RESONANCE ARCHIVE FESTIVAL: AFRICAN JIM (1949)

The Resonance Archive Festival returns from 25 to 29 November 2026, in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Qonce, under the theme Counter-narratives of Commemoration. Through film, performance and conversation, the festival asks who writes those versions of the past, whose stories they leave out, and what becomes possible when those stories are told on their own terms. At the centre of the festival are rare South African films that have been tracked down in forgotten archives and digitised so audiences can see them again, some for the first time.

SEE THE FULL PROGRAMME FOR THE BIOSCOPE HERE.

AFRICAN JIM (1949)

Also known as Jim Comes to Jo'burg · Dir. Donald Swanson · 58min Prod. Eric Rutherford · Starring Dolly Rathebe.

Jim leaves his rural home for Johannesburg, only to be mugged by gangsters on arrival. A night watchman helps him find work as a waiter in a nightclub, where he gets a chance to sing with the club's star, Dolly. But just before his debut, Jim overhears the gangsters plotting a robbery, and must stop it and still make the show. The film launched Dolly Rathebe's career and has recently been restored in 4K.