Twenty-two South African films, 19 African first showings and six world premieres will be shown at the 2009 Tri Continental Film Festival, which runs from 11 September to 12 October at selected Ster-Kinekor and all Cinema Nouveau Theatres.
This year’s festival will focus on a variety of human interest issues, which range from local and national revolutions in Mexico, Iran, Nepal and Burma, to environmental disasters including Hurricane Katrina, lawsuits brought against Texaco in Ecuador, the global pollution of water, and the impact of humanity’s addiction to fossil fuels. The determination and stamina of women activists is also profiled in a number of films.
We are pleased to confirm a number of screenings with filmmakers in attendance, which means that audiences will be offered the opportunity to engage award-winning international and local filmmakers in discussion about their respective films,” says Rehad Desai, festival co-director.
The local film industry’s inspiring ascent is apparent in the crop of critically-acclaimed South African films that have been selected for the Tri-Continental Film Festival.
Sea Point Days from Francois Verster, Akin Omotoso’s Wole Soyinka: Child of the Forest and Lloyd Ross’s The Silver Fez are highlights for doc lovers.
In terms of drama offerings, the festival will host city wide premieres of Shirley Adams, the film by 25 year old Oliver Hermanus which has just scooped three awards at Durban International Film Festival, including Best South African Feature and Best First Feature and which will be theatrically released next year.
Also on offer is My Secret Sky, a whimsical journey that features an accomplished cast of child actors, as well as Skin, an award- winning SA/UK co-production that tells the true story of a black woman born to a white family during the height of Apartheid and features Sam Neill and Sophia Okenedo in the leading roles
As 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the most recent turning point in world history, The Fall of the Wall – 20 years later is a collection of films about the GDR presented in conjunction with The Goethe-Institut.
Ster-Kinekor Theatres is happy to announce the addition of three new sites to this year’s film festival roster. “We hope this will reach a much broader audience and spread the very strong messages told in these fine quality films,” says Michael Bender, Marketing Executive at Ster-Kinekor Theatres.
The Tri-Continental Film Festival will kick off at Soweto’s Maponya Mall on 11 September until 13 September. International and local filmmakers will be present to engage the public and other filmmakers about the specific form and content utilised in their work, with a number of special events happening before, after and between screenings.
The festival will then move on to Cinema Nouveau Rosebank from 14 September to 20 September, where many of the visiting filmmakers will also be present.
Another key element of this year’s expansion has been the addition of a three-day screening at Bedford Square’s Cinema Nouveau from 17 to 20 September.
Other sites include Cinema Nouveau, V & A Waterfront in Cape Town from 19 to 27 September, Brooklyn Cinema Nouveau in Pretoria between 1 to 05 October and will finish off in Durban at Musgrave Ster-Kinekor from 8 to 12 October.
A collaborative effort, between Tri Continental Film Festival, Encounters South African International Documentary Festival and the Southern Africa Communications for Development (SACOD), the 2nd Biennial People to People Documentary Conference will be held in conjunction with the festival. The conference will run from 10 to 12 September in Johannesburg.
Tickets to the festival cost R30 and are available online either on your WAP-enabled cell phone or PC, at TicketLine 082 16789 (value added service rates apply), in cinema at the self service terminals (SSTs) or Box Offices and at Touchmart Transaction Access Points (TAP).
For more information on the festival, please visit www.sterkinekor.com
