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CineFAM SOUTH AFRICA SHORT FILM CHALLENGE AT DIFF AND DFM

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CineFAM SOUTH AFRICA SHORT FILM CHALLENGE AT DIFF AND DFM

CaribbeanTales International Film Festival, in partnership with Sisters Working in Film and Television (SWIFT), invites South African women filmmakers to participate in the inaugural CineFAM South Africa Short Film Challenge. The CineFAM South Africa Short Film Challenge aims to create opportunities to garner international recognition and global distribution and is presented at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) (13 to 23 July) and the Durban FilmMart (DFM) (14 to 17 July).

SWIFT is a newly formed organization that aims to advance the participation of women in the South African audio-visual sector. CaribbeanTales is a group of companies that produces, markets, and sells Caribbean-themed film and television content for global audiences. It includes CaribbeanTales Inc. a registered Charity based in Toronto, Canada; the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival (CTFF) which takes place annually in Toronto in September; the renowned CaribbeanTales Incubator Program, a development and production hub for original Caribbean content; CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD), the largest full-service distribution entity dedicated to the monetisation of Caribbean content; CaribbeanTalesFlix, our production arm, and CaribbeanTales-TV, a video on demand platform.

 The CineFAM South Africa Short Film Challenge aims to create an opportunity for female South African filmmakers to collaborate and establish creative relationships that stimulate the growth of content made by women. The challenge also aims to connect South African filmmakers with those in the Diaspora as well as a global audience.

SWIFT will present a preparatory workshop on no-budget filmmaking at the Durban FilmMart on Monday, July 17 from 12:30pm to 2pm at the Tsogo Sun Maharani Hotel. This workshop will provide participants with useful tools for making a short film with constraints in time, budget and other resources.  This is a free workshop and no bookings are necessary.

Following the workshop (which is not mandatory to enter the Challenge), the CineFAM South Africa Short Film Challenge will take place from 19-23 July and will be open to teams with the roles of writer, director and producers filled by women and queer filmmakers from South Africa. The theme from the challenge will be announced on 18 July on the CaribbeanTales website www.caribbeantales-tv.com and the teams will have five days to write, shoot and edit a film of no longer than 5 minutes. Entering teams need to feature female identifying crew in the key positions of writer, director and producer.

Completed films must be uploaded by no later than Sunday, 23 July at midnight (GMT +2) on the CaribbeanTales website. Teams unable to upload the films for submission, from their own internet connections, should contact cinefamza@gmail.com on the first day of the challenge to make arrangements for submission.

A shortlist of up to ten short films will be selected and posted on the CT website for online voting. The challenge will recognize three winning films including best story, best direction and audience choice. Two of these films will be given their World Premiere Screening at the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival and all will be given the opportunity to acquire distribution by CTWD.

“We are very excited to be collaborating with both SWIFT and Caribbean Tales on this initiative and hope it will lay the foundation for more cooperation between filmmakers on the continent and those from the Diaspora,” says Toni Monty of the Durban FilmMart.

 “South Africa is a natural partner to CaribbeanTales, and we are thrilled by the opportunity to provide a platform for women filmmakers. CineFAM, meaning “films by women” in Haitian Creole, is a global initiative of ours through which we spotlight to crucial voices of women in film.  We couldn’t be more delighted to continually expand the horizons for the kind of stories that we can tell,” says Frances-Anne Solomon, founder and CEO of CaribbeanTales.

Speaking on behalf of SWIFT Sara Blecher said “Short films are brilliant ways that filmmakers and their projects can get noticed. There are countless examples of how short films are precursors for feature films. We hope that through this process, women filmmakers are driven to create work that will start a process of getting recognition, attention and support to further develop their body of work.”

“We are delighted that this new programme to encourage South African filmmakers to take the short film challenge during the festival focuses on women in line with the Women Led Film theme for this year’s festival,” says Chipo Zhou, DIFF manager. “We look forward to seeing the creative results and perhaps seeing some of these films in our festival in the future.”

For more information, contact cinefamza@gmail.com .  For more information about the DIFF go to www.durbanfilmfest.co.za and for the DFM go to www.durbanfilmmart.com.

 

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The Shore Break takes two awards at Durban International Film Festival

The Shore Break takes two awards at Durban International Film Festival

Multi award-winning documentary, The Shore Break, about the proposed titanium mine on the Wild Coast, garnered an additional two awards to its already impressive resume, at this year’s Durban International Film Festival.

