Here's a listing of the specials coming up on SABC2 over the festive season: (Please note: this doesn't include the international movie Christmas line-up) ...
SHOWS
Rebroadcast: SA's Got TalentPremiere date: Saturday, 5 December 2009 at 15h00
A rebroadcast of SA's Got Talent.
For more about the show, see:
TVSA's SA's Got Talent Mini Site.
Rebroadcast: Supersterre 2Premiere date: Saturday, 19 December 2009 at 20h00
A rebroadcast of the second season of the Patricia Lewis show Superstrerre.
For more about the show and season, see:
TVSA's Supersterre 2 Mini Site.
SPECIALS
Rebroadcast: Jozi Christmas
On: Thusday, 3 December 2009 at 19h30
Based on a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and set in the present day in the heart of Jozi, this short film tells of the changes brought about in the life of the miserly old Scrooge.
In this version of the story, which has been adapted for the screen over 200 times, Ebenezer Scrooge is a slumlord and micro lender who lives in splendour in a gloriously sumptuous Victorian mansion on the verge of the poverty and degradation of Hillbrow.
His long suffering employee, Bob Cratchit, is replaced in this story by Bobo Khuzwayo, his domestic worker/clerk, whose misplaced loyalty in the curmudgeonly old man finally pays off after the visit of four ghostly apparitions.
-----
Africa Batanai: Aliens and BroersOn: Sunday, 6 December 2009 at 21h00
A documentary special: more info. to follow.
-----
Rebroadcast: Stokvel Christmas Special
On: Thursday, 10 December 2009 at 19h30.
Mojo is determined that his family will enjoy the best Christmas ever. But circumstances threaten to turn it into the worst ever experienced. The stokvels recall far more challenging Christmas memories and Mojo soon learns through his family and friends that there is a lot to value and cherish in the present.
SA Tattoo
On: Sunday, 13 December 2009 at 20h00
A broadcast of highlights from the 2009 SA Tattoo, which took place at Monte Casino in Jozi between 9 - 13 September 2009.
-----
Rebroadcast: Bayethe Jesu On: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 at 22h00
A short film that tells a Christmas fable. The story centres round Zee, whose world comes crashing down around him when his mother ends up in a coma after a serious car accident and his workaholic father sends him off to his rural cousins in KwaZulu-Natal for the Christmas holidays.
The culture shock of being wrenched from his leafy northern Johannesburg suburb leaves him stunned.
Not only does he have to say goodbye to his private school friends and a glitzy, westernized Christmas, he’s expected to sleep on a straw mat in a hut without electricity, eat goat meat, and walk miles to fetch water with cousins with whom he has nothing in common. On top of that, the fear of what may happen to his critically injured mother takes Zee to the edge of a breakdown.
Then he meets a little girl who cannot speak, and a little miracle happens that reminds him that God is still in control. But will one miracle lead to another, will his mother survive her life-threatening injuries, and will Zee’s life ever be the same again?
Bayethe Jesu was shot on location in Johannesburg and in KwaZulu-Natal. This delightful and sentimental Christmas fable features a stirring and highly emotive musical score, which touches the heart and perfectly underscores some exceptional performances by a number of South Africa’s youngest stars.
-----
Rebroadcast: Bayethe Jesu 2 - The Star and The Child On: Tuesday 15 December 2009 at 23h00
A second film that tells another story through the eyes of Zee. Time has passed and Zee seems to have it all. His parents are rich, he’s just aced his matric exams and a letter arrives announcing that he has been awarded a fabulous bursary to study law.
His father has also organized him a plum holiday job at a top law firm but Zee still feels that there’s more to life.
He clashes with his father, who wants him to have a high-flying law career, but this conflict takes a back seat after a chilling phone call from Zee’s uncle in KZN.
It seems that Thandeka - the miracle child - has disappeared into thin air. Zee is shattered. This is the little girl he met after nearly losing his mother two years earlier.
She formed a special bond with him and he's determined to find her.
-----
Presidential Event
On: Wednesday, 16 December 2009 at 10h30
Coverage of President Jacob Zuma's adress to mark today's Day Of Reconciliation holiday.
-----
Rebroadcast: Africa Day 2009On: Wednesday, 16 December 2009 at 22h00
A rebroadcast of this year's Africa Day celebrations that took place at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, on Saturday, 23 May 2009.
-----
Rebroadcast: Pantsula ChristmasOn: Thursday, 17 December 2009 at 23h30
A special musical film that brings the popular form of township street dancing and age-old Christmas music together. The show journey's through the city streets of Braamfontein and the ghettos of Jo’burg’s poorest suburbs, to fantasy sequences that showcase pantsula dancing.
The story of Pantsula Christmas begins with Loyiso, a youngster at a crossroads in his life: the choices he makes now will determine his destiny forever.
Either he follows his father into a life of crime, or he follows his dream and risks everything to get a scholarship to attend the National School of the Arts. Either way, poverty is nipping at his heels.
Meanwhile the roof of his local church has caved in and the unorthodox youth pastor is putting on a funky Christmas fundraising concert - but he’s been warned by the old priest of the parish that if anything goes wrong he could lose his job.
Undeterred, the progressive young minister asks Loyiso and his pantsula posse to wow the congregation with some “Christmas flavoured pantsula” at the concert to help raise money - which is when things get interesting. After one of the rehearsals the church is robbed and Loyiso is the prime suspect.
Loyiso’s whole life hangs in the balance.
-----
Alternative Families: The Nudist Family
On: Sunday, 20 December 2009 at 21h00
The first in a series of documentaries about the alternative lifestyles of various families. This documentary looks at both black and white nudists in South Africa to find out more. The show asks: what kind of people are they? what is daily life like for them? How do they interact with the society?
-----
Massed Choirs: 20 Years CelebrationOn: Sunday, 20 December 2009 at 22h00
A special about the highlights of the past 20 years of the Massed Choir, looking at the past 5 years performances.
-----
Rebroadcast: Mohlolo wa KresemoseOn: Wednesday 23 December 2009 at 22h00
A multilingual Christmas musical drama, featuring Christmas music with a South African flavour, this show is titled: Mohlolo wa Kresemose - The Christmas Miracle - Die Kersfees Wonderwerk.
It’s just before Christmas when Dorothea Sekgotho, a domestic worker, hears that an elderly relative has died. Her plans to take her teenage son Thabiso home to Frankfort in the Freestate are shattered and she has to leave him in the care of her employer, a conservative Afrikaans widow.
The problem is, Magda den Hoed is terrified of black men for a reason that she just can’t bring herself to talk about. Thabiso comes into her home and she has to suppress her fears to make him feel welcome.
He knows that her distance is not racism but a deep and irrational fear, so he reaches out to her by telling her a painful and frightening story from his childhood that changes her life. Then, unexpectedly, a bond forms between them.
-----
Wednesday, 23 December 2009 at 23h00
A special featuring the traditions of Christmas. Set in the town of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, Charlene Truter (Pasella) takes the audience through the historically Christian town, while sharing the message of Christmas.
Churches, cathedrals and chapels set the majority of the scene, as two choirs perform Christmas Carols and hymns in between. They're joined by a marimba band, as well as solo artist Sibongile Mngoma, who adds her operatic touch to the chorus.
The show also includes bible readings read in three different languages: English, Afrikaans, and Grahamstown’s native tongue Sotho. In between this, Charlene takes the viewers to meet some of the Eastern Cape people who give their insight into Christianity in the Eastern Cape.
-----
29th International Circus Festival of Monte CarloOn: Thursday, 24 December 2009 at 15h00
A broadcast of the 2005 Monte Carlo circus festival.
-----
Rebroadcast: The 12 Days Of Christmas
On: Thursday, 24 December 2009 at 23h00
The 12 Days of Christmas is a presentation of songs surrounding The 12 Days of Christmas countdown. Hosted by Pepsi Pokane and narrated by Relebogile Mabotja, this special tells the nativity story to the accompaniment of relevant Christmas songs.
Artists who'll be performinh include: Gloria Bosman, Andre Shwartz, The Soweto Opera Quadro, Candis Cheyne and the Cantare Childrens Choir. The show also features various SABC 2 personalities who come together to perform the signature 12 Days of Christmas song.
-----
Rebroadcast: Carols By CandlelightOn: Thursday, 24 December 2009 at 00h00
A service to see in Christmas Day. The show features a selection of Christmas Carols and traditional, contemporary and South African Christmas music, performed by the Bloemfontein Children's Choir, soloist Charlotte Silulu and a 7 piece instrumental ensemble at the St. Martin's-in-the-veld Church.
The music is alternated by a selection of short Christmas prayers and the choir is accompanied by pianist Christo Janse v. Rensburg and Nico Carstens on accordion.
-----
Sunday, 27 December 2009 at 21h00
The second documentary in the Alternative Families series that looks at the identity of Afrikaans people in a post-apartheid South Africa. The show looks at the challenges faced by the Afrikaans youth, most specifically through the alternative music scene, and asks: how does the Afrikaans identity fit into the new South Africa?
-----
New Year's Concert
On: Thursday, 31 December 2009 at 21h30
SABC2's annual New Year's Eve Concert, covering the celebrations at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown in the countdown to 2010. Further info. to follow.