The 17th South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs) nominees have been announced.
kykNET leads the competition with 63 nominations, followed by Netflix SA with 55 nods at the 17th South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs).
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) announced the nominees for this year's SAFTAs on Tuesday morning. The ceremony will return to Johannesburg on 29 and 30 September at Sun City.
Themed "Our stories flow together", the technical awards will be broadcast live on the SAFTAs YouTube channel on Friday, 29 September, with a later rebroadcast on SABC channels. The main awards ceremony will be broadcast live on Saturday, 30 September, on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) and SABC 3 at 19:00.
After last year's absence, Word of Mouth Pictures producing Muvhango on SABC 2 and Stained Glass TV's Durban Gen on e.tv entered the 17th SAFTAs this year. Still boycotting the awards is Ferguson Films, meaning no nominations for any of its shows like The Queen on Mzansi Magic.
Also missing in action is the cancelled SABC 2 soap 7de Laan from Danie Odendaal Productions, which didn't enter the SAFTAs – not because of a boycott but not having the money to do so. "The decision not to enter the 17th SAFTAs was influenced by the costs associated with preparing entry materials. Financial constraints have hindered us," the show told News24.
Only productions that enter specific shows are eligible to have those soaps and telenovelas listed in the Most popular TV soap or telenovela category, which is a public vote— leaving this particular category incomplete yet again with the absence of 7de Laan, The Queen and Stained Glass TV's Lingashoni.
MultiChoice and M-Net's Afrikaans channels division has reason to smile proudly with 63 nominations, punching far above its weight with 13 nominations for the 5th season of its comedy TV series Hotel, nine nominations for Gaia as the first Afrikaans ecological horror fantasy film, which scooped five wins at last year's 10th Silwerskerm film festival, and another nine nominations for Binnelanders.
Netflix South Africa, with 55 nominations, has the film with the most nominations this year: Twelve for Silverton Siege, produced by Pambilimedia.
The streaming scored 12 nominations for the third season of How to Ruin Christmas, produced by Burnt Onion Productions.
Meanwhile, its rival streamer, Showmax and its evergreen Tali mockumentary scooped eight nominations this year for its third season entitled Tali's Joburg Diary.
Cancelled MultiChoice productions also scored nominations; The River on M-Net's 1Magic (DStv 103) scored 11 nominations, and 12 nominations for Legacy on M-Net (DStv 101).
Click 'read more'to see the full list of nominees.
