The director of The Movie Sarafina shares how phenomenal making the movie was 39 years ago.” It was a once-in-a-lifetime event.”
Thirty years ago, a story about a young township girl caught in the middle of a political uprising on June 16 1976, took the world of South African cinema by storm.

 

 

 

 

Sarafina managed to capture the youth’s hurt and pain all those years ago.

The movie is a dramatic musical that features some of the most iconic actors of our time, including Leleti Khumalo, Somizi and American actor Whoopi Goldberg.

The director of the film, Darrell Roodt, called his experience directing the film a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Darrell recently sat down with Drum Magazine to take us down memory lane, and he says he remembers it like it was yesterday.

He says he first saw the play while it was going out in Los Angeles, and they were terrific.

the movie and the choreography we have all come to love.

Darrell revealed that they managed to get the services of Michael Peters, the same guy who choreographed the video for the song Thriller by none other than the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

That video, as we all know, went on to be one of the most-watched videos around the world. If you don’t remember, it is the video where Michael Jackson turns into a ghost and then, joined by other spirits, gives us the best dance routine ever to grace the music industry.

Sarafina got the treatment from the dude who choreographed that video.

Roodt says that the cast didn’t need much direction for the movie.

He says at one point, and he had to get on top of a police car to try and stop them from dancing because they couldn’t hear him when he called cut. He also recalls that the cast had been abroad with the play for years and was not very impressed with the food they were catered for in Mzansi.