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U-Carmen eKhayelitsha (12A)
- Consumer Advice: Contains moderate language
- Run time: 2 hours 7 mins
- Language: Xhosa
- Genre: Musical
- Release date: 21st April 2006
- Starring: Pauline Malefane, Andile Tshoni, Lungelwa Blou
- Directed by: Mark Dornford-May
- Official Website: www.u-carmen.co.uk
- Distributor: Tartan Films
Plot Synopsis
Winner of the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival U-Carmen eKhayelitsha is an adaptation of George Bizet's Carmen. The story has over the years inspired a diversity of interpretations in film and theatre all over the world. Director Mark Dornford-May's adaptation is an impressive and entertaining film that relocates this tale of the love affair between Carmen and Don José in Khayelitsha, a shantytown in South Africa against the backdrop of the hardship suffered by those who live in it. Framed within an atmospherical environment of gangsters and shebeensthis interpretation is a celebration of South African dramatic art at its best. Although the lyrics of this interpretation are Bizet's, the libretto has been translated from French to the local language of Xhosa. And the Khayelitsha born opera singer Pauline Malefana is superb in the title role of the sensuous and independent cigarette seller supported by an excellent cast from the acclaimed South African theatre production company Dimpho Di Copane.