"Colors of Heaven"
“Colors of Heaven”

The South African dramatic film, previously titled “A Million Colors,” is being released in the USA, premiering on Netflix today under the title “Colors of Heaven.”

Directed by Peter Bishai and starring Wandile Molebatsi (“Machine Gun Preacher,” “Chappie”), Jason Hartman (“Idols”), Stelio Savante (“Eisenstein In Guanajuato,” “The Making Of The Mob: New York”), Masello Motana and Mpho Osei Tutu (“Catch a Fire”), the epic drama was warmly received at Montreal World film festival, Pan African film festival, Hollywood Black film festival, Atlantic film festival, and won several awards at World-fest Houston as well as two SAFTA awards (South African Oscars or equivalent of BAFTA awards).

In addition to Netflix USA, the film will also be available on Netflix in the UK, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

Telling the story of the fall from grace and redemption of South Africa’s onetime most famous teen black movie star, Muntu Ndebele, “Colors of Heaven” is “a mixture of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’,” says Peter Bishai, who directed the film from a script co-written by Bishai and Andre Pieterse.

Muntu Ndebele (played by Molebatsi) rose the stardom in the early 1970’s with the blockbuster “e’Lollipop” (which was released in the U.S. as “Forever Young, Forever Free”). The film made him the country’s most beloved childhood star. Forced into hiding after participating in the June 16, 1976 student uprising in Soweto, he was separated from the love of his life, became a fugitive, and struggled to survive apartheid, as his life spiraled into crime and despair.

Premiering on Netflix USA (streaming) today, February 15, you can now check it out for yourselves.

The distribution deal with Netflix was brokered by Chris Bueno of Ocean Avenue Entertainment, in association with Marty Poole and Kirk Harris of Fairway Film Alliance, the worldwide sales agent for the film.

A brand new trailer for the Netflix release is embedded below: