Reflections on rights champions
Sisters of the Wilderness is one of the central figures and recounts his memories of the trial with co-accused Andrew Mlangeni. Also featured are lawyers George Bizos and Joel Joffe.
“Life is wonderful is what I cried out to my mother – she didn’t understand we hadn’t received a death sentence. This film is really for Bram Fischer and Joel, who so admired each other,” says Goldberg.
He adds that he was filled with emotion while reliving that period of his life in the documentary and spoke of Mandela proclaiming he was ready to die for his beliefs.
“I didn’t sleep well in the nights after revisiting those places because of the intense emotions, but you have to reflect on the positives, and when Nelson spoke those words, he spoke for all of us,” he says.
One of the top films made by women and featuring women is Standing On Their Shoulders by Xoliswa Sithole, which re-looks at the 1956 Women’s March and what it means for women today.
Karin Slater’s Sisters of the Wilderness focuses on the cultural and spiritual journey of five Zulu women who explore the bush for the first time.
The festival opened at the V&A Waterfront on Thursday night with the film Whispering Truth to Power in which film-maker Shameela Seedat documents former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s final year in office.
The film captures the Constitutional Court case on the powers of the public protector through to Madonsela’s investigation of former president Jacob Zuma for the final time.
Seedat’s first full-length feature film won the special jury prize, competing in the prestigious Hot Docs Festival held in Toronto.
Encounters will screen 70 films, 43 features, seven world premières and plenty of South African short films. The festival also hosts 16 international guests and 49 local feature and short film-makers.
Screenings are hosted at the Labia Theatre, V&A Cinema