Soweto Blues
On the 16th June 1976, when students would be writing their mid-year exams, thousands of young people from all over Soweto gathered for a protest march that would change South Africa's history. "Sowet…
Soweto Blues
On the 16th June 1976, when students would be writing their mid-year exams, thousands of young people from all over Soweto gathered for a protest march that would change South Africa's history. "Soweto Blues" is a tribute to them. "Soweto Blues" is a musical tribute to the thousands of black students who gathered on that cold June morning in 1976 to begin a protest march to Orland Stadium. It was expected that they would be sitting their mid-year exams, but instead thousands of them secretly prepared placards and began to gather at various schools across Soweto - for a protest march that would carry their voices across the world. The march began with the students singing Nkosi Sikeleli Afrika (God Bless Africa) and ended with the police opening fire on the children with automatic weapons. In this documentary, the well known South African human rights activists and film makers Faith Isiakpere and Firdoze Bulbulia explore the 30 years of struggle and reflect on the event and how it influenced the lives of ordinary people - children playing in the white suburbs as opposed to children dying in the townships. —Andrew M Smith
Soweto Blues
Documentary
Film Details
On the 16th June 1976, when students would be writing their mid-year exams, thousands of young people from all over Soweto gathered for a protest march that would change South Africa's history. "Soweto Blues" is a tribute to them. "Soweto Blues" is a musical tribute to the thousands of black students who gathered on that cold June morning in 1976 to begin a protest march to Orland Stadium.
It was expected that they would be sitting their mid-year exams, but instead thousands of them secretly prepared placards and began to gather at various schools across Soweto - for a protest march that would carry their voices across the world. The march began with the students singing Nkosi Sikeleli Afrika (God Bless Africa) and ended with the police opening fire on the children with automatic weapons. In this documentary, the well known South African human rights activists and film makers Faith Isiakpere and Firdoze Bulbulia explore the 30 years of struggle and reflect on the event and how it influenced the lives of ordinary people - children playing in the white suburbs as opposed to children dying in the townships.
—Andrew M Smith.