Durban International Film Festival Press

The 39th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), which takes place from 19 to 29 July, has announced its films and jury members for this year’s competition.

Award categories are Best Feature Film, Best South African Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best SA Documentary, Best Short Film, Best African Short Film, Best South African Short Film, Best Actor Award, Best Actress, Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Artistic Bravery, Audience Choice Award, Wavescape Audience Choice Award and the Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award.

Fiction section jurors are Bongiwe Selane, the award-winning SA producer with a string of credits behind her including her debut SA block buster feature Happiness is a Four-Letter- Word; Hakeem Kae Kazim, the well-known British-Nigerian actor who has  gained international acclaim for his performance in the Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwanda. He has countless credits in major international films such as The Triangle with Sam Neill, Pirates of the Caribbean III, X-Men Origins: Wolverine with Hugh Jackman and many more. Nse Ikpe-Etim Nigerian is a multiple award-winning actress who DIFF audiences will remember from her role in the celebrated Meg Rickards’ film Tess.

The documentary film jury includes Uzanenkosi one of the SA’s busiest and most prolific producers, who created InterSEXions the award-winning first of its kind, world over drama series that won an unprecedented 11 SAFTA awards. Nakai Matema, a veteran Zimbabwean producer who has produced several ground-breaking documentaries including Rehad, Desai’s My Land, My Life and Leo Phiri’s A Fighting Spirit from the STEPS for the Future series. Nigerian filmmaker Mahmood Ali-Balogun who has directed numerous films including multiple award-winning film Tango With Me, and has been on the juries of numerous festivals such as Cairo International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Abuja International Film Festival and African International Film Festival (AFRIFF). Dorothee Wenner is a Berlin-based freelance filmmaker, writer and curator who has been on the selection committee of Berlin’s International Forum since 1990 and serves as the Berlinale’s delegate for India and sub-Saharan Africa.

The Shorts Jury includes Alicia Price, head of the Film Department at SAE Cape Town and Leon Van Der Merwe, a founding member, chief operating officer, board member and director of the Cape Town International Film Market and Festival (CTIFMF).

The Amnesty International Durban jury is convened by its chair Coral Vinsen with members professor Margaret Daymond, Lazola Kati, Betty Rawheath and Nelvia Rawheath.

Feature films in competition are Clint (India) directed by Harikumar Ramakrishna Pilla; Farewell Ella Bella (SA) directed by Lwazi Mvusi; The Foolish Bird (Ben Niao) (China) directed by Ji Huang and Otsuka Ryuji; High Fantasy (SA) directed by Jenna Bass; Mayfair (SA) directed by Sara Blecher; The Movie Of My Life (O Filme Da Minha Vida) (Brazil) directed by Selton Mello; Pororoca (Romania, France) directed by Constantin Popescu; Rafiki (Kenya, South Africa) directed by Wanuri Kahiu; The Recce (SA) directed by Ferdinand Van Zyl; The Reports on Sarah and Saleem (Palestine, Netherlands, Germany, Mexico) directed by Muayad Muayad; Supa Modo (Germany, Kenya) directed by Likarion Wainaina; The Tale (USA) directed by Jennifer Fox; A Trip To The Moon (Un Viaje A La Luna) (Argentina) directed by Joaquín Cambre.

Documentary films in competition are We Could Be Heroes (Denmark, Morocco, Tunisa, Brazil) directed by Hind Bensari; Silas (Canada/South Africa/Kenya) directed by Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman; Whispering Truth To Power (South Africa/Netherlands) directed by Shameela Seedat; New Moon directed by Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann; Kinshasa Makambo (Democratic Republic Of The Congo/France/Switzerland/Germany/Norway) directed by Dieudo Hamadi; Amal (Egypt/Lebanon/Germany) directed by Mohamed Siam; Spell Reel (Germany/Portugal/France/Guinea-Bissau) directed by Filipa César; Shakedown (Usa) directed by Leilah Weinraub; The Silk and the Flame (Fei’e Pu Huo) (United States) directed by Jordan Schiele; The State Against Nelson Mandela and the Others (France) directed by Nicolas Champeaux and Gilles Porte.

