The 16th Encounters South African International Documentary Festival opens to the public tonight in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
This year's selection echoes the current worldwide fascination with both Africa and South Africa, but challenges the hype of simplistic catchphrases like Africa rising' and '20 years of democracy.'
South African Selection
Encounters will feature two of the most acclaimed South African documentaries of recent years.
One of the most important films of post-Apartheid South Africa, Rehad Desai's gut-wrenching Miners Shot Down is a comprehensive and damning account of 16 August 2012, when the South African police shot and killed 34 striking miners at Lonmin platinum mine. Essential viewing for every South African, Miners Shot Down won at both Movies That Matter and One World, two of the most important human rights documentary festivals worldwide.
21 years ago, for ITV's award-winning TV series 7UP South Africa, acclaimed director Angus Gibson filmed a cross-section of the country's seven-year-old children and asked them about their lives, hopes and dreams. He's filmed the children every seven years since: first for 14UP, then 21UP, and now, as adults, for the BAFTA-nominated 28UP, screened on both ITV and Al Jazeera last year. The South African show is a spinoff from British director Michael Apted's multi-award-winning UP series, which is on The British Film Institute's list of The Greatest British TV Shows.
The South African selection also boasts five world premieres: Behind The Lens, Crumbs - Toppling The Bread Cartel, Diaries of A Dissident Poet, Spring Queen and The Vula Connection.
Liz Fish's Behind The Lens focuses on eight South African photographers - Benny Gool, Gille de Vlieg, Guy Tillim, Paul Weinberg, Peter Magubane, Rashid Lombard, Tony Weaver, and Zubeida Vallie - who saw themselves as activists first and photojournalists second during the Struggle in the 1980s.
Dante Greeff and Richard Finn Gregory's Crumbs - Toppling The Bread Cartel is the story of Imraahn Mukkadam, who blew the whistle on bread price-fixing in the Western Cape in 2006. Imraahn is still locked in a David vs. Goliath battle that is far from over.
Shelley Barry's Diaries of A Dissident Poet profiles James Matthews, whose Cry Rage became the first book of poetry to be banned in South Africa.
Spring Queen, directed by Emmy-winner Paul Yule, focuses on Cape Town's Spring Queen Pageant, which gives the city's clothing and textile factory workers the chance to be Cinderella for a night.
Marion Edmunds The Vula Connection is the untold story of the ANC's ingenious communications system during the struggle.
There are a number of other South African highlights.
Annalet Steenkamp's award-winning I, Afrikaner documents four generations of her Afrikaner family over the course of nine turbulent years as they cling to their identity in a scarred and increasingly unrecognizable country.
Jolyn Minnaar's Unearthed is the story of how she becomes an anti-fracking activist after an investigation that takes her across the globe to the USA in search of answers.
Abby Ginzberg's Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and The New South Africa explores the remarkable life of award-winning author and former Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs, who lost his right arm and an eye when South African security agents blew up his car in Mozambique in 1988.
Sean Drummond, Paulene Abrey and Luaan Hong's Outsider is the story of South Africa artist and provocateur Beezy Bailey.
Meg Rickards and Bert Haitsma's 1994 - The Bloody Miracle is a timely reminder of just how close South Africa came to a civil war.
African Focus
It's a sign of the times that three of the most high-profile documentaries in this year's international selection are set in Africa.
The Square, nominated for an Oscar and winner of audience awards at Sundance and Toronto, immerses you in the ongoing roller-coaster of the Egyptian revolution.
Executive produced by Brad Pitt, Big Men is a fast-paced tour through the high-powered world of African oil deals. Variety called it a real life Chinatown or There Will be Blood.
Finding Fela is Oscar-winner Alex Gibney's politically-charged documentary on Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti and the 2009 Broadway musical Fela!
Africa's diversity comes across strongly in the rest of the African selection.
I Love Kuduro is a crash-course in the Angolan cultural phenomenon taking the continent by storm; this is arguably the most kick-ass music/dance culture documentary since David LaChappelle's Rize.
National Diploma is an award-winning look at a group of students in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who take matters into their own hands when they are expelled after failing to pay their teachers unofficial bonuses.' Director Dieudo Hamadi will be attending Encounters as a guest of the festival.
Coach Zoran and His African Tigers is the hilarious, sad and moving story of an eccentric Serbian coaching the national soccer team in South Sudan, the world's youngest country.
