New perspective on issues to adopt

The Joburg Film Festival is under way and offers a variety in interesting animation

ART imitates life in Tito and the Birds. It is one of several animated movies that are being screened at the second Joburg Film Festival which draws to a close today but offers insights into the quality of independent cinema in Africa and the world.

In the film, Tito is a 10-year-old boy who has a knack for inventions. This is partly because his father, Dr Rufus, is a renowned scientist.

In fact, his father is well known for being able to make pigeons sing, and ultimately, bring healing to the world. But he goes missing and leaves Tito with the kind of daddy issues that most people can relate to.

When a mysterious outbreak occurs, and people start shrinking and turning into rocks, it’s up to Tito and his motley crew of friends to save them. But he needs the birds’ help to do so.

It’s an interesting story because of how it is told.

First, there is the visual aspect: every scene is created as an oil painting and transitions between them, sometimes happening at the swipe of a brush of colour.

Tito and the Birds is a well-paced, thought-provoking Brazilian film that has easy to follow Portuguese subtitles.

Angie Mills, who is the Joburg Film Festival director, says: “Tito was curated by Nick Wilson, who is our animation programmer.

“It’s a Brazilian selection, so it’s about this South to South conversation and to see what’s happening in terms of that kind of work.”

In the film, there is a nudge at working together and people becoming unified for a cause. There is also this idea people turning into these numb, hardened objects because of disease in the world.

Last, there is a witty, but wicked businessman who sells fear to the people. The nation is in mass hysteria because one person makes crime and hostility so hyper-visible, that people feel affected even when it’s hyperbole.

The emphasis on fear reminds one of another film that is screening at the festival: Rafiki.

The homophobia that has threatened to thwart the success of the Kenyan film can be viewed as based on fear.

Mills says fear was not a common theme when putting the festival together. “The festival was not created from that point of view. It was much more about rights rather than the inverse.

“A lot of people have taken films that are in the festival – like Rafiki – as a bastion of free speech.

“We felt it was an important story and it was an important story for Africa.”

Tito and the Birds is an important story. As is Funan, which is set in Cambodia. It tackles what happens when a people is placed into deportation camps, and families are torn apart.

There is also Fruititoons, offers a package of shorts.

The animated features are not to be thought of as mindless cartoons. They aim to make the viewer think, and perhaps, adopt a new perspective on issues.

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