THE 16th annual South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) will be held virtually on Friday, 2 September and Saturday, 3 September.
The ceremony will be hosted by media personalities Khutso Theledi, Ryle De Morny, Palesa Tembe, Smash Afrika, Candice Modiselle, Mpho Popps, and Lasizwe.
This year’s theme is: Frame the Future and aims to celebrate newcomers and actors who represent the future of Mzansi.
The first awards, called The Craft Awards, will take place on Friday and will be streamed live on the Saftas YouTube channel at 7pm.
They will be hosted by Smash Afrika and Candice.
Khutso, Mpho and Ryle will host the main show on Saturday, and will be broadcast on Mzansi Magic at 7pm.
Although there is no red carpet this year, Afternoon Express host Palesa Tembe and Lasizwe will show the viewers some of night’s best dressed at 6.30pm.
Talking about the decision to host the awards show virtually, Safta executive producer, Anneke de Ridder, said the decision was made at the time the bid for the tender was put out to production companies to produce the awards ceremony.
“At the time, South Africa was still under lockdown and the bid criteria was per Saftas15 guidelines – no public event. Similarly, by the time the service provider, Don’t Look Down, was appointed, the country was still under lockdown.
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“Given the restrictions with government institutions when it comes to changing the merits of a tender bid, we had to continue hosting the ceremony virtually. While we do acknowledge that it would have been ideal to celebrate with the industry in-person, our production company has worked exceptionally hard to give industry practitioners the honour they deserve,” she said.
Some of this year’s nominees include Skeem Saam actress Shoki Mmola, who is up for Best Actress for TV Soap alongside Manaka Ranaka, Denise Newman, Cindy Swanepoel and Jill Levenberg.
Shoki’s TV husband, Putla Sehlapelo, is nominated for Best Actor for TV Soap alongside Thabo Malema, Mathews Rantsoma, Cedwyn Joel and Johan Scholtz.
The nominees for Best TV Soap are Getroud Met Rugby, Suidooster and 7de Laan.
The Best Telenovela nominees are The Wife, DiepCity and The River.
How To Ruin Christmas, Tali’s Baby Diary and G.I.L have been nominated for Best TV Comedy.
The nominees for Best Structured Soap Reality Show are The Unexpected: DJ Zinhle, Pastor Wants A Wife, and Uthando Nesthembu.
Tsholofelo Matshaba, Kgomotso Christopher, Mary-Anne Barlow, Sindi Dlathu, and Nthati Moshesh are nominated for Best Actress in a Telenovela.
Vusi Kunene, Robert Hobbs, Aubrey Poo, Don Mlangeni Nawa, and Bonko Khoza are nominated for Best Actor in a Telenovela.