All SA documentaries and features are also eligible for the SA Best Documentary and SA Best Feature awards.

DIFF is organised by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts in partnership with the eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, National Film and Video Foundation, Durban Film Office and other valuable partners.

The festival also features the Isiphethu industry programme, outreach activities, the Durban FilmMart, a co-production market in partnership with Ethekwini Municipality’s Durban Film Office, Talents Durban, in cooperation with the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Wavescape Surf Film Festival.

The 14th iteration of the Wavescape Surf Film Festival takes place at the Durban International Film Festival, headlined by the African premiere of smash-hit feature documentary Heavy Water, by California-based South African Michael Oblowitz on 22 July.

Heavy Water: The Life and Times of Nathan Fletcher will open Wavescape at the Bay of Plenty outdoor screening on Sunday, 22 July. The film is one of 22 films Wavescape brings to Durban this year, including features and shorts from Sierra Leone, Namibia, South Africa, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Canada, among others.

Wavescape director Steve Pike, aka Spike, says that the lineup for DIFF was one of the most exciting in years. “We’re honoured to have several other African premieres, such as the incredible story of Bethany Hamilton, who lost an arm to a shark; and the gritty documentary Secrets of Desert Point, a piece of pioneering surf history.”

Heavy Water promises an entertaining night out at the Bay of Plenty. “It’s a feature documentary, but views like an exciting action film. About the wild antic of big wave legend Nathan Fletcher, it also chronicles his relationships with the colourful, gritty characters of Hawaii’s North Shore. One highlight is when Fletcher enacts a dream to jump out of a helicopter with a surfboard right onto a giant wave, and surf it.”

Oblowitz has said about that moment, “In this movie, Nathan’s dream comes true. He’s the only guys that’s been able to successfully do it – and he pulls it off. It’s mind blowing.”

From Monday, 23 to Friday, 27 July, Wavescape moves to Arena 5, Village Walk, uShaka Marine World for five 18h00 screenings, which are free. The screenings at uShaka open with a lineup of three short films and two features, the soulful Perilous Sea and Church of the Open Sky, a master piece of surf filmmaking by Australian director Nathan Oldfield.

Wavescape closes with Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable, the untold story of Hamilton’s journey from childhood to motherhood and how she lost an arm to a tiger shark as a child. However, her relentless determination turns her into one of surfing’s great pro surfers and big wave riders, despite her disability. Bethany rewrites the phrase “Surfs Like a Girl”.

The midweek highlight is the documentary Secrets Of Desert Point, an excellent piece of historical story telling by director Ira Opper, who chronicles the story of how a young Californian and his friends stumble across a perfect wave in the early 1980s from leaky boats among the remote islands of Indonesia, but it was fraught with dangers, from drugs to pirates and deadly coral reefs.

Spike says there are also excellent films about travel – the quest for reach for something precious, like the soulful travels of a Moroccan who brings clean water to the poor communities of Africa while working his way towards the infamous waves of Skeleton Bay in Namibia. The Seawolf is pure surf soul as we follow “eight surfers on a two-year journey to remote places to find the most dangerous waves on terrifyingly shallow rock slabs. Filmed in high definition 4k on Red Cameras, this is a enriching viewing experience”.

Several films tackle the emotional side of the human condition, such as Finding Purpose, a short film about Durban big wave surfer Tammy-Lee Smith who finds purpose riding big waves after pain and loss. A Million Waves tells the story of Kadiatu Kamara, 19, who is left to face the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone alone after her dad dies. She finds hope surfing in the waves.

In Visit, we travel with a shy, former street kid from Durban on his trip to England to visit the land of the funders who saved him from disappearing down a dark and dangerous rabbit hole. There is Adam, an award-winning short film about a Cape Town surfer diagnosed with a chronic form of cancer; or Awen, in which we see the uncomfortable reality of a young Chinese man who clashes with his mother because she wants him to become a fisherman like his ancestors, but he just wants to go surfing.

However, beyond the pain of being human come films to celebrate the visual poetry of the natural world, and the spiritual enrichment that the act of surfing and being in the ocean brings. Sea Lone eulogises some of the world’s top women longboarders on a surf trip to Sri Lanka.

