The Tri Continental Film Festival, one of South Africa’s leading and most well established film festivals, is including OUT OF FRAME in its line-up for 2008 – a tribute to the late filmmakers Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman and Ousmane Sembene. It will be presented as an independent section of the festival to take place at Cinema Nouveau in Johannesburg and Cape Town during August 2008.
The Tri Continental Film Festival will kick off from 15 to 24 August at Cinema Nouveau Screened by Fish Eagle in Rosebank, before moving to Cinema Nouveau at the V&A Waterfront (Cape Town) from 22 to 31 August. Film titles for the festival are sourced from Africa, Latin American and Asia and this year, the focus is primarily on hard-hitting social and human rights themes such as racism, homophobia, HIV/Aids, the plight of migrants and xenophobia.
In 2007 the world lost three iconic filmmakers in only 50 days: Senegalese Ousmane Sembene, known as the father of African cinema passed away at age of 84 on 9 June; Michelangelo Antonioni, the maestro of Italian cinema, departed 94 years old on 29 July; the very same day as the legend of Swedish cinema, Ingmar Bergman, at age 89.
Tremendously productive and non-conformist, their combined film production counts more than 110 films during a period of over 60 years – many of which would become seminal and constitute milestones in the history of film. Though lost to the world – Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman and Ousmane Sembene will live forever through their films which will continue to amaze cinemagoers and inspire filmmakers all over the world. Their contribution to the art of cinema is indisputable; artistically as well as in terms of the subject matters their films dealt with.
This tribute is one of many that are being paid to Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman and Ousmane Sembene all over the world and includes the following films:
- L’Avventura (The Adventure), Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960, 141 min
- L’Eclisse (The Eclipse), Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962, 118 min
- Persona, Ingmar Bergman, 1966, 80 min (courtesy of the Embassy of Sweden)
- Wild Strawberries, Ingmar Bergman, 1957, 88 min (courtesy of the Embassy of Sweden)
- Xala, Ousmane Sembene, 1975, 128 min (courtesy of M-Net African Film Library)
- Ceddo, Ousmane Sembene, 1977, 120 min (courtesy of M-Net African Film Library)
“OUT OF FRAME provides a rare opportunity for the South African cinema audience to experience part of a world heritage in film. Furthermore OUT OF FRAME will contribute to making local cinema goers in general and filmmakers in particular aware of the place of African cinema in the world and stimulating younger generations of African filmmakers to ensure that this place is upheld.’ – Seipati Bulane-Hopa, Secretary-General Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers.
OUT OF FRAME, and a host of other thought-provoking cinematic offerings with a social conscience, will be on offer at the Tri Continental Film Festival. The festival opens at Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg on Thursday, 14 August, with the African premiere of the Australian/South African film THE CHOIR. Directed by Michael Davie, this inspirational documentary follows the life of Jabulani Shabangu, an angry young felon at Leeuwkop Prison who tentatively moves toward personal redemption after joining the prison choir.
