A slew of top new South African films and documentaries comprised the programme of the third Parliament Film Festival, which ran from 16 to 21 November in Cape Town. Feature films included Anthony Fabian’s Skin, Darrell James Roodt’s Zimbabwe, Shamim Sharif’s A World Unseen, Michael Raeburn’s Triomf, Confessions of a Gambler, Junaid Ahmed’s More Than Just a Game and John Kani’s Nothing But The Truth.
Documentaries in the programme were 50 Years! Of Love?, Durban Poison, Courting Justice, Iron Ladies of Liberia, Bhambatha, Jesus and the Giant. Affectionately Known as Alex. Angela On Our Shoulders, Congo My Foot, Baraka (Blessing), No Where Else To Go, Two Camps, Asikhulume – Let’s Talk, Martime and Thandeka.
The festival is a partnership between the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) in partnership with Parliament Millennium Project. Members of Parliament, members of the press, students and other delegates attended the event.
“Since its inception, the festival has maintained its objective to highlight the cross-cultural and diverse nature of the content that is being explored by South African filmmakers,’ said NFVF CEO Eddie Mbalo. “The festival has continued to celebrate and showcase the country’s high-quality film productions, and in so doing, is increasing interest and commitment towards the growth of the film sector.
“Some of the movies in the programme have reached audiences in rural areas as well as in townships across our nation. Through NFVF-funded outreach programmes in the form of national and provincial film festivals hosted over the past year, we move closer to our long-term objective to transform the traditional film-going audience to reflect the interest and preferences of all South Africans and language groups.’
The festival included an outreach programmes for children. In an effort to inculcate a film culture at a young age, children were invited to screenings and had an opportunity to interact with filmmakers through discussion sessions with them.
