Sifiso Khanyile

Mutant is a documentary that gives an intimate look at one of South Africa's most outspoken and controversial artists and its turbulent, dangerous world. This film explores rapper Isaac Mutant's roots in the infamous violence-plagued Cape Flats and also his current circumstances. It's the story of a sensitive, complex and intuitive character who grapples with issues of race, class, love, family and identity, shaped in part by gang culture and hip-hop within the Cape brown community.

When South Africa transitioned to democracy in 1994, the so-called “rainbow nation” was hailed around the world as a political miracle. Yet, 25 years later, South Africa is the most economically unequal country in the world and the legacy of economic apartheid continues to define day-to-day life for most South Africans. Heartbreakingly insightful, the film consists of remarkably frank interviews with a full spectrum of South Africans, from informal workers to pop culture figures to artists, politicians, and academics. Moving through the last three decades, the film follows the South African narrative from the early days of liberation to a contemporary society that is increasingly fractured and in which the culture of resistance and protest is as strong and vital as it was during the height of legislated apartheid.

Uprize! looks at the political, social, and cultural conditions that shaped the June 1976 student uprising in South Africa, how those ideas we transformed into liberatory action, and how those actions helped shape the democratic society we live in today.