Hillbrow: Between Heaven and Hell

Award-winning filmmaker Clifford Bestall goes back to the place where he grew up to explore this microcosm of chaos, crime and corruption in urban South Africa and discovers a place where human spirit, hope and enterprise triumph. George ‘the brick’ is an aging boxer, a hard-lived survivor. Around him and his gym are the characters that make Hillbrow the high-rise melting pot of South Africa.

– Busi and Mimie are female boxers, punching their way out of their troubled backgrounds beyond the South African borders.

– Les is a local nightclub entrepreneur with an eye for an opportunity.

– And Bernice is a frail old Jewish lady – one of the very few whites still living in Hillbrow.

This film draws them into its fold as their stories unfurl, revealing a rich seam of today’s urban South African experience.