Helena Nogueira’s rarely screened lesbian romance set across South Africa and a thinly-disguised Mozambique, was released two years before the end of Apartheid.
Alexandra (Jana Cilliers), a political journalist, is released from a South African prison after accusing the government of plotting military intervention in the neighbouring country of Mozania (a thinly-disguised Mozambique). As she waits to reunite with her lover, marine biologist Dorothy (Sandra Prinsloo), she reflects on the last few years, including her relationship and her political awakening.
Banned in its home country for its anti-Apartheid stance and the lesbian romance at its centre, Quest for Love is fiercely critical of South Africa’s intervention in Angola and Mozambique. While elements of its story have dated, its clear rage against racist government policy is remarkable for a film made in the last years of Apartheid.