The 3rd edition of one of South Africa’s largest film festivals, The Cape Winelands Film festival, will take place from 17 – 27 March 2010 in Cape Town and Stellenbosch.
Since the first edition, the Cape Winelands Film Festival (CWFF) has grown significantly in size and international participation. More than 70 features, documentaries and short films from over 35 countries were in competition during 2009. More than130 productions formed part of the festival programme, in total 62 features, 27 documentaries and 44 shorts from more than 35 countries. The 2nd edition of the festival had 32 international guests. The festival had almost 300 screenings in March 2009.
The main objective of the CWFF is to provide a window on world cinemas. Highlights during 2009 included a focus on Egypt, Israel, Brazil, Italy, Iran, as well as the former Yugoslavia (Balkan states). South African movie lovers had an opportunity to see a rich diversity of films from more than 35 countries including Brazil, the USA, Canada, Egypt, Iran, Israel, the UK, Netherlands, Portugal, Chile, Cuba, Italy, France, Thailand, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Russia, Serbia, Rwanda and South Africa.
The festival aims to build a rich film culture among South African audiences by celebrating great achievements of the past. During the first edition of the Cape Winelands Film festival the oeuvres of giants of the cinema such as Ingmar Bergman, Youssef Chahine and Ousmane Sembene were highlighted. The 2009 festival again paid homage to the great Egyptian master, Youssef Chahine, who passed away during 2008.
The festival organisers were also delighted to include a tribute to the great Portugese director, Manoel de Oliveira, an international film treasure, as well as a celebration of the
work of the great African director, Idrissa Ouédraogo, winner of various international awards at major festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and FESPACO.
Apart from the current partnerships with the City of Cape Town, M-Net’s African Film Library and the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, the festival organisers have formed new exciting partnerships with various international institutions, which will result in a rich blend of retrospectives, competition components and workshops.
Please visit http://films-for-africa.co.za/ for entry forms.