Shape Qui Rit is a cute short about a two year old girl who “shapes” her dream surfboard; Night Rose sees an elderly lady in England transported by a vision into the ocean for a night surf; Black Rain catches a session in the tropics that cracks with the sea surface chatter of a thunderstorm, while The Edge Of North follows top British surfers to Scotland for a refreshing surf trip on the doorstep of their home.

All Wavescape Surf Film Festival films at DIFF are free. Opening 22 July at Bay of Plenty at 19h00. Then from 23 to 27 July at 18h00 at Village Walk, uShaka Marine World.

A thriller/horror film and a LGTBI love-story have been selected respectively as the opening and closing films of the 39^th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), which takes place from 19 to 29 July 2018.

In a bold move to shift perceptions of how African stories can be told cinematically across genres, the DIFF has selected a South African debut thriller/horror feature The Tokoloshe, directed by Jerome Pikwane, for opening night and Kenyan director, Wanuri Kahiu’s tender story of lesbian love, Rafiki as its closing film.

“With the current global focus on giving women a voice in a world dominated by masculinity and systemic misogyny, we wanted to book-end the festival with films that tell stories about women, their strength and their survival. We also want to showcase, from a cinematic point of view, that there are many ways to tell these stories,” says manager of DIFF, Chipo Zhou.

The Tokoloshe is directed by Jerome Pikwane, co-written with novelist Richard Kunzmann, and produced by Dumi Gumbi and Cati Weinek of The Ergo Company.

In The Tokoloshe, which stars Petronella Tshuma, Dawid Minnaar, Kwande Nkosi, Harriet Manamela and Yule Masiteng, a young woman, crippled by suppressed emotions, must find the courage to face an insatiable demon, wrought in her own childhood, when she tries to save the life of a girl-child abandoned in a rundown Johannesburg hospital.

“Using the horror genre I wanted to investigate how we suppress trauma, and what happens when the trauma comes to the surface. In effect, the Tokoloshe in South African mythology has become a foil for abuse that is ingrained in our society,” says director Jerome Pikwane. “And the characters, their journey, their relationships are the focus and not the beautiful shots nor the CGI, although we have that too.”

“The film is not quite what one expects from its title, so I dare audiences to see beneath the surface,” says Zhou. “It is a horror film, crafted so intricately, unveiling the menace that is our everyday burden as women in this country. But the film depicts the story of a survivor, not a victim. It is a chilling story, one that needs to be told now and is particularly relevant as it gives voice to the voiceless.”

Closing film Rafiki, directed by Wanuri Kahiu, produced by Steven Markovitz and starring Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva, is a touching tale of two very different girls living in Nairobi, who fall in love. Co-written with Jenna Bass, the film was the first Kenyan feature film to be invited to Cannes Film Festival 2018 as part of the Official Un Certain Regard selection, and was a project in the 2012 Durban FilmMart.

“Over the years of developing this film, we have seen worrying developments in the anti-LGBTI climate in East Africa,” says director Wanuri Kahiu. “Local films and international TV shows have been banned because of LGBTI content. This has muffled conversations about LGBTI rights and narrowed the parameters of freedom of speech. My hope is that the film is viewed as an ode to love, whose course is never smooth, and as a message of love and support to the ones among us who are asked to choose between love and safety. May this film shout where voices have been silenced.”

“We are delighted to be able to screen Rafiki at DIFF,” says Zhou. “The film speaks to the issues of patriarchy that has led the film to be banned in its own country, and closes the festival with a programme packed with films dealing with a host of current challenges that those marginalised in our society, and especially women, are ‘loudly’ grappling with.”

Alongside the DIFF is the Durban FilmMart, a co-production market in partnership with Ethekwini Municipality’s Durban Film Office, Talents Durban, in cooperation with the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Wavescape Surf Film Festival.

One of Africa’s premier film industry events, the Durban FilmMart (DFM), a joint programme of the eThekwini Municipality’s Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) has ramped up its offerings to delegates for its 9^th edition, which takes place from 20 to 23 July 2018.

