The 14^th Encounters International Documentary Festival is currently underway in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The Africa’s most prestigious documentary festival, which is supported by the National Film and Video Foundation as its primary sponsor, commenced on the 7^th of June 2012 and will run until the 24^th of June 2012.

The NFVF will host two sessions of In Conversation With..., one in Johannesburg and another in Cape Town as part of the festival. The Johannesburg session will take place on Thursday the 21^st of June 2012 from 15:00 at Avalon Cinema in Killarney Shopping Mall, where the NFVF CEO Zama Mkosi will interact with the filmmakers in a public forum for the first time. This session will also feature local filmmakers Pascal Schmitz, Sfiso Khanyile and Samora Sekhukhune who attended the Hot Docs documentary film festival recently held in Toronto in Canada with the support of the NFVF. The filmmakers will share their experience from attending Hot Docs and how they see the local industry benefiting from participating at the festival.

The Cape Town session will take place on Friday the 22^nd of June 2012 from 11:00 at 6 Spin Street Restaurant where Mkosi will again be in conversation with the filmmakers from this region for the first time. This session will feature Jenna Bass and Simon Hansen who attended the recent 65^th International Cannes Film Festival in France with the support of the NFVF. They will also share insight on their experience from Cannes and how they see the local industry benefiting from participating at the festival. Both sessions will be attended by local industry professionals who will also get an opportunity to interact and engage the panellists on their experiences from attending these international festivals.

Zama Mkosi said, ”I look forward to interacting with the industry in a formal forum, and to have a very constructive dialogue with filmmakers and other members of the sector. The two sessions will also provide a platform for filmmakers to share their knowledge and experience with one another. We always have limitations with regard to the number of people we can take to these international festivals due to budgetary constraints but we believe that having such sessions where those that we were able to support, are able to come back and share their experiences from attending, therefore empower the industry at large.”

Issued by Naomi Mokhele