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Durban International Film Festival |
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As practice for the pending launch of the cutting edge new Film & Event Publishing website, and due to space constraints, I decided to review the 30th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) as a series of 140-character Twitter feeds. DIFF is South Africa’s oldest and largest film festival. Thursday, 23 July Register at The Royal Hotel, where the workshops are. Queen Elizabeth stayed here; she probably wouldn’t now, during renovations. Opening film was Madoda Ncayiyana’s My Secret Sky. Think Walter Salles or Majid Majidi. Child actor Tshepang Mohlomi (Chillibite) shines. Friday, 24 July The NFVF was supposed to introduce its Vision 2022, but the board hadn’t signed off. They’re expanding into distribution on Skin. Directors Revel Fox, Emma Franz, Roger Lucey, and Lloyd Ross discuss music in film. They all had musos in their films, so agree too much. Ice Man, directed by the Foster bros, kept my jaw on the floor. The true but bizarre story of Lewis Gordon Pugh, the human polar bear. Revel Fox’s autobiographical Long Street stars his daughter and wife. His daughter’s opening sex scene feels strange. Busi Mhlongi shines. Saturday, 25 July Peter Anders (Goethe) & Stephen Chigorimbo (FEPACI) discuss African film initiatives. FEPACI hopes to announce an African film fund soon. Newcomer Africa Caribbean Pacific is not part of Solutions to Film Finance, as they don’t arrive, so the usual mix of IDC, dti & NFVF. The DFO’s industry review was today’s most interesting session. They’re rebranding as Digital Durban and going after new media market. DFO and DIFF announced their partnership on first Durban Film Mart, based on Cinemart and aiming for 12 feature film projects. Oliver Hermanus’ Shirley Adams is a social realist feature about mother caring for her tetraplegic son. Some walk outs; three awards at DIFF. Hunger, Francois Verster’s suggestion, is 2 hours of shit-stained prison cells, abuse & starving IRA members. Social-realismed out. Sunday, 25 July State of the industry panel discussion is largely negative, overshadowed by the global recession and subsequent collapse of the SABC. Videovision’s Sanjeev Singh gives a masterclass in distribution. Others discuss piracy & video-on-demand via www.satvchannel.com. JJ van Rensburg’s Intonga is Karate Kid in the Eastern Cape. City priest teaches rural teen to box to stop bully. Bring on 2, 3 & 4. Savo Tufegdzic’s low-budget Crime: It’s a Way of Life has lots of walkouts. Kim Cloete is so irritating you mostly root for the hijackers. Naresh Veeran’s romantic comedy debut feature, For Better For Worse, should be a big hit with SA’s Indian community in December. Monday, 26 July Flying back to deadlines and art house burnout, but feeling positive about the varied state of SA film industry. I’ll be back next year. Monday, 3 August Press release arrived. Best Feature Film Award went to No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (Taiwan), directed by Leon Dai. Shirley Adams won Best SA Feature Film, Best Feature and Best Actress (Denise Newman) Emma Franz’s Intangible Asset No 82 won Best Doccie. Lloyd Ross’ The Silver Fez, about a Cape Malay music competition, won Best SA Doccie. Best South African Short Film was awarded to Coming Home, directed by Bobby Heaney and written by 12-year-old actress Amber Jay van Rooyen. Special jury mentions: the child actors of Izulu Lami; Francois Verster’s Sea Point Days; Nollywood Babylon; Andy Kasrils’ Miss Sgodiphola. The Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award went to Rough Aunties, set in Durban & directed by Kim Longinotto. Over 22 471 attended the 280 screenings, representing almost 5 500 more than in 2008, despite there being 26 less screenings this year. Kevin Kriedemann | |||
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