African Couch Potato

July, and it is freezing in Jozi. Last week, ACP was invited to a special screening of Dear Sis Dolly , a brand new movie about Drum Magazine, and more specifically one of South Africa's most trusted voices, Sis Dolly, Drum's agony-aunt.    Gino grabbed his chance and his phone to catch a few moments at the screening with the film's acclaimed director Twiggy Matiwana. This comedy dr...

Firstly, a massive congratulations to Bafana Bafana, SA's national team for qualifying for the Round of 32 at the FIFA World Cup, alas, that is as far as it goes.  With the football done, it's an episode of reviews, kicking off with what has become a global sensation, The Polygamist . The South African hit telenovela follows Jonasi Gomora, a self-made CEO and banker, whose carefully cura...

Something different this week. Among the nearly 60 titles on offer at the recent Encounters documentary festival was Miguel Eek's Amilcar. Amílcar Cabral (1924-1973) was a thinker and an African leader. He led the anticolonial armed struggle in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde against Portugal but was assassinated 8 months before those countries became independent.  Miguel Eek was born in Madrid...

Toy Story 5 comes out this week. And, it features our very own Tyla, so you can hear from her and also catch Gino's take on the latest version. Plus, it's Youth Day. It's an all Disney ep as Gino also attended the Disney+ 2026 content showcase and he shares some of what went down and what to look out for this month. Not Suitable For Work - follows the lives of 5 workaholics as they...

“Encounters is an opportunity to slow down and look behind the headlines to better understand our world.” - so says Mandisa Zitha, Festival Director of the annual Encounters South African International Documentary Festival. The 28th edition of this festival is in full flow in Cape Town, Johannesburg, as well as a small run in Pretoria and will continue until June 14. This year’s line-up includes a...

Welcome to the latest News, Views and Reviews with ACP, still the number 1 film and television podcast to listen to in S.A. according to Feedspot.com . Kicking off the week with a bunch of stuff to check out on Netflix: Season 4 of Perfect Match   Season 2 of Murder Mindfully A new three part documentary on Kylie plus her "live-in-concert"  The sports documentary series Untold hits the U...

Welcome to ACP and our brand new Movie Book Club episode. This is a new idea where we cover books that are worth reading, especially if they have been turned into screenplays such as Lord of the Rings , Harry Potter , 50 Shades of Grey , Game of Thrones and many more. From our friends at Exclusive Books, we got, among others, The Testaments by Margaret Attwood, currently streaming on Disney Plus....

Welcome to ACP, the number 1 film and television podcast to listen to in S.A. according to Feedspot.com , and this week do we have news for you! Coming soon; not just a brand new totally South African action series, but hopefully the start of a whole new hig-impact, African rooted universe. Marvel, you have been warned! This week Gino had the chance to chat to series creator Waleed Al-Yamani, alon...

Imagine waking up to find your life savings are gone forever. Well, that's what happened to thousands of people in 2018, many of them from rural and low-income communities. who had deposited or invested with VBS Mutual Bank, when it was exposed as the epicentre of a massive fraud and corruption scandal.  In today's ACP, Gino talks, via Zoom, to local documentary filmmaker Dowelani Nenzhe...

Variations on a Theme , a South African drama by directors Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar,  just won the coveted Tiger Award for best competition film at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in The Netherlands, and has now gone on to win the Best African Film award at the Joburg Film Festival 2026 Gala Awards. So, obvs, we needed to talk to them. Gino got hold of them via Zoom to get some insi...

With invites from all over, this week Gino was spolt for choice. Welcome to African Couch Potato, the No.1 film and television podcast to listen to in SA according to Feedspot.com Firstly, on a sad note, trailblazing beauty queen and established actress, Cynthia Shange has left us. After being crowned Miss Black South Africa she went on to represent the country at Miss World in 1972. She was also...

Big fanfare! We have hit another first. This week sees the very first time we have featured a return guest. Welcome back Zenobia Kloppers, and she is here to do the double on ACP as she is doing the double in the film world. A rare occassion indeed. Zenobia has two movies coming out on two different streamers on the same day. When Zenobia was with us last she chatted to Gino about Finding Optel an...

