SMALL FILM, BIG HEART
MIBFF celebrates its 13th year
This is a city with no shortage of film festivals, paying homage to pretty much every genre and to pretty much every community. But in terms of relevance, there are few film fests to rival the Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF), the brainchild of founder Fabienne Colas, which celebrates its 13th anniversary this year.
Running from Wednesday to Oct. 1 at various venues, MIBFF will showcase 66 films from 25 countries. No question about the relevance factor once again — whether dealing with issues of diversity and inequities here or abroad. But add to that, films that shock and provoke and inspire and, yes, entertain, and you’ve got the makings of one must-see event with offerings that would otherwise not likely show up in these parts.
The festival begins with the staggering opening night screening of the South African gem, Kalushi: The Story of Solomon Mahlangu.
Among the other highlights: Kafou, Black Lives Matter, Dabka, Cargo, Marvin Booker Was Murdered, Boy 23: The Forgotten Boys of Brazil, Walking in My Shoes, Brown Girl Begins, Uprize and Amerika. It closes with José Maria Cabral’s acclaimed Carpinteros (Woodpeckers) from the Dominican Republic.
And don’t forget the world debut of the documentary Oliver Jones: Mind Hands Heart, directed by former Canadian track star and TV personality Rosey Ugo Edeh. The documentary, screening Sept. 30 at 3 p.m. at the Cinéma du Parc, focuses on Canada’s premier jazz pianist’s visit to Rio de Janeiro and his — alleged — final official Barbados concert last January.
Jones, who was paid homage with a concert last week in Little Burgundy, will also receive the 2017 Montreal International Black Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award.
The theme to this year’s MIBFF is Speak Up, and through the selected films and round tables, the fest speaks to the efforts of those who won’t be silenced, who seek to remind audiences that history forgotten is often bound to repeat itself.
That theme certainly applies to South African director Mandlakayise Walter Dube Jr., whose debut feature, Kalushi: The Story of Solomon Mahlangu, opens the festival Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Imperial Theatre. This is the powerful and poignant and all-too-true story of 19-year-old Solomon Mahlangu (powerfully played by Thabo Rametsi), eking out a meagre existence with his family in a ghetto outside Pretoria.
Life takes a sudden turn for the once-innocent teen following the 1976 Soweto townships uprising. He not only witnesses the most vicious forms of police brutality, but then experiences same. He then quickly becomes sensitized to the excesses of South Africa’s apartheid regime.
So Mahlangu joins the African National Congress (ANC), and, along with a few buddies, leaves South Africa to join a liberation movement of fellow exiles and undergo military training in Mozambique and Angola. His goal is to return to his homeland to bring about political and social change by whatever means necessary.
But no sooner do Mahlangu and his friends return, than they get accosted by cops before they have done anything. In an ensuing skirmish, Mondy (Thabo
Malema), one of Mahlangu’s cohorts, shoots and kills two civilians in trying to escape the police. Mahlangu shows up at the scene of the crime after the fact, and although he had nothing to do with the killings, he’s charged along with Mondy for the murders under South Africa’s barbaric Common Purpose Doctrine. Needless to say, he’s doomed. And needless to say, it’s a most explosive topic. The film is absolutely riveting, albeit most sobering, and the acting is impeccable.
The action seems so real at times that viewers could well feel they’re watching a documentary.
Featuring a cast of hundreds and an array of period sets, Kalushi has the look of a megabudget production. Not quite; director Dube pulled it off for a paltry $3 million. No surprise that it took best film honours at the Luxor African Film Festival, among other awards.
The wait was worth it for Dube’s first directed feature. Although he shot music videos and worked as a camera operator on numerous films, he has primarily earned his living as a professor of cinematography at a university in Johannesburg. But at 46, it appears his directing career will take off. In fact, because of the glowing reviews for Kalushi, Dube is currently developing two feature thrillers.
Dube was only six at the time of the Mahlangu affair, but he recalls the incident.
“I still remember the riots from that period. But it really shocks me that the Common Purpose Doctrine, an old British statute that had been adopted in South Africa, is still in force today,” says Dube in a phone interview from Pretoria.
“People are still getting arrested and going to prison for it (despite their innocence).”
Curiously, Dube, who had studied cinematography at the famed American Film Institute in Los Angeles, was prodded by his students to pursue Mahlangu’s story as a film.
“They were most empathetic to his ordeal, as well as issues of struggle and issues of our heritage. A friend of mine brought me more information on Mahlangu and I later met his family.
“So then I just felt compelled to follow through with this for my students and myself, and to honour the life of Mahlangu, who really contributed to the freedom we have today. I also wanted the world to know about his story. And I’m proud to say we have made a small movie with a big heart.”
Regardless of political inroads made in South Africa, Dube is under no illusions.
“On paper, life looks significantly better in the county,” he says. “Those who have managed to get a good education are living better. But the poor are still very poor. Living conditions remain harsh for so many. Unemployment remains high. Those challenges are still there. And the economy is still in the hands of the minority and doesn’t really represent the demographics of South Africa.
“So, politically, there is big change, but economically, the differences are still very vast.”