[WATCH] Barakat’ gets Official Selection for 2022 Oscars

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) has selected the multi-award-winning MultiChoice film Barakat as South Africa’s official submission for Best International Feature at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022. 

Barakat follows Muslim widow Aisha Davids as she tries to bring together her fractured family over Eid-al-Fitr to break the news about her new romance.

Barakat is told in Afrikaaps, the widely spoken Cape dialect of the Afrikaans language. The first Afrikaaps dictionary is currently in development, after being announced earlier this year. 

Barakat was developed in partnership with kykNET, a MultiChoice-owned channel, and funded in association with Trade, Industry and Competition Department (dtic), the NFVF, The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Indigenous Film Distribution. 

South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) nominee Vinette Ebrahim (Skemerdans) stars as the ageing matriarch, while her four sons, still struggling to come to terms with the death of their father two years earlier, are played by Joey Rasdien (Material), Mortimer Williams (Erfsondes), Keeno-Lee Hector (The Riviera) and Danny Ross (Number 37).

The nomination makes Amy Jephta the fourth female director to be submitted to the Oscars by South Africa, and the first woman of colour. 

Amy says she is proud that the small story about a family has reached as many people as it has. 

 “To be recognised by South Africa in this way is incredibly special after an extremely challenging year for our film industry.”

Barakat was released in South African cinemas in May 2021 and on BoxOffice by DStv in June 2021. 

Nominations for the 94th Academy Awards will be announced on 8 February 2022, with the Oscars ceremony taking place on Sunday 27 March 2022.

Watch Barakat on kykNET on 18 December 2021 at 20:00.