Newtown festival for 2010 World Cup

Newtown, Johannesburg’s creative hub is gearing up for a six-week long festival extravaganza of arts, culture, entertainment and literature which will showcase South Africa and Africa to international visitors.

The Newtown 2010 Festival has been made possible by a grant of R3,109-million awarded to the Newtown Management District (NMD) by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF), and forms part of the NMD’s plans for marketing the area.

This cultural festival, with Some of the events will kick off in late May, prior to the start of the 2010 World Cup on 11 June. The festival will include film, music, dance, theatre, spoken-word poetry, literature, craft, photography, science, free outdoor performances and visual art held in a variety of indoor and outdoor venues.

On the film side, a selection of the continent’s best cinematic offerings will be screened during the 4th annual Africa on Screen Film Festival at Museum Africa from 24 June to 4 July. The film festival is funded by the Gauteng Film Office. In addition, the Soccer Film Festival will be held at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre and will screen more than 25 feature films, documentaries and shorts, all related to the Beautiful Game.

The main programme at Museum Africa includes free screenings daily and workshops, while the Sci Bono screenings will be included in the R25 entry fee to the centre. Films from across Africa will be screened, including South African titles such as John Kani’s Nothing but the Truth, Rod Hay’s Search for Glory, More than Just a Game starring Presley Chweneyagae and Dumisani Nhlapo’s The Game of My Life.