The Shore Break won the Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award and The DIFF Audience Award 

The Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award for the film that best reflects human rights issues which comes with a cash prize of R10 000 donated by the Artists for the Human Rights Trust went to The Shore Break, directed by Ryley Grunenwald. The jury citation reads “The film powerfully portrays a struggle within a local community regarding foreign mining rights in a pristine environment…(and) concisely and movingly uncovers this complex and urgent matter, which is still under investigation and in need of public support.”

All festival goers are given a DIFF voting slip after every screening to ascertain which film the audiences appreciated the most. Out of a total of 202 films (features, docs, shorts), this year the DIFF Audience Award went to The Shore Break.

"To have been voted as 'Best' by the DIFF audience, who I have always loved because they are loyal, diverse and exacting, is a real honour and a privilege," enthuses co-producer Odette Geldenhuys.

“Ultimately we make films for the audience so it is incredibly rewarding to have won another Audience Choice Award. We are so happy that the jury selected The Shore Break for the Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award. Representatives from the community affected by the N2 Wild Coast Toll Road and the Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project have said that it will certainly help their cause that their struggle is indeed being recognized as a human rights issue”, said director Ryley Grunenwald.

The Shore Break is an award-winning film that unpacks the dilemma faced by a rural community on South Africa’s Wild Coast as to whether to support or resist a proposed titanium mining project that could fundamentally change their lives forever.

Directed by Ryley Grunenwald, The Shore Break was a selected project at the 2012 Durban FilmMart, the IDFA WorldView Summer School 2013, the Hot Docs Forum 2012 and the Hot Docs Dealmakers 2013. It is co-produced by two South African companies, Grunenwald’s Johannebsurg-based Marie-Vérité Films and Odette Geldenhuys’ Cape Town-based frank films. It was incompetition at the recent International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IFDA), and was named the Best Feature Length Documentary at the 2015 International Environmental Film Festival (FIFE) in Paris.

The issues raised in the film have become more urgent following the announcement of the Wild Coast Toll Road which has been given the go-ahead following a statement by Minister Nkwinti on 9 July. It is the belief of many community stakeholders that this announcement is a pre-cursor to the introduction of mining in the area.  

 

For more information go to www.theshorebreakmovie.com

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/102621491

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theshorebreakmovie

Twitter: http://twitter.com/theshorebreak

 

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Digital stills, EPK and links to articles and reviews are available online: http://theshorebreakmovie.com/press/

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Million Dollar Arm closing night film of The 35th Durban International Film Festival

Million Dollar Arm closing night film of The 35th Durban International Film Festival

The Durban International Film Festival (July 17 – 27) is extremely happy to present as its closing night film Million Dollar Arm (USA, 2014) from director Craig Gillespie, starring Jon Hamm. The screening will take place on Saturday the 26 July at 7pm and the Suncoast CineCentre Supernova.

Million Dollar Arm follows a once-successful sports agent named JB Bernstein who finds himself edged out by younger, slicker competitors. While watching cricket being played in India on late night TV, he comes up with an idea so radical it just might work. Why not go to India and find the next baseball pitching sensation? Setting off for Mumbai, JB stages a televised, nationwide competition. 40 000 hopefuls compete and two 18-year-old finalists, Rinku and Dinesh, emerge as winners. But JB’s job really begins when he returns to America to try to get the two young men signed to a major baseball league.

Talking about the film, Festival Manager, Peter Machen, saiys, “Million Dollar Arm is a film that is both accessible and engaging, as well as being beautifully crafted and filled with great performances, making it a strong festival title, as well providing an enjoyable note on which to close the festival after ten days of intense viewing"

The winning films in a variety of categories at Durban International Film Festival 2014 will be announced prior to the screening if the film.

The Durban International Film Festival ends this Sunday, July 27 . The festival includes more than 200 theatrical screenings and a full seminar and workshop programme, as well as the Wavescape Film Festival, the Wild Talk Africa Film Festival, and various industry initiatives, including the 7th Talent Campus Durban (in cooperation with the Berlin Talent Campus) and  the 5th Durban FilmMart co-production market (in partnership with the Durban Film Office).  For more information go tohttp://www.durbanfilmfestival.co.za/

The 35th Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (a special project of the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Humanities, Cheryl Potgieter) with support from the National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development & Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, City of Durban, German Embassy, Goethe Institut, Industrial Development Corporation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture and arange of other valued partners.

