RESONANCE ARCHIVE FESTIVAL: KNOCKOUT (1969)

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.

KNOCKOUT (1969)

Dir. Viriato Barreto · 1h40min · Starring Fusi Zazayokwe, Abigail Kubeka, Fats Dibeco, Simon Sabela, Cocky Tlhotlhalemaje.

Joe, a mild-mannered primary school teacher, is desperate to find money to send his blind sister to London for an operation to restore her sight. With no other choice, he takes up boxing full-time. But things take a dangerous turn when Spider, a ruthless gang leader who rigs fights for illegal betting, wants Joe to take a fall, and has his new love, Sue, kidnapped to force his hand. Trapped in a high-stakes corner, Joe must take the wildest bet of his life in the ring. Filmed in Johannesburg and Mozambique for Somar Filmes, the first commercial film company in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo).