Two South Africa-themed, filmed-in-South Africa movies, sci-fi thriller District 9 and Nelson Mandela/Rugby World Cup drama Invictus have been nominated for six Oscar awards between them.
Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood, won nominations for best actor for Morgan Freeman, who portrays Nelson Mandela in the film, and for best supporting actor for Matt Damon, who portrays Springbok rugby captain Francois Pienaar.
The film tells the story of South Africa's 1995 Rugby World Cup victory on home turf, when then president Nelson Mandela joined forces with Pienaar to help unite black and white South Africans after the fall of apartheid only a year before.
District 9, set in a South African township inhabited by aliens, received Academy Award nominations in four categories, namely: best picture, best editing, best adapted screenplay, and best visual effects.
Directed by South Africa-born Neill Blomkamp, the film satirises the absurdities of apartheid in a science fiction account of extraterrestrials who become refugees in South Africa.
Shot on location in Johannesburg and directed by a young South African-born computer graphics whiz, District 9 took the US box office by storm, earning the number-one spot and raking in US$37-million (R302-million) during its opening weekend in August 2009.
What makes the film all the more remarkable is that it cost only US$30-million (R245-million) to make, a small sum by Hollywood standards if one considers that it took $250-million (R2-billion) to bring latest Harry Potter instalment to life.
South Africans who starred in District 9 include Sharlto Copley, Vanessa Haywood, Kenneth Nkosi, Mandla Gaduka, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, Jason Cope, David James, Louis Minnaar and Sylvaine Strike.
Michael Murphy of Kalahari Pictures, based in Cape Town, was the film's supervising producer.
The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony is due to take place on 7 March.