 

Khalo Matabane presents “The Films That Made Me” at the 35th Durban International Film Festival

Khalo Matabane presents “The Films That Made Me” at the 35th Durban International Film Festival

Returning to the Durban International Film Festival (17 – 27 July) for the second time, The Films That Made Me section presents a programme of five films selected by a prominent South African director to bear testament to the films that have shaped his or her directorial voice. This year, DIFF is delighted to announce that it has invited acclaimed South African filmmaker, Khalo Matabane (director of State of Violence and Nelson Mandela: The Myth and Me), to curate a selection of films he considers influential in his cinematic career to festival audiences. The films will screen at 09:30 every day from July 18 to 22 (venue details below). Matabane explains his selection:


“Do the Right Thing directed by Spike Lee (1989) is a film that made a huge impact on me - the reason I became a filmmaker. It is personal for me – the race questions it raises are timeless, the humour and its stylistic approach; A Short Film About Killing directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski (1988) is a film that has haunted me for years - Mirosław Baka’s strong face, its strong anti-death penalty message and its artistic beauty. Kieslowski has made some other great films, such as Three Colours: Blue, but this film in particular has stayed with me; I am a big Scorsese fan. He is one of the few filmmakers whose early films I truly love with my head and heart. Raging Bull directed by Martin Scorsese (1980) is a film about broken men, about violence and, I would argue, is the director’s finest film; Hitchcock is one of the greatest filmmakers in the world - period. I love many of his films, like Psycho, but Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) is, for lack of better phrase, really a mind ****!; The title of the Decline of the American Empire (Denys Arcand 1986) I love because it captures the state of the world in which we live. Denys Arcand is truly an under-appreciated filmmaker.” 

Khalo Matabane was born June 18, 1974 in Ga Mphahlele, a village in Limpopo, South Africa. He has directed numerous documentaries, drama series, campaigns, commercials, taught about cinema and politics at schools. Along with his work as a filmmaker, Khalo Matabane also occasionally writes about cinema and politics. His first feature film State of Violence (2010) screened to critical acclaim at Toronto and the Berlinale. Set in Johannesburg, it is the story of a man who wife gets killed in what seems like a random act of violence. He goes on a journey searching for the killers only to find out that he is the son of a man he killed in the 1980’s during the struggle in the township.

Khalo’s newest film, Nelson Mandela: The Myth and Me will open the documentary section of DIFF on Friday,  18 July at 19:00 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.  The film seeks to find out if Mandela’s philosophies of forgiveness, reconciliation and freedom resonate currently in a world that is plagued with injustice and social inequalities. 

SCREENING DETAILS FOR “THE FILMS THAT MADE ME”:

·       Fri 18 July, Suncoast 7, 09:30: Raging Bull d. Martin Scorsese (United States, 1980, 129 min)

·       Sat 19 July , Elangeni, 09:30: Rear Window d. Alfred Hitchcock (United States, 1954, 115 min)

·       Sun 20 July, Suncoast 7, 09:30: Do the Right Thing d. Spike Lee (United States, 1989, 120 min)

·       Mon 21  July, Elangeni, 09:30: A Short Film About Killing d. Krzysztof Kieślowski (Poland, United States, 1988, 85 min)

·       Tues 22 July, Elangeni, 0930: The Decline Of The American Empire d. Denys Arcand (Canada, 1986, 101 min)

The Durban International Film Festival takes place from 17 – 27 July 2014. The festival includes more than 200 theatrical screenings and a full seminar and workshop programme, as well as the Wavescape Film Festival, the Wild Talk Africa Film Festival, and various industry initiatives, including the 7th Talents Durban (in cooperation with Talents Berlinale ) and  the 5th Durban FilmMart co-production market (in partnership with the Durban Film Office).  For more information go to www.durbanfilmfest.co.za

The 35th Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre for Creative Arts at the 
University of KwaZulu-Natal (a special project of the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the College of Humanities, Professor Cheryl Potgieter) with support from the National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development & Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, City of Durban, German Embassy, Goethe Institut, Industrial Development Corporation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture and range of other valued partners.

 

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Talents Durban at 35th Durban International Film Festival

Durban, South Africa: The 35th Durban International Film Festival (July 17 to 27) is proud to present the 7th edition of Talents Durban (formerly named Talent Campus Durban) – a skills sharing, development and networking platform or emerging filmmakers from Africa. Talents Durban is presented in collaboration with the Berlinale Talents programme of the Berlinale Film Festival with support from the KZN Film Commission, German Embassy, Goethe Institute and Gauteng Film Commission. Talents Durban, along with the Durban FilmMart (which is a co-production between DIFF and the Durban Film Office) forms part of the Durban International Film Festival Industry Programme.

