Beautiful Filming Locations In South Africa
This is going to be the beginning in my series of location shooting across Africa starting with South Africa.Filming locations in South Africa has augmented tremendously in recent years due to the ideal climate and varied scenery. The African nation has also become a stand-in for other countries, from Sudan, Afghanistan to Sierra Leone and many others.
It’s not unusual for films or television series to be set in one place, but filmed in another. For reasons of convenience or mindful of budget, substitute locations can be more historically appropriate.
These are all captivating films with great backgrounds to suit the stories that I highly recommend you watch!
Filming locations in South Africa, and the corresponding film setting, include:
Check out 100 Years of Set Locations – 2,001 Films Mapped
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Filming Location: Johannesburg , South africa
Shot outside Johannesburg, South Africa over 50 days, production took place at a vacant hospital that was transformed into a hotel by production designer Johnny Breedt. Says the DP, “A hospital is very similar to a hotel in its layout. There are many rooms like a hotel and a very large kitchen. There were other buildings on the property, which were used for makeup, editing, for costumes. It was very convenient to have everything in one place. Since we were so dependent on the very unpredictable weather, we could retreat inside and shoot an interior scene if we needed to.”
Hôtel des Mille Collines
Zulu (1964)
Filming Locations: Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa; KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Natal Midlands, South Africa;Royal Natal National Park, South Africa
Drakensberg Mountains
Royal Natal National Park
The film was shot in the Royal Natal National Park, which is about 90 miles southwest of Rorke’s Drift (the Amphitheater mountain forms a dramatic backdrop in the movie). The area surrounding the actual Rorke’s Drift is nowhere near as mountainous as in the film.
Ryan’s Daughter (1970)
Filming Location: CapeTown, South Africa, Noordhoek Beach, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Noordhoek Beach
Western Cape, South Africa
Ryan’s Daughter was the last feature film photographed entirely in the 65mm Super Panavision format until Far and Away (1992), which was shot largely at the same locations. Owing to bad weather, many of the beach scenes were filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.
The village in the film was built by the production company from stone so that it could withstand the storms. Villagers from the town of Dunquin were hired as extras. The area was at the time economically destitute, but the amount of money spent in the town – nearly a million pounds – revived the local economy and led to increased immigration to the Dingle Peninsula. Disputes over land meant the entire village was razed after filming. The schoolhouse still exists, but in a ruined state.
Malcolm X (1992)
Filming Locations: Phakamani Combined School, Soweto, Johannesburg,Alexandra, South Africa
Soweto
The epilogue of this movie was filmed at Phakamani Combined School, Soweto in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela speaks the film’s closing lines, and in the Alexandra township of Johannesburg, where Mandela had lived for a while on moving to the city in 1941.
Source:IMDB, GoAfrica