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1916 South African film
De Voortrekkers
Dick Cruikshanks as Piet Retief
Directed by
Harold M. Shaw
Screenplay by
Gustav Preller, Harold M. Shaw
Produced by
African Film Productions
Starring
Dick Cruikshanks Percy Marmont Edna Flugrath Harold M. Shaw Goba
Cinematography
Henry Howse
Release date
14 December 1916 (1916-12-14)
Running time
Approximately two hours in full original cut; 54 minutes in later releases to foreign cinemas
Country
South Africa
De Voortrekkers
De Voortrekkers is a 1916 silent film recognized as the first epic in South Africa's motion-picture history and also that nation's oldest surviving feature film.[1] Produced by African Film Productions and directed by Harold M. Shaw, it portrays the Boers' "Great Trek" of the 1830s, concluding with a hegemonic recreation of the Battle of Blood River that occurred on 16 December 1838, when a few hundred armed Afrikaners defeated several thousand Zulus. Descendants of the Dutch-speaking voortrekkers or "pioneers" who participated in the Great Trek revered the film and used it to commemorate the event, which forms part of a highly contentious period in South Africa's history. Afrikaners presented it in school classrooms for decades and screened it annually at social events marking the battle's anniversary.
De Voortrekkers premiered in South Africa at Krugersdorp on 14 December 1916, just two days before the battle's 78th anniversary. It was later distributed in an abbreviated form to cinemas in England, the United States, Canada, and elsewhere outside Africa under the title Winning a Continent.[2] Intertitles used in the original film and in later releases employ a split-screen format that presents texts in both English and Afrikaans.[3]
^"De Voortrekkers 1916", Africa in Motion Film Festival, screenings at Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland, 4 November 2017; London Castle Cinema, London, England, 9 December 2017. Film distribution by MNet South Africa, Randburg, South Africa. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
^urbanora. "Category Archives: Black cinema". The Bioscope. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
^"De Voortrekkers (1916) with new orchestral score", 19:52 segment of film with added music, uploaded by Chris Jeffrey on 23 February 2017 onto YouTube (San Bruno, California, United States). Retrieved 12 August 2021.
DeVoortrekkers is a 1916 silent film recognized as the first epic in South Africa's motion-picture history and also that nation's oldest surviving feature...
along with men, wiping out half of the Natal contingent of Voortrekkers. The Voortrekkers retaliated with a 347-strong punitive raid against the Zulu...
Banhados (1913), and the first African feature was South Africa's DeVoortrekkers (1916). By 1915, over 600 feature films were produced annually in the...
short comedies filmed in 1917, three of them with African actors. DeVoortrekkers (1916) as Piet Retief Swallow (1918) as Jan Botmar The Major's Dilemma...
KwaZulu-Natal also served as the location for historical films such as DeVoortrekkers (1916) and The Symbol of Sacrifice (1918). American filmmaker Lorimer...
film The Great Kimberley Diamond Robbery (1911). It was followed by DeVoortrekkers (1916), South Africa's (and possibly Africa's) first epic film and...
foundation in 1902. The Voortrekkers movement placed a small memorial to him on his farm. De la Rey's equestrian statue on the De la Rey square of Lichtenburg's...
Robbery Adventure English South Africa's first dramatic feature. 1916 DeVoortrekkers Harold Shaw Dick Cruickshanks, Goba Historical epic South Africa's...
acting after they married in Johannesburg, South Africa, while filming DeVoortrekkers (1916). Three years later she attempted a comeback working on a few...
that he had made with the Voortrekkers to live together peacefully. The Zulu king knew that they outnumbered the Voortrekkers and decided to overthrow...
Moxter family - played by Goba, who had previously appeared in AFP's DeVoortrekkers Lord Chelmsford, British commander - played by Johannes Wilhelm Colenbrander...
Green, and Pamela, a stage actress married to actor Moray Watson. DeVoortrekkers (1916) as Horseman (uncredited) The Monk and the Woman (1917) as Brother...
Child (1915) The Derby Winner (1915) The Firm of Girdlestone (1915) DeVoortrekkers (1916) Me and Me Moke (1916) The Last Challenge (1916) Die Rose von...
Child (1915) The Derby Winner (1915) The Firm of Girdlestone (1915) DeVoortrekkers (1916) Me and Me Moke (1916) The Last Challenge (1916) Die Rose von...
Child (1915) The Derby Winner (1915) The Firm of Girdlestone (1915) DeVoortrekkers (1916) Me and Me Moke (1916) The Last Challenge (1916) Die Rose von...
Child (1915) The Derby Winner (1915) The Firm of Girdlestone (1915) DeVoortrekkers (1916) Me and Me Moke (1916) The Last Challenge (1916) Die Rose von...
Child (1915) The Derby Winner (1915) The Firm of Girdlestone (1915) DeVoortrekkers (1916) Me and Me Moke (1916) The Last Challenge (1916) Die Rose von...
for the frontier farmers who voiced their discontent, and wrote the Voortrekkers' declaration at their departure from the colony. He was a leading figure...
Mghombane Gheghana, who ruled the area before being conquered by the Voortrekkers. Mokopane is the Northern Sotho form of the king's name and is hence...
Child (1915) The Derby Winner (1915) The Firm of Girdlestone (1915) DeVoortrekkers (1916) Me and Me Moke (1916) The Last Challenge (1916) Die Rose von...
Child (1915) The Derby Winner (1915) The Firm of Girdlestone (1915) DeVoortrekkers (1916) Me and Me Moke (1916) The Last Challenge (1916) Die Rose von...
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