JOHANNESBURG: Acclaimed South African Indian filmmaker Anant Singh is thrilled that his film ‘Yesterday’ has been nominated as the country’s first ever entry to the Oscars. The highly acclaimed, groundbreaking film in the indigenous isiZulu language deals with a woman’s determined battle to fight the stigma of HIV/AIDS in a village. The film was made with the support of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, pay TV channel M-Net and the National Film And Video Foundation.

Mandela himself said in a statement: “It is indeed a great achievement for ‘Yesterday’ to be nominated for the prestigious Academy Award. We at the Nelson Mandela Foundation are proud to be associated with ‘Yesterday’, which we saw as a very simple, yet powerful story.”

Now all South Africans will be giving the thumbs up for a new euphoria after local lass Charlize Theron caused hysteria here when she was named Best Actress at the Oscars last year. — HNS