{"id":113217,"date":"2026-01-29T21:48:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=113217"},"modified":"2026-01-29T21:48:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:48:00","slug":"melania-trump-documentary-not-showing-in-south-african-cinemas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=113217","title":{"rendered":"Melania Trump documentary not showing in South African cinemas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cinemas in South Africa will not be showing the documentary about the US First Lady, Melania Trump, which is scheduled for worldwide release on Friday.<\/p>\n

The South African distributor Filmfinity has decided not to release it, its head of sales and marketing told the New York Times and South Africa-based website News24. The company was not explicit about the reasons behind the move.<\/p>\n

The film Melania is not promoted on the websites of the country\u2019s major cinema chains. One Cape Town independent cinema contacted by the BBC said it had been called by Filmfinity and told not to list it.<\/p>\n

Relations between the US and South Africa have seriously deteriorated over the past year.<\/p>\n

Amazon has reportedly paid $35m (\u00a325m) to market the film, which follows Melania Trump in the 20 days leading up to her husband\u2019s second inauguration on 20 January last year.<\/p>\n

It is also believed that Amazon paid approximately $40m for the film rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on recent developments, we\u2019ve taken the decision not to go ahead with a theatrical release in the territory,\u201d Filmfinity\u2019s Thobashan Govindarajulu is quoted as saying by the New York Times.<\/p>\n

He told News24 that the decision had been taken \u201cgiven the current climate\u201d.<\/p>\n

The executive did not elaborate on what he meant by \u201crecent developments\u201d or \u201ccurrent climate\u201d.<\/p>\n

Attempts by the BBC to get a comment from Filmfinity, which describes itself as the leading film distributor in southern Africa, have so far been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

But contacting the independent Labia cinema in Cape Town, the BBC was told that it was called by Filmfinity, who said that the film would not be playing.<\/p>\n

Show times for Melania are not listed on the websites of South Africa\u2019s two main cinema chains, Ster Kinekor and Nu Metro.<\/p>\n

Ster Kinekor\u2019s publicity page for Melania\u00a0is not accessible.<\/p>\n

Nu Metro trailed the film on its Instagram account\u00a0a fortnight ago.\u00a0Its website\u2019s Melania page still exists, but does not list any show times \u2013 unlike the page for the drama Hamnet, which is also released in South Africa on Friday.<\/p>\n

Since Donald Trump took office a year ago, US relations with South Africa have deteriorated.<\/p>\n

He has been promoting the widely discredited idea that there is a \u201cwhite genocide\u201d against South Africa\u2019s Afrikaner community. Last May,\u00a0Trump confronted South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa\u00a0over the issue in a tense White House meeting.<\/p>\n

The president has also imposed high tariffs on South African goods and cut aid programmes.<\/p>\n

His anger was also partly fuelled by Pretoria\u2019s role in bringing\u00a0a case against Israel to the International Court of Justice\u00a0(ICJ). <\/p>\n

The US ally has strongly rejected the allegation of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza as \u201cbaseless\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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