What's better than IMAX? IMAX with Laser, of course. This week saw Gino get an invite ticket to check out the latest IMAX with Laser at The Zone @ Rosebank. With next generation projection technology that delivers brighter images, deeper contrast and unparalleled clarity, IMAX with Laser is now open. Check it out! And from the previous weekend, Gino also got to spend some time at Emperors Pal...

Footsteps, glass breaking, punches, door slams, clothes swishing, rain on the windscreen. How would your TV or film be if all these sounds and many more like them were missing? In the world of production it is not always possible to record these sounds as they happen or they are just not big enough, and so need to be replaced.  In sound design, Foley is the reproduction of these everyday sound eff...

A quarter of the way through 2026 and it's another Monday morning and another episode of African Couch Potato. Welcome to the latest news, views and reviews.  Sadly, we kick off with the loss of Chuck Norris. Probably most well-known for Walker, Texas Ranger , Chuck Norris is a legend in the world of martial arts and entertainment. He inspired countless memes, jokes, alongside much admiration...

Over the last 30 years or so, we have seen many films and TV productions that have, in different ways, looked at the issues of South Africa's troubled past, but very few have looked from the white, English-speaking perspective.  T he Reconciliation is an art-house drama about people who believe they’ve changed, until change asks something real of them. Anchored in a particularly South African...

Podcasthon! What is that? It is an international collection of podcasters who over this week will be dedicatig one episode of their show to a charity of their choice. Podcasthon started in 2023 with 300 French-speaking podcasters. It grew in 2024 and hit the international podcast stage last year, which is when we got on board. As part of this year's over 1,500 podcasters doing their bit, we w...

There are many people who play an integral part of any TV or film production, yet are often not noticed when it comes to fame and fortune. It is part of our mission at ACP to turn the spotlight on these people. On an ever-growing list of guests that are also SAFTA nominees comes someone who's role is often overlooked but you would think something was very wrong if his contribution wasn't...

March already! It'll soon be Christmas at this rate. Welcome to episode 35 of season 3 of African Couch Potato. This week we say Goodbye, Hello and Congratulations. We say Goodbye to Eric Dane. Best known for his roles on Grey's Anatomy and Euphoria , the American actor died less than a year after revealing he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a form of motor neuron disease. He was 53....

On November 28, 1987, South African Airways Flight 295, a Boeing 747-200 named Helderberg, was en route from Taiwan, to Johannesburg with a scheduled stop in Mauritius. Shortly after midnight, the aircraft reported smoke in the cockpit to Mauritian air traffic control. Communication was lost shortly thereafter, and the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing all 159 passengers and crew on boa...

In Brakpan if they invite you for a fight, a braai will break out. Even people from Brakpan make fun of Brakpan!  The two-part documentary series Brakpan Chronicles is due out on Showmax this Friday and in this episode Gino gets to share a brandewyn with South African radio and television personality Rian van Heerden, the man who is lifting the lid on this much-maligned, memed and mocked one-time...

Into the second month of the year and the next date on the horizon is this weekend's Valentine's Day. Two years ago saw the Valentine movie Forever Yena hit our screens. Patience, we'll get there! Playing the role of Kwanda was a young and upcoming actor named Aluve Mjali.  In this week's ACP, Gino gets to sit down and follow the budding career of this young hot-shot actor, fro...

He’s the chaos agent you can’t ignore. The family menace who somehow built himself a fanbase. The man who turned balaclavas into a movement. Tlali is back for Outlaws Season 2 and he’s hungrier, wilder, and more unhinged than ever. But who is the actor behind this outrageous villain? Born and raised in Daveyton, Keketso Mpitso began attending acting classes in a local community theatre at the age...

We are almost at the end of January and that paycheck should be coming in right now. Still plenty to watch; In this ep we have a mixed bag of local and US items. We kick off with a mention of The Bridge Networking Soiree, a new initiative that aims to introduce Black American professionals to South African professionals, to share intellectual, social and venture capital. Unfortunately Gino couldn&...

Goeie dag! Welcome to the latest episode of ACP where Gino has to take on the new boss. New boss of what? we hear you ask. Meet Flip, the manager at polony distributors Deluxe Processed Meats. Still confused? All will be explained. Our first guest of the year is award winning actor Albert Pretorius, and he is hitting your screens in the brand new Afrikaans adaptation of the world-renowned comedy s...