40 filmmakers from 10 countries across the continent including South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Madagascar, Tunisia and Namibia will be in attendance. The programme consists of master classes, in depth discussions with critically acclaimed film professionals from across the globe, hands-on training programme as well as networking opportunities for selected participants.

Master Classes
Talents Durban participants will be able to participate in a co-production master class with French producer Denis Vaslin. Vaslin is a producer of documentary and fiction, and his titles include 40 Days of Silence, Solo, The World Belongs to Us, The Hum of Holland and Snackbar. He heads up a Dutch production company Voyla Films and co-owns a French production company Madra Films.

Australian documentary development expert, Julia Overton will present a Documentary Finance master class on Documentary Financing. Overton is a Development and Investment Manager at Screen Australia where she is instrumental in assisting filmmakers with getting their projects produced with local or international support. Overton has been involved in the development of several critically acclaimed films including The Snowman, A Good Man, Forbidden Lies, First Australians, Contact and Salt.

Talents Durban participants will also have access to a master class with pitch expert Stefano Teadly, a South African-born, Italy-based producer, director and pitch expert. Teadly has produced and directed numerous films including A World of Pasta, Doctor Ice, Coffee Please and Tea for All and the series Food Markets - In the Belly of the City. Recent works produced include Mostar United, Vinylmania and Char, No Man’s Island.  Teadly is a graduate of the EAVE programme and director of the Italian workshop, Documentary in Europe, has chaired EDN and is a national coordinator for INPUT. He also tutors film development and production at numerous universities and organizations including ; Biennale Cinema College, Cannes Film Market, Films de 3 Continents – Produire au Sud, Media Business School,Med Film Factory, Scuola Holden, TFL-Torino Film Lab, ZELIG Film School.

The above master classes will also be open to Durban FilmMart delegates.

Talents Durban will also feature a hands-on training programme including Doc Station, Script Station and Talent Press. 

Doc Station selects three documentary projects in development for coaching and mentoring towards participation in a public pitch at the DFM’s pitching forum – The African Pitch. Participants are given mentoring prior to the pitch and during preparations at the festival. After the pitch they are given advice from mentors on how to proceed with their projects.
Script Station is a script development programme for short films which pairs four participants with script editors who assist in clarifying story and getting to an advanced draft of their script. 

Talent Press is presented in cooperation with Fipresci, an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world which lobbies for the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests. The programme invites four critics to cover the films and events of the Durban International Film Festival for online and print publication.

The following are the selected participants of the Talents Durban:
Susan Wanjiru (KENYA), Christiaan Kritzinger (SOUTH AFRICA), Timoteo Edzeani Doh (GHANA), Donovan Orr (SOUTH AFRICA), Alexander Melck (SOUTH AFRICA), Jozua Malherbe (SOUTH AFRICA), Bahaaeldin Elgamal (EGYPT), Frances Bodomo (GHANA), Shane Vermooten (SOUTH AFRICA) Abdellatif Amajgag (MOROCCO), Mohamed Siam (EGYPT), She Mulinya (KENYA), Harold Holscher (SOUTH AFRICA), Udoka Oyeka (NIGERIA), James Walsh (SOUTH AFRICA), Diana Keam (SOUTH AFRICA), Willem Grobler (SOUTH AFRICA), Francis William Nicholson (SOUTH AFRICA), Zolani Ndevu (SOUTH AFRICA), Roger Young (SOUTH AFRICA), Sitraka Randriamahaly (MADAGASCAR), Fatma Azibi (TUNISIA), Perivi John Katjavivi (NAMIBIA), Manqoba  Nkosi (SOUTH AFRICA), Miklas Simeon Manneke (SOUTH AFRICA), Aidan Whytock (SOUTH AFRICA), Mustafa Aiman (EGYPT), Henok Birhanu (ETHIOPIA), Ofonime Inyang (SOUTH AFRICA), Terhemen  Agbedeh (NIGERIA), Monica Obaga (KENYA), Oribhabor Kelvin Aigbokhaevbolo (NIGERIA), Saskia  Schiel (SOUTH AFRICA), Morokwe Kaizer Mokgobu Mokgobu (SOUTH AFRICA), Ntuthuko Qwabe (SOUTH AFRICA), Caroline Doherty (SOUTH AFRICA), Mark Middlewick (SOUTH AFRICA), Kulanen Ikyo (NIGERIA), Penelope  Tshilwane (SOUTH AFRICA), Marcus  Hebbelmann (SOUTH AFRICA), Emma Bestall (SOUTH AFRICA)
 
