FOCUS ON FILM
The winter Durban film season sees five major international film events taking place in the city over the next two weeks, including the 39th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) and the Durban FilmMart, the Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers Congress (NEWF), the 14th Wavescape Ocean Festival and the BRICS Film Festival.
Getting ready for the focus on film in the Botanic Gardens yesterday were Russel Hlongwane, DIFF/Durban FilmMart; Pragna Parsotam-Kok, NEWF and John Mogashoa, BRICS Film Festival.
THE Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) opens this week with an offering of 180 features films, documentaries and shorts.
Opening the festival is the first feature film from South African director Jerome Pikwane, the horror flick The Tokoloshe. The LGBTQI lovestory Rafiki, directed by Kenyan Wanuri Kahiu, will close the festival.
Manager of DIFF, Chipo Zhou, said the two diverse films were chosen because they had women as their focus. “We wanted to book-end DIFF with films that tell stories about women, their strength and their resilience,” said Zhou.
“We are in a time of diversity, where women, racial minorities and LGBTQI communities, who have traditionally been under-represented in film, are having their voices brought to the fore.”
Among the features in competition this year are South African films Farewell Ella Bella, directed by Lwazi Mvusi, which follows a young woman on a journey to bury her father; High Fantasy directed by Jenna Bass, in which a group of young South Africans have to navigate a labyrinth when they wake up to discover they have swopped bodies; Sara Blecher’s Mayfair, a gangster film about a father and son; and The Recce by Ferdinand van Zyl, which explores the pain and suffering families endured during and after South Africa’s 20-year border war.
International features include The Tale (USA) directed by Jennifer Fox, which chronicles one woman’s powerful investigation into her own childhood memories, as she is forced to re-examine her first sexual experience; Clint (India) by Hari Kumar, which tells the story of prodigious artist child who died before his seventh birthday, leaving behind 25 000 pictures; and the closing film Rafiki (Kenya), directed by Wanuri Kahiu, which is set in Nairobi and tells the touching tale of two girls who fall in love.
Titles in the documentary section include the South African film Silas, a global tale directed by Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman, which warns of the power of politics and celebrates the capacity of individuals to fight back, and Whispering Truth to Power, directed by human rights lawyer Shameela Seedat, which tracks Thuli Madonsela, South Africa’s first female Public Protector, as she builds her second case against the then president, Jacob Zuma.
On the international front, there’s New Moon (Kenya), directed by Phillippa Ndisi-Herrmann, who explores her journey to Sufi Islam; Amal (Lebanon) directed by Mohamed Siam, which follows a teenager as she comes to terms with her identity and sexuality in a post-revolutionary police state; Shakedown (USA) directed by Leilah Weinraub, which chronicles explicit performances in an underground queer club in Los Angeles; and The State Against Nelson Mandela and the Others (France) by Nicolas Champeaux and Gilles Porte, which offers archival recordings, that include Mandela’s co-accused at the Rivonia Treason Trial.
Other South African films include Durban filmmaker Michael Cross’ award-winning The Fun’s Not Over, about the life of musician James Philips, and Eubulus Timothy’s warm, coming-of-age surf love story Deepend. Sisters of the Wilderness is Karin Slater’s inspiring film, which is set in the iMfolozi Wilderness and follows five young Zulu women on a journey of self-discovery, while Leli Maki’s comedy Table Manners sees a wife and mother who finds solace and hope in cooking, learning that all she needs is life’s three courses – family, food and love.
The festival continues to offer free screenings at Solomon Mahlangu Hall (New Germany/ Clermont), KwaMashu Fan Park, uMlazi W Section Library and The Workshop Amphitheatre.
Other screenings take place at Community ZA (formerly Artspace Gallery in Umgeni) and KZNSA Gallery, Musgrave Ster-Kinekor, Suncoast Cine Centre and Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
DIFF opens at The Playhouse on July 19 and runs until July 29. The closing film will be screened on July 28. For more information visit www.durbanfilmfest.co.za