Toronto, HBO Films acquired "Yesterday" for distribution in the United States, where it is being released through Fine Line, the speciality film division of New Line Cinema, the company that produced and distributed the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Shot on location in the Bergville region of KwaZulu-Natal, "Yesterday" stars Leleti Khumalo of "Sarafina!" fame - Khumalo also stars in "Hotel Rwanda" - Kenneth Kambule, Harriet Lehabe, Camilla Walker, and child star Lihle Mvelase.

The film tells the story of a young mother, Yesterday, who discovers that she is HIV-positive. Her husband, a migrant mineworker, refuses to accept this, and Yesterday is left to fend for herself and her daughter, Beauty, hoping she will survive long enough to see Beauty go to school.

"Even though the film is in isiZulu with English subtitles, we are confident that audiences will respond positively to 'Yesterday', as it is a universal story that takes one on a journey through one woman's life and highlights her courage and determination to overcome insurmountable odds", Singh said.

"Yesterday" is the first feature film to have the support of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which will use the film as a resource in its social development programme, especially in its HIV/Aids and education focus areas.

"When Anant Singh approached us about the making of the film, we had no hesitation in responding", Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive John Samuel said before a gala screening of the film at the International Aids Conference in Bangkok in July 2004. "You will see this evening that the story of Yesterday is a very simple yet powerful one.

"In our fight against HIV/Aids, we need these kinds of stories which tell us about challenges, about difficulties and the tragedies", Samuel said. "We also, at the same time, need stories that tell us about hope - and 'Yesterday' is about hope.

"Mr Mandela has been full of praise for this film because he sees this as an important way of fighting the discrimination and stigma that is attached to the Aids pandemic."

SouthAfrica.info reporter

Film Review

'Yesterday' - a film for today
By Nils van der Linden
Posted Thu, 02 Sep 2004 ‘Yesterday’ is a revelation. Set in rural KwaZulu-Natal, it’s a gentle little film with a straightforward, familiar story presented entirely in Zulu that features an almost entirely black cast. Yet, it’s powerful and stirring — and relevant to South Africans of all races and social backgrounds. The reason? Its honesty and authenticity. Lovingly filmed on stark, but beautiful, rural locations, it takes us directly into the tiny village of Rooihoek and the lives of the women who live there. We see their hardships, but also witness the strength and humour they show in the face of adversity. The film simply presents reality and isn’t intent on manipulating us into feeling pity for the characters. There’s no labouring the point, no trembling violin music prompting us to cry, no blatant propaganda messages. Just reality. The realism extends to the performances, which could barely be labeled as acting — the cast simply seem to be going about their daily lives. And the dialogue, in Zulu with English subtitles, is equally natural and effortless — simple without the slightest trace of condescension from the screenwriter. It’s with this same approach that the film’s writer-director (astonishingly, Darrel James Roodt, a white man) tells the central story of Yesterday. A young woman with a daughter not yet in school, she is infected with HIV by her migrant-labourer husband. Defiantly she vows to fight the disease at least until her daughter’s first school day, facing the prejudices of the community. Their whispers and gossiping turns to open ostracism when Yesterday’s husband returns to Rooihoek — too ill to work and slowly dying. Cheerful it isn’t, but Roodt’s film isn’t as heavy as it sounds. If anything, it’s uplifting. Leleti Kumalo’s title character is inspiring, bravely refusing to submit to the disease or the community’s rejection. She retains her dignity throughout, even as she shows love and compassion for the husband who infected her. And so, without ever getting on a soapbox to deliver a sermon or political message, ‘Yesterday’ educates us all about the reality of Aids — even though it plays out against a setting that, superficially, we may not identify with. But this is clearly a story intended for all South Africans. Roodt injects the story with references unique to our country (the women, for example, talk about playing the Lotto). And the Rooihoek community’s response to the disease isn’t too different from that of certain “more educated” people.

Watch it. You will be moved.