Joe Bullet

15

When a mysterious gangster starts sabotaging a soccer team's chance at winning the upcoming championship final, there is only one man who can save the day... Joe Bullet.

Financed by an entrepreneurial Afrikaans construction manager, Tonie van der Merwe, Joe Bullet sparked a wave of movies in the 70s and 80s featuring all Black people, for Black audiences. Joe Bullet was only screened twice before it was banned for being too aspirational for Black people; but seeing an opportunity Van der Merwe went on to lobby the government to create the subsidised B-scheme.

This system financially supported (White) filmmakers to make action-packed Black content which toured in makeshift cinemas in rural areas. It was a lucrative industry and Van der Merwe was churning out a film a month at his peak. The banned Joe Bullet spent 40 years unseen and gathering dust in Van der Merwe’s house, until it was restored ten years ago by Ben Cowley of Gravel Road and has since enjoyed a resurgence.

Part of our Black Again! our Blaxploitation Season.