The South African Eco Film Festival (SAEFF) will bring the world’s best documentary
films with environmental themes to South African audiences from the 26 March to 2
April. Tickets for the Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg screenings cost R45.
For each ticket sold, R5 will be donated to Greenpop, the Cape Town based tree-planting organisation.
“We’ve branched out,’ says Andreas Wilson-Spath of While You Were Sleeping, the
non-profit organisation behind the event. “After last year’s enthusiastic reception of
the Cape Town Eco Film Festival, we’ve gone nation-wide, sprouting offshoots in
three additional venues around the country. Our mission remains the same: to raise
awareness about the many pressing environmental issues the planet is facing
through the amazing medium of documentary film. We’ve put together a world-class
selection of films that both entertain and educate.’
In an exciting development, MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet, one of South Africa’s
biggest community fundraising programmes, has come on board as the festival’s
headline sponsor. “For the past 18 years MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet has been
working with schools and charities, helping to raise funds for education and social
development. By partnering with the SAEFF we aim to create additional platforms
through which to encourage community engagement on crucial issues and also to
inspire parents and children to become active citizens,’ says Helene Brand, marketing manager for MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet.
The programme includes more than 25 beautifully shot, thought-provoking short and
feature-length documentaries – 12 of which have never been seen in South Africa
before. Members of the audience will have the opportunity to vote for their
favourite film, which will be decorated with the Silver Tree Audience Choice Award.
“We think that documentary films are an excellent way of learning about
environmental issues, but unfortunately, they tend to be rather neglected on the
mainstream cinema circuit,’ notes While You Were Sleeping’s Dougie Dudgeon.
“This year’s festival includes a number of South African productions and we want to
share these magnificent and important films with as many people as possible. We
are also proud to announce that this year’s festival will be hosted at four intimate
and independent venues around SA: The Bioscope Independent Cinema in
Johannesburg, the Asbos Teater in Pretoria, Khula Dhamma Retreat Centre and
Ecological Farm near East London and, of course, the Labia Theatre in Cape Town
which remains our spiritual home.’
For Cape Town and Eastern Cape audiences, the Eco Kids Film Initiative (EKFI) is an
exciting new addition to the festival programme, featuring films made for – and in
some cases even by – children. “In order to nurture a social culture that is
responsive to youth’s environmental concerns we need to ensure that children are
aware of the relevant environmental issues and have a vehicle through which to
voice their concerns in a creative and empowering manner. I believe this vehicle
should be film’, explains EKFI director Tarien Roux. Each EKFI screening is made up
of a careful selection of short films which will be followed by a dynamic group
discussion. This year the screenings will be aimed at children aged three to six,
seven to 11 and 12 to 17. The selected films include a mix of documentary and
narrative type films, both live-action and animated.
To peruse the complete festival programme, including summaries and trailers of the
films on show, visit the official website.