“The Durban International Film Festival welcomes these filmmakers to the Industry Programme and are proud to present them as the future of African Cinema,” says DIFF festival manager Peter Machen, “The diversity of voices in this selection echoes the theme of this year’s Talents Durban – Continent of Contrasts/de Contraste – inspired by a revered elder of African cinema Djibril Diop Mambéty whose 1968 short films was entitled Contras’city (City of Contrasts). We hope this crop of Talents at DIFF will follow in the footsteps of giants of African cinema.”
Talents Durban takes place on 18-22 July within the DIFF Industry Hub at Elangeni Hotel on the Durban beach front.


Talents Durban is produced by the Durban International Film Festival and Berlinale Talents, and is supported by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, German Embassy in South Africa and the Goethe-Institut South Africa and Gauteng Film Commission.

The 35th Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (a special project of the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Humanities, Cheryl Potgieter) with support from the National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development & Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, City of Durban, German Embassy, Goethe Institut, Industrial Development Corporation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture and a range of other valued partners.

For more information go to www.durbanfilmfestival.co.za


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5th Durban FilmMart Project Selection Announcement

5th Durban FilmMart Project Selection Announcement

It’s that exciting time of the year again when the Durban FilmMart proudly reveal the names of the African filmmakers whose film and documentary projects have been officially selected to participate in the continent’s leading finance and coproduction film market.  The Durban FilmMart was pleased to receive applications from filmmakers from around the African continent intent on participating in the biggest edition of Durban FilmMart thus far.

Set to take place in Durban at the new venue of Tsogo Sun, Elangeni Hotel from 18-21 July 2014, during the 35th edition of the Durban International Film Festival (17-27 July 2014), the Durban FilmMart – a joint initiative between the Durban Film Office and the Durban International Film Festival - will serve as a meeting place for African filmmakers, financiers, broadcasters and top film experts.

“We are very pleased to note that the number, quality and geographical spread of project submissions are growing every year. Our evaluation committee had a tough job selecting the top twenty projects most suited to the Durban FilmMart programme and we thank everybody who submitted projects for their interest in Durban FilmMart.” said Durban Film Office Head Toni Monty.

The project selection process was undertaken by a Reader Panel consisting of African and international film professionals who were given the daunting task of moderating and scoring the 164 submissions, which consisted of 85 feature and 79 documentary projects.

Following the outcome, 10 fiction projects and 10 documentary projects have been selected for one-on-one meetings with potential investors and co-producers in the Finance Forum. This year’s programme will also include a full day pitch forum in which both documentary and fiction projects will be pitched to a panel of commissioning editors, funders and financiers.  Durban FilmMart participants will also have the opportunity to liaise with industry professionals during several scheduled networking sessions.

Many of the Durban FilmMart alumni have gone on to compete and premiere at festivals across the globe, including the Durban International Film festival, said festival manager Peter Machen.  “From Durban to Cannes, Toronto and Berlin, talented African filmmakers, including those selected to participate in DFM 2014, are making their mark in the global arena.  African filmmaking is on the rise.”

The following fiction film projects have been selected for DFM 2014:

 All Time Idlers (Egypt) - Directed by Khaled Hafez and produced by Hossam Elouan

The Boy in the Mask (South Africa) - Directed by Jan Lampen and produced by Jennifer Mostert              

Cold Stone Jug (South Africa) - Directed by William Collinson and Ashleigh Nash

Dances of Red (Namibia) - Directed by Oshosheni Hiveluah and produced by Tapiwa Mahaka     

Hawa Hawaii (Kenya) - Directed by Amirah Mohamed Tajdin and produced by Wafa Mohamed Tajdin

Nyanga Sky (South Africa) - Directed by Matthew Griffiths and produced by Rafeeqah Galant   

The Story Of A Kiss (Egypt) - Directed by Ahmed Amer and produced by Wael Sayed El Ahl          

The Train of Salt and Sugar (Portugal/Mozambique) - Directed by Licinio De Azevedo and produced by Pandora Cunha Telles   

Tree of Crows (South Africa) - Directed by Stephen Abbott and produced by Eduan van Jaarsveldt