“The 2018 Edition of Durban FilmMart offers some exciting opportunities through a diverse programme of master classes, seminars and events for African filmmakers to build business networks, explore collaborations, develop content, benchmark their creative and production work in line with international trends, and look for investment and business opportunities,” says Toni Monty, head of the Durban Film Office. “But what underpins the DFM, is the focus on developing the industry in Africa, whilst drawing on local African and international expertise.”

“There are a number of lead speakers presenting at this year’s DFM,” says Russel Hlongwane, curator of the DFM and DIFF industry programme. “This year’s programme promises to stretch the mindsets of industry players, providing them with innovation and new thinking, coupled with opportunities to engage with successful and respected thought-leaders that include, amongst others, Dayo Ogunyemi (Nigeria), Stephen Follows (UK) and Peter Russell (USA).”

Dayo Ogunyemi is a Lagos-based creative entrepreneur, investor and founder of 234 Media, which makes principal and private investments in the media, entertainment and technology sectors in Africa. He offers an insightful presentation entitled Africa through the Lens that foregrounds African markets as lucrative territories. His presentation gives context and the state of regional film industries and economies across sub-Saharan Africa.

Stephen Follows will present a high level session entitled A Bird’s Eyeview of Global Industry Trends, which unpacks key shifts and trends shaping the market from an international perspective.  Follows is a leading trainer and thought-leader in how storytelling can be used to change hearts and minds, and data researcher in the film industry, whose work has been featured in the global major publications such as The New York Times.

LA-based Peter Russell is a screenwriter and story doctor in Hollywood whose clients include Imagine, HBO, Participant, Viacom and CBS Television. Peter will present a session entitled The Secrets of TV Mini-Series and Serial Stories & How Filmmakers Can Evolve Into TV Storytellers in which he will share the secrets of how film storytelling can be adapted into the red hot television storytelling market – both in TV mini-series and the serial TV form.

Panel discussions this year include Aesthetics of African Cinema which looks to explore the aesthetical and fundamental values that will define films from the African continent; Financing Films in Africa – providing insights into ways filmmakers can source and work the often hard and tricky world of financing structures on the African continent; Breaking through the Business of the Business will look at how to shift from being a “project based”  filmmaker towards a more “entrepreneurial approach” without compromising creative content; Distribution – Debunking the Myths; and Getting to the heart of your documentary features a diverse panel of continental and international professionals, discussing documentaries that set themselves apart from the rest and the success factors behind this.

Speaking to current issues, the South African Screen Federation will lead a discussion entitled, Are there any Sacred Cows in Filmmaking?, following the recent public debates around handling of sensitive social and cultural issues within film, and Sisters Working in Film and Television (SWIFT) will lead discussions on issues of sexual harassment, race and transformation in the industry. Other important discussions taking place include The practicalities and importance of Co-Production Treaties and Copyright vs Copyleft – where to from here? The National Film and Video Foundation will also present a series of workshops and discussions on policies and local industry trends.

Additional insightful sessions will include the Department of Trade and Industry’s launch of the Industries Film Incentives Guidelines and Emerging Black Filmmakers’ Fund Guidelines. The programme will include a set of discussions, led by the Department of Arts and Culture, on current and future collaborations within the BRICS member countries. Filmmakers will have the opportunity to network with member country filmmaker delegations in attendance.

The official pitching forums will include representatives from sixteen pre-selected African film projects that will be pitching film projects to leading financiers, broadcasters and other potential funders and investors at the DFM’s finance forum.

Running parallel to the DFM, and supported by the experts and visiting speakers, is the Durban International Film Festival’s open industry programme, Isiphethu, aimed at introducing entry level, emerging filmmakers, micro-budget filmmakers as well as interested members of the public to the inner-workings of the world of cinema.

Manager of the DIFF, Chipo Zhou says, “Our strategy for Isiphethu, in terms of industry growth, is to support filmmakers in developing content. But it is also about supporting the development of the quality of content, which may ordinarily be impacted on by the smaller budgets they may be working with. We want to be able to offer these filmmakers opportunities to incubate projects, be mentored by experts, network with seasoned and experienced peers, and be included in the overall vision of the DIFF and DFM, to grow quality African content. In short to include this sector of the industry into the greater industry fold.”

