29th Durban International Film Festival

Cinema in all its diversity will once again be celebrated at the 29th Durban International Film Festival which runs from 23 July to 3 August. Featuring more than 200 films from more than 95 countries, spread over more than 300 screenings at 26 venues across the city, the festival will bring together established masters of cinema and innovative new talents from around the world. Alongside the presentation of the some of the year’s finest films, the festival will run an extensive workshop and seminar programme giving the regions aspirant filmmakers an opportunity to learn from and be inspired by some of cinema’s greats.

Under the banner Love Film, Hate Xenophobia, the festival will present films such as Darrell James Roodt’s Zimbabwe, which looks at the arduous journey a young woman makes from Zimbabwe to South Africa; Penny Woolcock’s Exodus which imagines a near-future England in which foreigners are incarcerated in a ghetto; the moving Canadian film Family Motel about Somalian refugees; Victims of Our Richness, which dissects the exploitation and brutality experienced by desperate Malian migrants; and a selection of specially commissioned films under the banner Filmmakers Against Racism made specifically about the xenophobic
attacks.

The selection of films will also see some of the world’s finest and most critically-acclaimed directors represented by their new works including Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park), Abolfazl Jalili (Hafez), Buddhadeb Dasgupta (The Voyeurs), Brillante Mendoza (Slingshot and Foster Child), Atom Egoyan (Adoration), George Clooney (Leatherheads), Andrey Zvyagintsev (The Banishment), Santosh Sivan (Before The Rains), Doris Dorrie (Cherry Blossoms - Hanami), Fatih Akin (The Edge Of Heaven), Takeshi Kitano (Glory To The Filmmaker), Jiri Menzel (I Served The King Of England), Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree), Josef Fares (Leo), Bela
Tarr (The Man From London), Harmony Korine (Mister Lonely), Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Ploy) and Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light).

Says Nashen Moodley, DIFF’s manager and programmer: “While the selection boasts a number of festival regulars and favourite directors, the very exciting thing about this year’s programme is the large number of new filmmakers represented. The festival of 2008 will be one of discovery: an introduction to and celebration of the next generation of cinematic legends.”


The festival will once again shine a spotlight on the cinema of Africa under the African Perspectives theme, presenting the World Premieres of Nothing But The Truth by John Kani, which is based on his popular play; My Black Little Heart by Durban’s Claire Angelique, a dark look at Durban’s underbelly; and uMalusi, directed by Mlandu Sikwebu and produced and shot by Jahmil X.T. Qubeka.

Other themes and focus areas include New German Cinema, Indian Cinema, A Focus On Italian Cinema, a selection of a number of films making up the European Union Film Focus, as well as a series of films on music. August is Woman’s Month in South Africa, and DIFF is pleased to
present films about women and films made by over forty women directors, including, amongst others, 3 Women by Manjeh Hekmat and Unfinished Stories by Pouraya Azarbayjani, both set in Iran; Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Frozen River by Courtney Hunt about two single mothers; a Palestinian woman’s struggle against Israeli paranoia and bureaucracy in Lemon Tree; Lucy Walker’s Blindsight about six blind Tibetan students climbing Mount Everest; Stephanie Black’s compelling unpacking of Bob Marley’s message in Africa Unite ; and the world premiere of Karen Slater’s 50 Years of Love which addresses the institution of marriage and its relevance in today’s society.

As the films unspool, a group of young African filmmakers will participate in Talent Campus Durban, an intensive 5-day programme of workshops held in cooperation with the Berlinale Talent Campus which forms part of the Berlin International Film Festival. Under the theme
“Producing African Cinema for a New World”, participants will benefit from both theoretical and practical approaches that enhance their cinematographic and creative experience. The overall objective is to empower a new generation of African filmmakers. In this period of
social unrest wrongly targeting “foreigners” the Talent Campus Durban, with its 40 participants representing 19 countries, can demonstrate the art of African collaboration in action and celebrate the creative strength of diversity.

Principal screening venues of DIFF 2008 are Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre; Nu-Metro Cinecentre - Suncoast; Ster Kinekor Musgrave, Cinema Nouveau - Gateway; Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre in KwaMashu; KwaSuka Theatre, and the BAT Centre, with further screenings in township areas where cinemas are non-existent, and a special programme of screenings at Luthuli Museum on
the North Coast.

Programme booklets with the full screening schedule and synopses of all the films are available free at cinemas, Computicket, and other outlets. Full festival details can also be found on www.cca.ukzn.ac.za or by calling 031 2602506 or 031 2601650.