A selection of global celluloid gems will be screened as part of the 2007 Durban International Film Festival from 21 June to 1 July. The screenings will take place at Ster-Kinekor Musgrave and Cinema Nouveau screened by Jameson Gateway in Durban
This filmic feast, which includes some of the finest new offerings in contemporary world cinema, is part of Durban’s 28th annual festival of film, which this year features over 200 films spread over more than 300 screenings at 24 venues across the Durban district.
Ster-Kinekor Musgrave’s selection of almost 40 films includes the documentary Youssou N’Dour: Return to Goree in which the renowned African singer travels to perform on the island of Goree – closely associated with the slave trade. The festival also boasts the Cannes award-winning first feature film to come out of Paraguay in three decades; Paraguayan Hammock (HAMACA PARAGUAYA). The Australian drama Tan Lines is described as a “gay surf movie’, a “coming-of-age’ story, and a punk’s view of teenage sexuality.
African films are prominent in the festival. Highlights include South African Darrell James Roodt’s lion-stalker flick, Prey, and an exploration of immigration and integration in Juju Factory by Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda from the DRC.
Master filmmaker Lars von Trier’s The Boss of it All (DIREKTØREN FOR DET HELE) also features at Musgrave, as does Opera Jaw, an audacious contemporary Indonesian adaptation of the Sanskrit epic, The Ramayana.
Highlights from Cinema Nouveau screened by Jameson’s equally vast festival selection at Gateway include the highly anticipated anthology Paris Je T’aime in which some of cinema’s great directors present short tributes to romance and Paris.
The greed of corporate America comes under scrutiny in the documentary In Debt we Trust: America Before the Bubble Bursts while Still Life, winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, is a Chinese drama set against the backdrop of the controversial Three Gorges Dam.
Russia’s dark comedy Playing the Victim (IZOBRAJAYA ZHERTVY) is a modern interpretation of Hamlet, which scooped the Best Film prize at the Rome Film Festival. Aviva My Love is another award-winning notable (six Israeli Academy Awards) in which a hardworking cook finds herself on the brink of fulfilling her lifelong dream. And, himself no stranger to many accolades, Kenneth Branagh directs The Magic Flute, a spectacular interpretation of Mozart’s classic opera, with a libretto by Stephen Fry.
Durban International Film Festival programme booklets with the full screening schedule and synopses of all the films are available free at cinemas. For more info, go to www.sterkinekor.com
