COLORS OF HEAVEN Heads to Amazon Prime

Today marks the forty four year commemoration of the Soweto Uprising, a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa. They were met with fierce police brutality. Between ten thousand and twenty thousand students rallied against having to learn Afrikaans as their official language in schools. Between one hundred seventy six and seven hundred people were killed.

South African film Colors Of Heaven aka A Million Colors (Wandile Molebatsi, Jason Hartman, Stelio Savante, Masello Motana & Mpho Osei Tutu), has been re-released on Amazon Prime to commemorate the uprising which shows an uncanny resemblance to today's police brutality and riots in the United States.

Directed by Peter Bishai and starring Wandile Molebatsi ("Revolt" "Chappie"), Jason Hartman ("Idols"), Stelio Savante ("Running For Grace," "Where The Road Runs Out"), Masello Motana and Mpho Osei Tutu ("Catch a Fire", "Black Sails"), the epic drama was warmly received at Montreal World film festival and won several awards including two SAFTA awards (South African Academy Awards or equivalent of BAFTA awards).

Telling the story of the fall from grace and redemption of South Africa's onetime most famous teen black movie star, Muntu Ndebele, "Colors of Heaven" is "a mixture of 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'Romeo and Juliet'," says Peter Bishai, who directed the film from a script co-written by Bishai and Andre Pieterse.

Muntu Ndebele (played by Molebatsi) rose the stardom in the early 1970's with the blockbuster "e'Lollipop" (which was released in the U.S. as "Forever Young, Forever Free"). The film made him the country's most beloved childhood star. Forced into hiding after participating in the June 16, 1976 student uprising in Soweto, he was separated from the love of his life, became a fugitive, and struggled to survive apartheid, as his life spiraled into crime and despair.

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