Moffie

'Moffie' is derogatory Afrikaans for a gay person. In 2006, South African writer André Carl van der Merwe debuted with an autobiographical novel about his life as a gay man in rather intolerant South Africa, choosing the derogatory term as the title for his book. Director Olivier Hermanus (Shirley Adams, Skoonheid, and more) has now made it into a film.

1981: The South African apartheid regime has been embroiled in armed conflict with its neighbours for many years. To push back the "black danger" all boys over 16 are enlisted for two years of compulsory military service. 18-year-old Nicholas Van der Swart is one of them. Nicholas has known for years that he is different: he is attracted to men, but he has always scrupulously hid his feelings. The army turns out to be a hellish place, a brutal macho world, where every opportunity to diss "faggots" is snatched up. Nicholas has a heterosexual porn magazine to prove he's straight though. Then he meets Dylan.