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 drama is now showing at all Ster-Kinekors.
Speaking of Ster-Kinekor, they have relaunched Throwback Cinema, so you can rewatch classics like: 
Stuart Little
Annie
The Hobbit 
Gone With the Wind
And if you download their app or hit their website, sterkinekor.com, you can find the latest releases, including:
Toy Story
Moana
Supergirl
Minions and Monsters 
The Death of Robin Hood 
Disclosure Day 
Jackass: Best and Last 
Scary Movie
Spider-man: Brand New Day  
Gino also brings you up to date with where he is with The Bear, and there's a new South African family drama on Netflix. The Four of Us centres on the influential Dhlomo family in which the usual issues threaten to tear the family apart. Hot stuff - and exactly what we need with the temperatures right now. 
And finally, a reminder of our new crowdfunding campaign to help us bring you ACP in glorious video, so you can watch as well as listen. There's a stack of rewards, depending on your donations. Check that out at  Thundafund - African Couch Potato. Every little bit helps.  
Stay Warm! 
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Let us know what you think, what movie or series you would like to see featured, or just to tell us how brilliant it all is:
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gino.arlechino@gmail.com
WhatsApp Channel: Mzansi Film News, Views and Reviews 
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Gino Shelile’s profile • Letterboxd
Member of the Film Critics Association of South Africa (FCASA)

Produced by Ted Loukes and A10 Consulting
ted@aten.co.za

Music by The_Mountain from Pixabay
CHqjHqS2RAMkVSeydGo7

© SANTE MEDIA 2026

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 curated empire begins to unravel as his wife, secret second wife, mistress, and girlfriend fight for his life and wealth. 
Sandwiched between The Polygamist and the latest Avatar, Gino does some catching up by diving into The Bear, although he's only managed Season 1 as yet. 
From food to fantasy, and Gino gets over himself to sit through the entire 3 hours 17 minutes of the ongoing happenings of the Blue people.
And finally, back home again, as we head to this afternoon's film critics screening of the fresh new look at the legendary Drum magazine's agony aunt Dear Sis Dolly.
Plus a reminder of our new crowdfunding campaign to help us bring you ACP in glorious video, so you can watch as well as listen. There's a stack of rewards, depending on your donations. Check that out at  Thundafund - African Couch Potato. Every little bit helps.  
So, who's gonna make it past the last 16?
Yes? No? Send us a text
Let us know what you think, what movie or series you would like to see featured, or just to tell us how brilliant it all is:
instagram.com/africancouchpotato
x.com/africancouchpot
gino.arlechino@gmail.com
WhatsApp Channel: Mzansi Film News, Views and Reviews 
YouTube; African Couch Potato - YouTube 
https://www.patreon.com/c/AfricanCouchPotato 
Gino Shelile’s profile • Letterboxd
Member of the Film Critics Association of South Africa (FCASA)

Produced by Ted Loukes and A10 Consulting
ted@aten.co.za

Music by The_Mountain from Pixabay
CHqjHqS2RAMkVSeydGo7

© SANTE MEDIA 2026

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 in 1982. Raised between Mallorca, Stockholm and Barcelona, where he graduated in Documentary Filmmaking at the Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC). He completed his training at the Arcada University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki.
Amilcar is a decade long project, drawing on letters to his wives, which seeks to move beyond iconography and return Amílcar Cabral to the realm of the human, the fragile, and the unfinished.
ACP managed to grab a fascinating few minutes with the filmmaker, between him delivering a Live Masterclass to an enthusiastic audience at the Goethe-Institut in Johannesburg on the complexities of running a 10 year movie project, and having to rush off to a sponsor's lunch. 
And a reminder of our new crowdfunding campaign to help us bring you ACP in glorious video, so you can watch as well as listen. There's a whole bunch of rewards depending on your donations. Check that out at  Thundafund - African Couch Potato. Every little bit helps. 
Yes? No? Send us a text
Let us know what you think, what movie or series you would like to see featured, or just to tell us how brilliant it all is:
instagram.com/africancouchpotato
x.com/africancouchpot
gino.arlechino@gmail.com
WhatsApp Channel: Mzansi Film News, Views and Reviews 
YouTube; African Couch Potato - YouTube 
https://www.patreon.com/c/AfricanCouchPotato 
Gino Shelile’s profile • Letterboxd
Member of the Film Critics Association of South Africa (FCASA)

Produced by Ted Loukes and A10 Consulting
ted@aten.co.za

Music by The_Mountain from Pixabay
CHqjHqS2RAMkVSeydGo7

© SANTE MEDIA 2026

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 navigate big city life and relationships in Manhattan.
Hoppers -an environmentalist girl devotes her energy fighting the city mayor instead of concentrating on school work.
Will Trent S4 - a Special Agent who takes on gripping new cases. Inspired by Karin Slaughter’s novels.
Alice & Steve - a Hulu Original series from the UK.
Best of the World with Antoni Porowski - explores some of the world's most extraordinary destinations.
The Bear S5 -  A young chef from the fine dining world returns to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop.
Avatar: Fire and Ash - Jake and Neytiri's family grapples with grief, encountering a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.
ESPN - catch all the latest sporting action. 
We give you a head's up on the launch of Disney+ Quiz Nights across the country from the 24th of June, and Gino gives the lowdown on our new crowdfunding campaign to help us bring you ACP in glorious video so you can watch as well as listen. There's a whole bunch of rewards depending on your donations. Check that out at  Thundafund - African Couch Potato. Every little bit helps. Dankie!
And finally, it being football season, a quick look at just how Messi got discovered in Messi: The Forgotten Tape, also on Disney+.   
Have a fabulous Youth Day!
Yes? No? Send us a text
Let us know what you think, what movie or series you would like to see featured, or just to tell us how brilliant it all is:
instagram.com/africancouchpotato
x.com/africancouchpot
gino.arlechino@gmail.com
WhatsApp Channel: Mzansi Film News, Views and Reviews 
YouTube; African Couch Potato - YouTube 
https://www.patreon.com/c/AfricanCouchPotato 
Gino Shelile’s profile • Letterboxd
Member of the Film Critics Association of South Africa (FCASA)

Produced by Ted Loukes and A10 Consulting
ted@aten.co.za

Music by The_Mountain from Pixabay
CHqjHqS2RAMkVSeydGo7

© SANTE MEDIA 2026

“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 host of South African films alongside storytelling from around the world. In total 58 films from 33 countries have been selected. There will be world premieres as well as several international documentaries getting their first screening on the African continent.
Gino managed to grab a slot with the busy Mandisa to dig deeper into her love of documentaries, what got her involved with Encounters, and how she manages all three cities at the same time, as well as the host of both national and international filmmakers. Mandisa is not called the "ambassador for the SA film industry" for nothing.
To get the full picture of what's happening and to get your festival tickets, check out encounters.co.za 
Yes? No? Send us a text
Let us know what you think, what movie or series you would like to see featured, or just to tell us how brilliant it all is:
instagram.com/africancouchpotato
x.com/africancouchpot
gino.arlechino@gmail.com
WhatsApp Channel: Mzansi Film News, Views and Reviews 
YouTube; African Couch Potato - YouTube 
https://www.patreon.com/c/AfricanCouchPotato 
Gino Shelile’s profile • Letterboxd
Member of the Film Critics Association of South Africa (FCASA)

Produced by Ted Loukes and A10 Consulting
ted@aten.co.za

Music by The_Mountain from Pixabay
CHqjHqS2RAMkVSeydGo7

© SANTE MEDIA 2026