South African comedy goes global: Ari Kruger talks The Shakedown and filmmaking

South African comedy has moved beyond Leon Schuster slapstick to stand toe-to-toe with international standards, says Ari Kruger, the director of Amazon’s first original South African film, The Shakedown. Kruger, co-founder of Sketchbook Studios, wrote and directed the film, the first original South African film commissioned by Amazon. The other co-founder of Sketchbook is his wife, Julia Anastasopoulos, better known as SuzelleDIY, who portrays Natalia Diamond in the film. The Shakedown follows a broker entangled in an affair that leads to extortion, prompting him to seek assistance from his brother in the underworld. In an interview with BizNews, Kruger said he is inspired by real life, particularly South African characters in the underworld. He said he sees “South Africanness as our currency” expressing hope that a global audience would find the film interesting. With the backing of Amazon, Kruger benefitted from a larger budget and creative collaboration that introduced an "international way of working.” Since the making of The Shakedown, the streaming giant has retracted from the South African market, but Kruger is optimistic that it will come back.