Namibian actress and model Venantia Otto, winner of the Nokia Face of Africa competition in 2006, will walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival tonight, 24 May, for the gala Palme d’Or event. She is one of 14 Africans who are attending the festival as guests of the French Embassy. According to Vincenty Garrigues of the French Embassy Film Desk in South Africa, Otto is the first Southern African to walk the famous red carpet for the gala evening event
The other Africans attending as part of the French Embassy deleegation are Nashen Moodley, director of the Durban International Film festival, Ramadam Suleman, filmmaker, Angelita Mills, producer, Darrell Roodt, filmmaker, Christoph Ebner, filmmaker, Kgomotso Matsunyane, producer, Bridget Pickering, producer, Teddy Mattera, filmmaker, Peter Rorvik of the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Nadia Neophytou of Talk Radio 702, Volker Roder of the Windhoek International Film Festival, Clea Mallinson who was the winner in the cinema category in the 2008 francophonie competition and Jean-Xavier Dubois, producer.
South African films, including “Triomf’ by Michael Raeburn and “Zimbabwe’ by Darrell Roodt, were shown at the Pavillion for Cinema of the South. The filming of “Triomf’ was made possible with financial support from the French Ministry of Culture.
On Saturday, 17 May, a ’Journee Afrique du Sud’ was hosted by the Ministry of Culture to discuss South African cinema and its involvement in the Cannes Film Festival.
The Cannes Film Festival festival, which started in 1948, remains the foremost film festival in the world where films are viewed and sold on an international market.
Website of the Pavillon des Cinemas du Sud: http://www.lescinemasdusud.org/
