A South African delegation consisting of an official from The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and local filmmakers will be attending the 58th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) which runs from 7 to 17 February 2008.

South Africa has been represented by a delegation at the Berlinale since 2004. The festival on an annual basis accredits more than 19,000 film professionals from 120 countries, including 4,000 journalists. Ryan Haidarian, Head of Production and Development will represent the NFVF and has given support to filmmakers, Yunus Vally, Kurt Orderson and Vuyisa “Breeze” Yoko and James Caroll.

Yunus Vally’s The Glow of White Woman, and Jerusalema (by Ralph Ziman), which stars amongst others, Rapulana Seiphemo (Generations, Muvhango, Tsotsi) and Kenneth Nkosi (Tsotsi, Kenny Makhenzo), have been selected for the Panorama section of Berlinale, which presents new works, by well-known directors, as well as showcasing debut films and exciting new discoveries.

“We are thrilled at the privilege of being selected for Panorama. The Berlin Film Festival is the perfect launch platform for the film,” says director, Ralph Ziman, whose first film Hearts & Minds premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 1996.

Mission To Barbados by Kurt Orderson, Biko’s Children by Vuyisa Yoko and Pinky Pinky by James Caroll have been selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus. The Berlinale Talent Campus invites about 350 young filmmakers from around the world to meet with experienced film professionals and personalities for a week of workshops and discussions.

“The NFVF is happy that there are two film projects from South Africa that have been officially selected by the festival, we are also pleased to see a good representation of South African filmmakers in the Berlin Talent Campus. Our support to these filmmakers is to ensure that they are able to get maximum benefit from participating in such a prestigious film festival,” says Jackie Motsepe, NFVF Head of Marketing and Public Affairs.

Mission to Barbados retraces the lost history of Kurt Orderson’s family, and the late 1800’s West Indian repatriate community that settled in District Six, Cape Town. These black sailors came with a mission to free Black Africans from White supremacy and followed Marcus Garvey in the Back to Africa movement. The film is scheduled to be broadcast on SABC2 in June 22 2008. Mission To Barbados is Orderson’s second project.

“We are most excited about the opportunity to be able to participate in the Talent Campus and proud to have been chosen as one of the participants from a total of 3500 film makers from around the world,” said Kurt Orderson, who is also the director of Azania Rizing Productions.

In Biko’s Children, Vuyisa Yoko goes in search of Biko and uses Biko’s philosophical mirror to force reflection. Two young black South Africans who use Biko’s image as part of their daily bread and butter are forced to make sense of his teachings and to engage in a meaningful conversation with their “father”. The film won the audience award at the 2007 TriContinental Film Festival. The film has also been accepted for Input SA and the Mumbai Film Festival that is scheduled to take place later in the year.

The Glow of White Woman Is about Yunus Vally’s life experiences. Sex and politics are the themes of this humorous and entertaining film, looking at white women in the dark continent and focusing on the forbidden sexual desires of blacks and whites under apartheid. As a Muslim kid raised in the racist, provincial town of Nelspruit, filmmaker Yunus Valley prayed five times a day and fully expected to end up in paradise. Born under a system that proclaimed white as beautiful, Yunus was convinced that the promised virgins of paradise would all be white. The Glow of White Women has also been accepted for Input SA and the Mumbai Film Festival that is scheduled to take place later in the year.