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Fokofpolisiekar Wins at Encounters |
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Bryan Little’s Fokofpolisiekar: Forgive Them For They Know Not What They Do was named Best South African Documentary at the 11th Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, while Brett Gaylor’s RIP: A Remix Manifesto was the Best International winner. Fokofpolisiekar received the highest votes overall, having sold out its four screenings before the festival had even opened, and a fifth soon after it was added. Narrated by fans and band members and using a mixture of mediums, the self-funded Fly on the Wall documentary captures the way the controversial band gave voice to a generation of young Afrikaners disillusioned with the church, the state and their Apartheid heritage. It could make a box offi ce impression when it’s released in September. Rewind: a Cantata for Voice, Tape and Testimony, Liza Key’s opening night fi lm, was the second most popular South African film. She told the story of Philip Miller’s composition celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which made music out of shards of recorded testimonies, from fragments of exhalations, intonations, moans, murmurs and gaps. Within a fairly traditional documentary approach, there are visionary moments, like the P.W. Botha “Who’s laughing?” sequence. For Which I am Prepared to Die was the third most popular South African fi lm. Lindy Wilson’s documentary told the story of her uncle, Hermanus-born Roger Bushell, who masterminded numerous World War II prisoner of war camp escapes. Roger was played by Richard Attenborough in the 1963 hit, The Great Escape, which also starred Steve McQueen. Francois Verster’s award-winning Sea Point Days was the fourth most popular film. The Emmy-winning director managed to tell a gripping, layered story full of visual poetry, with Sea Point holding your interest as the central character. Mark Kaplan rounded off the top five with The Invincibles, which brought burly Cape rugby players into the festival en masse to watch the story of the 1974 British Lions, which defi ed the mood of the day to tour Apartheid South Africa, citing a passion for rugby that surpassed their passion for politics. RIP chronicles the bizarre story of recent copyright law, examing music, medicine and other copyrights to make an impassioned please for the reintroduction of free speech and ‘fair use’ in all areas of culture. Waltz with Bashir, the Golden Globe Best Foreign Film winner, was the second most popular international documentary. Directed by Ari Folman, Waltz with Bashir is an animated memoir, forming a new genre together with Marjane Satrapi’s Oscar-nominated Persepolis. It explores the brain’s ability, both individual and collective, to suppress horrific incidents, like the massacre of Palestinian refugees that formed part of Israel’s 1982 invasion of the Lebanon. Burma VJ – Reporting From a Closed Country, directed by Anders HÇ¿gsbro Ǿtergaard, was the third most popular film, followed by Daniel Anker’s Music From The Inside Out, about the Philadelphia Orchestra. Rough Aunties, directed by Kim Longinotto, was the fifth most popular international film. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary, Rough Aunties tells the story of a Durban NGO, Bobbie Bear, which crusades for the rights of abused children by securing the child and then pursuing each perpetrator. I watched a number of other films during the festival, like Craig and Damon Foster’s Nature of Life, which presents a rare African perspective on global warming. Africa is again bearing the brunt of the rest of the world’s excesses, but Nature of Life focuses on the continent’s unique solutions, suggesting that the rest of the world has much to learn from Africa’s more sustainable mindsets. Franny Armstrong’s The Age of Stupid is less optimistic. The first documentary I’ve watched set in the future, The Age of Stupid reflects on why humanity has become extinct. Encounters’ final programme of 40 films, selected from a record 600 entries, included 20 local documentaries. The festival attracted 10 248 doccie lovers, 25% up on last year’s attendance numbers. The opening night had far too many speeches, which were all far too long, but everything was forgiven due to the obvious relief on the organiser’s faces that this year’s Encounters happened at all. When the SABC pulled out as a major funder, Encounters hung in the balance, but survived after cancelling its Joburg leg and launching a Friends of the Festival initiative. Worryingly, before the festival’s final screening, Encounters’ Nodi Murphy reminded the audience that no one knows how long it will be before anyone can rely on SABC funding again. She urged everyone to become Friends of the Festival to help in planning for next year’s event. For more info, please visit www.encounters.co.za. View the Fokofpolisiekar trailer here. Kevin Kriedemann | |||
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