Showmax Brings Fresh Films and TV Pilots to kykNET Silwerskerm Festival 2025

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Showmax is bringing two films and three TV pilots to this week’s kykNET Silwerskerm Festival, taking place in Camps Bay, Cape Town from Wednesday to Saturday.

Having produced the most awarded TV series for two Silwerskerm Awards in a row – Donkerbos in 2023 and Koek in 2024 – expectations are high.

KHAKI FEVER

Khaki Fever is undeniably the most talked about film in competition at this year’s Silwerskerm, with nearly 3,000 comments on Rapport’s Facebook page alone, before anyone had even seen the film.

From two-time SAFTA Best Film winner Brett Michael Innes, the 18SNL comedy follows a group of game rangers who set up a challenge to see who can have sex with the most tourists during a season.

SAFTA-nominated Top Billing presenter Christopher Jaftha leads the cast as Daniel, opposite four 2025 Silwerskerm nominees: Anja Taljaard and Trix Vivier (both Juffrou X), Liam Bosman (Een Keer Om Die Son), and Ilse Klink (Nêrens, Noord-Kaap). Also look out for singer Abel Knobel, Francois Jacobs (aka Kaalgat Karel) and Sean Brebnor (Getroud Met Rugby) as rangers, as well as lions, giraffe, hyena, and a runaway French bulldog called Chardonnay.

Fun fact: this Silwerskerm, Brett has his fingers in half of the six films in competition: in addition to Khaki Fever, he wrote My F*k Marelize and produced The Heart Is A Muscle, which won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival.

Watch the trailer: Here

Watch
• 8pm on Friday, 22 August 2025 at The Rotunda at The Bay Hotel (sold out)
• 6pm on Saturday, 23 August 2025 at The Rotunda at The Bay Hotel (tickets on Quicket)
• On Showmax from Friday, 5 September 2025

FINDING OPTEL

At just 25 years old, Mikayla Joy Brown is the youngest director with a film in competition at Silwerskerm, a festival she’s attending for the first time.

Rated 10-12 PG V, Finding Optel follows Claire Abrahams, a teen detective who finds lost things. When her neighbourhood’s communal dog goes missing, Claire must confront her brother’s painful disappearance in order to solve her biggest case yet.

Part of Showmax’s first-time directors slate to open up the industry in partnership with The Joburg Film Festival, the whimsical detective story is co-directed by Mikayla and her 29-year-old brother Jesse Brown, who were inspired by Amélie, Wes Anderson and their childhood memories of growing up in Montevideo on the Cape Flats.

Mikayla also stars as Claire, supported by an all-star cast that includes award-winner Oscar Petersen (Joe Barber) as her father, SAFTA nominee Zenobia Kloppers (Fiela se Kind), Rodney ‘Rotas’ Goliath and Sherman Pharo (both Arendsvlei), Maurice Carpede and Euodia Samson (both Summertide), Elton Landrew (Spinners), and Omar Adams (Barakat, The Umbrella Men).

Award-winners Quantita Adams and Dominique Jossie are producing through Blended Films, which won four Silwerskerm awards last year for Hier.Na.

Watch the trailer:

Watch
• 4pm on Thursday, 21 August, at The Rotunda at The Bay Hotel (tickets on Quicket)
• 6pm on Friday, 22 August at Retreat Civic Centre (free tickets on Quicket)
• 1:15pm on Saturday, 23 August at Theatre on the Bay (tickets on Quicket)
• On Showmax from Friday, 24 October 2025

THE UNSPOKEN WAR

In 1993, four years after the last shots were fired in the so-called “Border War”, a peaceful end to apartheid was negotiated. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission offered amnesty to all those who committed human rights violations during the armed struggle against apartheid – but only for the incidents inside South Africa itself…

Through rare archival footage and intimate conversations with soldiers, spies, daughters and wives, Unspoken War confronts the deafening silence that still exists decades later about the secret war that raged in Angola and Namibia. It’s a conflict that few of those involved dared to talk about – and even fewer truly understood.

The five-part series is directed by Nikki Comninos (2024 Best Documentary Series SAFTA nominee Convict Conman and Showmax true-crime record-holder Tracking Thabo Bester) and produced by multi-award-winners IdeaCandy (Devilsdorp, Steinheist).

Watch the teaser:

Watch• 8:30pm on Thursday, 21 August at Theatre On The Bay (tickets on Quicket)
• On M-Net and Showmax from Wednesday, 12 November

VAAL RIVIERA

The Mommy Club: Van Die Hoofstad became the most-watched Afrikaans show on Showmax. Now its creators, POP24, are back with a new reality series, Vaal Riviera, set in Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging.

The Vaal might not have Pretoria’s polish, but the families here bring just as much heat. Meet the Arangies, the Snymans, the Deysels, and the Swarts, four bold Afrikaans families navigating love, loyalty, and legacy on the banks of the Vaal River.

In the first episode, the families prepare for the much-anticipated opening of the Vaal River, as cooler boxes are packed into flashy cars and boats are prepped. As everyone gathers by the river, friendships form, tensions rise, and a competitive tube race sets the tone for the season. Beneath the festive surface, deeper undercurrents begin to stir.

Watch the trailer:

Watch• 5pm on Friday, 22 August at Theatre on the Bay (tickets on Quicket)
• On Showmax from Friday 22 August, with new episodes on Tuesdays

ONTWAAK

In Ontwaak, a psychiatrist finds out about a Mindfulness retreat belonging to her controlling ex-fiancé, where he seems to be brainwashing young men and women, including her own daughter.

SAFTA and Silwerskerm winner Cindy Swanepoel (Koek, Binnelanders) stars as Melissa, with 2025 Silwerskerm Best Actress nominee Mienke Marais (Reënboogrant) as her daughter Adri. Also look out for former Boo! frontman Chris Chameleon and SAFTA winner Deon Lotz as cult leaders; Silwerskerm winner Carel Nel (Gaia, Niggies) as a serial killer; and Sean Marco Vorster (Alles Malan) as a cop.

Directed by Silwerskerm and SAFTA winner André Velts, Ontwaak is produced by Sonvelt Media, who won last year’s SAFTA for Best Made For TV Movie for ‘n Tyd van Waterpere. Sonvelt is up for five 2025 Silwerskerm Film and Television Awards on Saturday between Pronk Primêr and Reënboogrant.

Watch the teaser: