The movie Knuckle City - which celebrates a humble Eastern Cape dorpie as the boxing mecca of South Africa - is being cast into the ring with other heavyweights for submission for the 2020 Academy Awards.
The film is the work of award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter Jahmil X.T. Qubeka.
Set in Mdantsane, the movie explores the relationship between two brothers and how success through the sport ensures financial security.
Qubeka previously said: “What struck me most about this township, which is where I grew up, is that it has
produced 17 boxing world champions since 1994 - both men and women in different divisions. The kids grow up seeing these champs driving around town in their fancy cars. But many also fall from grace and land up right back where they came from. I wanted to explore why and how this happens.”
He went on to draw attention to boxing legend Manelisi “Leli” Mbilase, who turned to a life of crime after he quit boxing in 2009.
In 2018, he was stoned to death by mostly women after he was allegedly caught robbing two women of their belongings.
Producer Layla Swart, who co-owns Yellowbone Entertainment with X.T. Qubeka, said: “We are exceptionally proud of this achievement. It’s a harrowing tale of a lost man, who tries to look after his family even as he is trapped in the seedy world of underground boxing.
“The film packs an emotional punch as hefty as any of the gruesome on-screen ones as it explores greedy commercial exploitation, poverty, violence, race, and what it means to be a man.”
Knuckle City opens on the big screen in SA on 27 December.
Tsots i (2005) is the only SA movie to have won an Oscar.