Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore are reunited in Slapstick comedy ‘Blended’, which is set and filmed in South Africa

There’s a small but sudden rush on international films made in and about South Africa.

Film director Craig Freimond talks about filmmaking in South Africa since the start of democracy – and reveals that he is currently developing a movie script for top comedian Trevor Noah.

Do you fondly remember regular visits to the drive-in while growing up in South Africa and wish you could do it again? BA’s new Rooftop Film Club in London offers the chance to sit under a starry sky eating popcorn and watching a movie.

Hit South African film ‘Material’, starring Riaad Moosa, has been launched on iTunes to mark the 20th anniversary of South African democracy. Lead actor Riaad Moosa chats to us about giving up medicine for comedy and what he learned from playing Ahmed Kathrada in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

Betrayal, remorse, obsession and torment, with the odd flash of wit and the power of circumstance, leap off the pages in this epic novel set in England and South Africa.

An exhibition of photographs at a London gallery explores Johannesburg’s mine dumps and the people who live among them. These hillocks of crushed toxic rock are striking and surreal, and reflect the incongruousness of a territory where history, economy and contemporary South Africa collide.

Directed by Spanish director Carlos Agulló and Johannesburg filmmaker Mandy Jacobson, ‘Plot for Peace’ is a whole new take on the heritage of central and southern Africa.

Nelson Mandela joined a select group of non-Britons who have been honoured by a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey which includes Archbishop Luwum of Uganda, Sir Alexander Bustamente Prime Minister of Jamaica, Sir Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia and Sir Seretse Khama, President of Botswana.

Inspired by the idea of fire, South African choreographer and dancer Hubert Essakow introduces his latest dance-drama ‘Ignis’ to London audiences – one of the best events to experience in London at the moment

If you haven’t heard of Stelio Savante yet you had better listen up, as this South African is conquering Hollywood by storm.

Dane Hurst started dancing at the Toynbee Ballet School in Port Elizabeth and won a bursary to dance in London. He is now part of the Rambert Dance Company, the oldest ballet company in Britain.

Those concerned that the fabled delights of this most civilised of pleasure-loving Mediterranean capitals have been spoiled by endless belt-tightening should take heart; stately Athens has seen off much worse in its time.

My first thought was of the penguins scrambling down the beach to swim off to freedom while here was Mr Mandela, who would have to wait another 20 years, three months and two weeks for his walk to freedom.

‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’ is a beautifully-made, pacy linear tale. Parts are terribly visceral and gruelling, parts are pure South African bliss like sunrise over the Transkei hills.

Paul Herzberg’s experience as a conscripted soldier on the Angolan border inspired award-winning psychological drama ‘The Dead Wait’, which is running in London for the first time.

Screening in London this week, ‘Of Good Report’ is a South African homage to film ‘noir’ that tells the story of Little Red Riding Hood from the wolf’s perspective.

Dubbed the South African ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, ‘Durban Poison’ is a moody noir romance set among South Africa’s marginalised white underclass, which will be screened at the BFI London Film Festival this week.

Like last year, there are three South African films at the 2013 BFI London Film Festival. These are moody noir romance ‘Durban Poison’, ‘Felix’, a drama about a Zulu boy who wants to become a jazz musician and ‘Of Good Report’ about a paedophile school teacher, which was banned at its opening in Durban.

The debut novel by South African crime writer MD Villiers was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger and is a compelling read.

Just an hour and a half by Eurostar gets you from London to moules frites anwhich probably would have to be moules-frites and a glass of local beer in the Grand’ Place, a magnificent square encircled by elegant buildings and gracious shops. (Pause between moules to glance up to the facade of the Old Bourse to notice the black dots around the windows near the roof. Not high-flung graffiti but Austrian cannonballs lodged in the facade.)

The capital of Southern Morocco, Marrakech is not exactly a secret travel destination. Its enticing attractions have been known to the Arab world since the 11th century and to Western visitors since the late 1920s, when the famous La Marmounia hotel was created.

Geneva may be synonymous with international diplomacy, finance and a high standard of living, but this French-speaking, cosmopolitan city has much more to offer the visitor than politics and money.

There is nothing “new” about Moscow. It was always there and still seems like the original frontier town as it winds along the Moskva (Muddy) River with its streets a glorious mix of architecture, squares filled with golden-domed churches, elaborate Metro stations and grey concrete Soviet legacies.

Journalist, critic and Grammy-winning lyricist