“Central to the objectives of the Durban FilmMart to encourage African filmmakers to look within to collaborate, finance and develop content,” says Toni Monty,. “We are very excited to see so many DFM alumni projects that have come to fruition, doing very well on local and international festival and cinema circuits and many with good distribution deals: these include films like Rafiki, Inxeba: The Wound and, Five Fingers for Marseilles to name a few. This is exactly the strategy created by the DFO and DIFF nine years ago, and it is heartening to see the long-term value it provides for the African film industry. This year’s programme is rich in diversity and complexity, and we are looking forward to seeing Durban come alive with a real buzz of the business of filmmaking.”

The 9th Durban FilmMart takes place in Durban, at the Tsogo Sun Elangeni from 20 to 23 July 2018, during the 39th edition of the Durban International Film Festival (19 to 29 July 2018).

Registration closes on 13 July 2018. For more information on the Durban FilmMart and to register as a delegate visit www.durbanfilmmart.com or for Durban International Film Festival www.durbanfilmfest.co.za

The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) will welcome 19 filmmakers from 13 African countries to the 11^th edition of Talents Durban, which takes place from 20 to 24 July during the festival.

This five-day development programme presented in cooperation with Berlinale Talents, an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, is made up of workshops, masterclasses and seminars for African filmmakers, delivered by film industry professionals and academics.

Talents Durban attracted over 250 applications from 30 countries throughout the African continent. Participants were carefully selected by an independent, international, womxn-led Talents Durban alumnae selection committee, with four animation directors, six directors and six screenwriters chosen, and a further three film critics chosen for the Talent Press porgramme.

The Talent Press, which is a programme to mentor and develop reviewing skills of emerging film critics, is presented in cooperation with Fipresci, an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world, which lobbies for the promotion and development of film culture.

The filmmakers participating in this year’s Talents Durban are Aliki Saragas (South Africa), Amjad Abu Alala (Sudan), Brian Gitahi (Kenya), Comfort Arthur (Ghana), Desiree Kahikopo (Namibia), Emamodeviefe Edosio (Nigeria), Glele-aboucha Cornélia (Benin), Howard Mashilo Nthite (South Africa), Jessie Zinn (South Africa), Mandimbijaona Andriamaharo Razafimanantsoa (Madagascar), Matamba Kombila (Gabon), Mlingane Dube (South Africa), Nildo Essa (Mozambique), Oluyomi Tolulope Ososanya (Nigeria), Oualid Khelifi (Algeria), Sade Adeniran (Nigeria), Sejang Otumile Tumi Sejoe (Botswana), Tafadzwa Tarumbwa (Zimbabwe) and Tokoloho Masemene (South Africa).

Participants will interact with over 600 delegates from the DIFF and Durban FilmMart, the co-production and finance forum that takes place from 20 to 23 July during the festival. The Talents will also participate in several project-oriented, hands-on skills development programmes. These practical development programmes within Talents Durban include Story Junction, masterclasses, and one-on-one mentorships.

The participants will be able to further develop their film projects through mentorships and expert-guided Project Labs. Sixteen projects will have the opportunity to join Durban FilmMart for a two-day preparatory workshop, followed by two days of public pitching, round tables, and individual meetings.

Story Junction is a platform showcasing projects linked to the festival. Talents will present their project at Story Junction to peers and industry delegates. Delegates will be able to request meetings with participants whose projects they wish to engage with further.

Participants will have access to film screenings, industry masterclasses, panel discussions, festival functions and events of the Durban FilmMart.

“We are very pleased to have such a diverse range of Talents for our 2018 edition,” says Chipo Zhou, manager of DIFF. “This is a brilliant programme for the development of film-makers, which the many alumni across the globe can attest to. Here, not only are they able to learn and gather knowledge through the formal programme, but it is a great place to connect with film-makers from other countries, network and share ideas. The value of this for continued and future collaboration is immeasurable.”

For more information visit the DIFF website.