For two weeks in July Durban will host three of the most significant events on the South African film industry calendar – the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) and the two events run in conjunction with it, the 2nd Durban FilmMart (DFM) and the 4th Talent Campus Durban.
DIFF, the country’s biggest and longest running film festival, runs from 21 to 31 July and will open with South African filmmaker Sara Blecher’s debut feature film, Otelo Burning. Among the 10 other local feature films are Charlie Vundla’s How to Steal 2 Million, John Barker’s 31 Million Reasons and Oliver Hermanus’ Afrikaans-language film, Skoonheid.
At DFM (22-25 July) 10 feature film projects and 10 documentary projects by selected African filmmakers will be pitched to international financiers, sales agents and co-producers. DFM is a joint venture between the Durban Film Office (DFO) and DIFF.
Fifty emerging filmmakers from 16 African countries will take part in an intensive programme of workshops and master classes as part of the Talent Campus Durban (22-26 July).
DIFF has secured a number of titles from the recent Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d’Or winner, Terence Malick’s Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, as well as other Cannes films including Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, Play, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Source, Skoonheid, and The Big Fix.
“We are also very excited to host the African premiere of Viva Riva! a co-production between the DRC, France, Belgium and South Africa that has generated a huge buzz on the festival circuit and sold internationally,’ says festival manager Nashen Moodley. “DIFF is also delighted to screen the Egyptian film,’ Hawi by Ebrahim El Batout, which first appeared in Durban as a project at the inaugural Durban FilmMart in 2010.’
According to assistant festival manager Monica Rorvik, the crop of documentaries at DIFF 2011 is outstanding. “Position Among the Stars, by Indonesian-born Netherlands-based Leonard Retel Helmrich, is a work of genius. It is the Sundance- and IDFA-winning third part of a trilogy about an Indonesian family, a microcosm for the political situation in post-Suharto Indonesia.
“The film is riveting because of the amazing camera technique that Retel Helmrich has used for the 12 years it took to film the trilogy. He films each scene in a long, very carefully planned single shot and then edits other shots into that. Consequently, you engage more closely with what’s on the screen and you can’t take your eyes off it. Retel Helmrich works with the documentary format as if it’s literature. He will present a master class at Talent Campus Durban.’
Among the other big international documentary titles at DIFF is the Canadian production, Prosecutor, directed by Barry Stevens and produced by Peter Raymont. “This film is about the president of the International Criminal Court, Luis Morinho-Ocampo, who is trying the make the world accountable for its crimes. One of the prosecutors featured in the film is from South Africa,’ explains Rorvik.
Local documentaries include Ryley Grunenwald’s The Dawn of A New Day, Dear Mandela, by Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza and Mama Africa, about the late, legendary South Africa singer and anti-apartheid activist, Miriam Makeba.
Last year 24 900 people attended DIFF screenings. Festival director Peter Rorvik notes that audience figures increase incrementally every year. “In addition to a large number of screening venues around Durban, DIFF is committed to making our films accessible outside the city centre. We are pleased to present screenings every weekday at the Luthuli Museum in Groutville, North Coast, and daily at the Ekhaya Multi Arts Centre in KwaMashu.’