The Wound (South Africa) - Directed by John Trengove and produced by Elias Ribeiro    

The following documentary film projects have been selected:

Afterglow (South Africa) - Directed and produced by Amber (Arya) Lalloo

Alex On Seventh (South Africa) - Directed by Engelbert Phiri and produced by Guy Bragge

Alison (South Africa) - Directed by Uga Carlini and produced by Amy Nelson       

Beyond the Barricades (South Africa) Directed by Zanele Muholi and produced by Joost Verheij               

The Colonel’s Stray Dogs (South Africa) - Directed by Khalid Shamis and produced by Steven Markovitz

Egyptian Jeanne d'Arc (Egypt) Directed by Iman Kamel and produced by Talal Al-Muhanna         

Home Expulsion (Rwanda) - Directed and produced by Kayambi Musafiri

In search of African Duende: The Uganda Flamenco Project (Uganda) - Directed by Caroline Kamya and produced by Keren Cogan

Kula: A Memory in Three Acts (Mozambique) - Directed and produced by Inadelso cossa

The Sound of Masks (South Africa) - Directed by Kofi  Zwana and produced by Sara Gouveia

The 5th Durban FilmMart takes place in Durban from 18-21 July 2014, during the 35th edition of the Durban International Film Festival (17-27 July 2014). Filmmakers who do not have projects as part of the official selection can still register as delegates for the event, and will have the opportunity to attend numerous cutting-edge masterclasses throughout the four-day event.  Registration is now open and early bird rates apply until 27 June.

For more information on the Durban FilmMart and how to register as a delegate please visit www.durbanfilmmart.com

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AFDA Annual Film Festival November 22, 23 and 24 – Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg

The AFDA Annual Film Festival, which showcases 3rd year, 4th year and master's graduation productions, will take place in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg the last weekend in November.

 

The festival is also a platform to promote the young professionals who will soon enter into the mainstream film and television industry. Students are required to conceptualize and produce their graduation films that, while of an artistically high standard are also commercially viable. At the festival a panel of industry professionals assesses the films and there are also opportunities for audiences to give feedback. The festival sees many industry professionals; alumni and general public gathering to celebrate the exhibition and promotion of these young film makers and their films at Ster-Kinekor in their commercial cinemas.

 

Last year student films such as ‘Kanye Kanye’ directed by Miklas Manneke, ‘Jean Pant’ directed by Rowen Smith, ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ directed by Thea Small and ‘The Brave Unseen’ co directed by Duan Myburgh attracted attention from major festivals such as the 34th Durban International Film Festival,  the New York City Picture Start Film Festival and others.

 

In addition the Cape Town AFDA campus will also showcase the work of the third and fourth Year School of Television students on November 18 at 17:00 for 18:00 till 22:30, food and beverage will be available. Working within the genre of the telenovela, third year students have written, produced and edited two stories. These projects are entirely the students’ own work: from conceptualizing the storyline, creating characters, set building and design, to the final product. Guests will have the opportunity to view a live broadcast of these two offerings on CTV Channel 263 on the DSTV.

 

Also in Cape Town the fourth years’ work takes on the form of the Documentary.  And once again these stories were conceived, set-up, scripted, shot and edited entirely by the students.  The film makers have approached issues and topics ranging from the despair of drug addiction and the sometimes successful search for hope and regeneration (Turning Point), to accepting the “call” to be a sangoma in the modern day post-Apartheid South Africa, (Isilawu), as well as attempting to address the sticky issue of informal settlements set against the backdrop of the fundamental right to own and protect one’s property (Isiqalo).

 

“This year’s festival will be just as exciting as in previous years,” says Garth Holmes, AFDA Chairman and co-founder, “Students have really put everything into their projects and I look forward to seeing their work on the big screen in a formal cinema and with a willing audience.”

 

The Film Festival takes place in Johannesburg at the Rosebank Cinema Nouveau on Friday and Saturday 22 and 23 November, in Cape Town at the V & A Cinema Nouveau on Saturday and Sunday 23 and 24 November and at the AFDA Durban Campus at 2A Highdale Road, Glen Anil in Glenashley on Saturday, 23 November. Tickets are R20 per screening in Cape Town, R25 in Johannesburg and R20 once-off festival entry in Durban.

 

For more information contact AFDA Johannesburg on (011) 482-8345, AFDA Durban on (031) 569-2252, AFDA Cape Town on (021) 448-7600 or log onto www.afda.co.za. The student films will be available on line on the website after the festival.

 

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