Cinemas in South Africa will not screen the documentary on US First Lady Melania Trump, which is set for a global release on Friday, after the country’s distributor, Filmfinity, opted against a theatrical release.
The head of sales and marketing at Filmfinity, Thobashan Govindarajulu, told the New York Times and South African news site News24 that the decision was made “based on recent developments” and “given the current climate.” He did not clarify what specifically he meant by these terms.
The documentary, Melania, which follows the former First Lady in the 20 days leading up to her husband’s second inauguration on January 20 last year, is also absent from the websites of South Africa’s main cinema chains.
One independent cinema in Cape Town, Labia, confirmed to the BBC that Filmfinity had contacted them directly, instructing that the film not be listed or shown.
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Amazon reportedly paid $35 million (£25 million) to market the film and around $40 million for the rights. Despite the high-profile backing, no showtimes for Melania appear on Ster Kinekor or Nu Metro’s websites, South Africa’s two largest cinema chains.
Ster Kinekor’s publicity page for the film is inaccessible, while Nu Metro’s page exists but lists no screenings, unlike other films releasing the same day, such as Hamnet.
Relations between the US and South Africa have deteriorated significantly over the past year. Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency, he has promoted the widely discredited notion of a “white genocide” against South Africa’s Afrikaner community and confronted President Cyril Ramaphosa over the issue in a tense White House meeting last May.
Trump has also imposed high tariffs on South African goods and cut aid programmes.
The decision not to release Melania in South African cinemas comes amid this broader political tension between the two countries.
