Yesterday, South Africa’s first-ever Oscar Nomination has received rave reviews in the United States ahead of its broadcast on the HBO Channel on 1 December, World AIDS Day.
Critics in the United States have been unanimous in their praise for Yesterday. The Washington Post described Yesterday as, “A tale of sorrow and grit…the film achieves a preciously subtle epic stature,” while the New York Times said, “told simply, with intelligence and grace…beautifully made.” The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, “the film is a movingly simple story, beautifully told… a tale of love between mother and daughter,” and the St. Petersburg Times stated, “a blissfully subtle, quietly powerful film that speaks volumes,” and O Magazine called Yesterday, “a beautiful epic.” The Boston Globe said that “Yesterday triumphs over its own social consciousness…visually stunning” and the Los Angeles Daily News said, “many will be moved by the story’s purity and simplicity.”
Producer of Yesterday, Anant Singh commented, “We are thrilled with the five star reviews received in the United States, especially significant is the fact that it is across the United States – from New York to Orlando and Los Angeles to St. Petersburg. This will definitely increase the awareness of the devastation of AIDS not only in Africa but all around the world among people in the United States.”
Back home in South Africa, Yesterday will be screened free-of-charge for all shows on 1 December at the following cinemas: Gauteng (Clearwater, The Glen, Bedfordview, Metro Benoni, MonteCasino and Menlyn Park); KwaZulu Natal (The Pavilion); Eastern Cape (Cinema Starz Boardwalk Loch Logan and Walmer) and Western Cape (Cinema Starz Grandwest and Canal Walk). It will also be screened free to the public at the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton at 8.00pm on 1 December in a collaborative initiative with the Topsy Foundation, an NGO that partners with rural communities in the fight against HIV / AIDS and poverty.
Yesterday is a Videovision Entertainment production in association with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, M-Net, The National Film And Video Foundation, Distant Horizon and was shot on location in KwaZulu Natal. It stars Leleti Khumalo, Kenneth Khambule, Lihle Mvelase and Camilla Walker. Music was composed by Madala Kunene and it is executive produced by Sudhir Pragjee and Sanjeev Singh, produced by Anant Singh and Helena Spring and written and directed by Darrell James Roodt.
