ABSTRACT
Writing about the film industry is one thing, writing about the South African film industry is another. Like Alice's experiences in Wonderland, everything in South Africa constantly changes, but nothing is different. Certain central city cinemas, for example, were opened to all races in October 1985. But this status, like other racial exemptions, is by permit applied for by individual cinemas. It is not an inalienable principle. At the national level, the State President constantly regaled the nation about "negotiation," but then sent the troops into the black townships. He talked about democracy and waited for black leaders "to come forward." But they were all in detention, in prison or exiled. Such rhetoric has become known as Bothaspeak.