The Iranian Film is about a Moroccan cinephile trying to make his graduation film in Iran; it's a wry love letter to Iranian cinema and the challenges of filmmaking anywhere in the world.
Jumping Into Life is the story of an inspirational performing arts school in Kenya that targets the over 80 000 youths living and working on the streets of Nairobi. It's proof that art can exist against all odds, especially where it is most urgently needed.
Keep an eye on www.encounters.co.za for updates. Encounters is made possible through the support of the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF), National Film and Video Foundation South Africa (NFVF), Bertha Foundation, Al Jazeera, Wesgro, City of Cape Town, The Times and HC
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
29/04/2024
29 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia announces James J. Robinson's debut feature First Light
First Light
Principal Photography is underway on Firs...
29/04/2024
Capitol Broadcasting recently became the inaugural company honored with inductio...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
27/04/2024
On April 26, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher E. Kubasik joined CNBC's Mor...
27/04/2024
PORTLAND, Oregon Audinate Group Limited, the developer of the Dante AV-over-IP solution, announced significant new additions to Dante Connect, its cloud-based D...
27/04/2024
TORONTO Bell Media has launched 10 English and French-language FAST channels featuring entertainment, factual, news, and sports programming. The new free stream...
27/04/2024
An extensive new analysis of the news segments in the broadcast evening news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS has found that broadcasters devoted most of their...
27/04/2024
GERMANTOWN, Md. EchoStar's Hughes Network Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility and private 5G incubation center in Germantown, Maryland....
27/04/2024
Harry Pappas, one of three brothers who founded Pappas Telecasting Companies in 1971, died April 24. He was 78 years old....
27/04/2024
ATLANTA and LONDON Mexican telecommunications and broadcast company Televisa has selected Synamedia for an overhaul of its broadcast distribution....
27/04/2024
Participate in the Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this surve...
27/04/2024
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 2024 NAB Show
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
SDVI, the leading platform provider for clo...
27/04/2024
Berklee's Music and Health Institute Launches Community Health Musician Cert...
27/04/2024
Charter Communications reported higher first-quarter profits despite continued cord-cutting and competition for broadband customers....
27/04/2024
Two environmentally-focused groups are partnering to engage the unscripted TV world in finding better ways to address climate change. Reality of Change is an ec...
27/04/2024
Sarah Garcia has been promoted to weekend anchor at KTLM McAllen, Texas, known as Telemundo 40. Starting April 27, she will anchor Noticias Telemundo 40 weekend...
27/04/2024
CBS Sports said it launched a new 24-hour free, ad supported streaming television (FAST) channel devoted to the UEFA Champions League....
27/04/2024
Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $35.4 million in compensation in 2023, up 11% from the previous year, according to a proxy statement filed by th...
27/04/2024
Art Happens Here With John Lithgow, which sees the actor study dance, ceramics, silk-screen printing and vocal jazz with students in Los Angeles, debuts on PBS ...
27/04/2024
Remember Leave It to Beaver? Bewitched? Dragnet? When cable ratings were rising?...
27/04/2024
Next up for the weekend binge at Catchy Comedy is Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Every weekend, Catchy Comedy features The Catchy Binge, a marathon of a classic sitcom....
26/04/2024
Sundance Film Festival CDMX 2024 kicks-off today with screenings in 5 theaters in Mexico City and the opening-night film, FRIDA, directed by Carla Guti rrez...
26/04/2024
[Editor's Note: This interview is part of a larger feature about the women d...
26/04/2024
Once again this year, SGL Carbon opened its doors to interested children and young people. On the occasion of the German Girls and Boys Day, which took place on...
26/04/2024
Orders1 of $5.5 billion; book-to-bill of 1.06x
Revenue of $5.2 billion, up 17%,...
26/04/2024
Five Considerations For Communications Modernization In The 21st Century
In the digital-enabled battlespace, the Joint Force needs to shoot, move and communica...
26/04/2024
CBS Sports has launched Champions League as a new, 24-hour streaming channel that will serve as the year-round destination for nonstop highlights of the UEFA ...
26/04/2024
Despite tough competition in the streaming space, Roku reported solid results in Q1 2024, beating revenue expectations, with total net revenue up 19% YoY to $88...
26/04/2024
LONDON AND TORONTO Pinewood Toronto Studios has appointed Sarah Farrell as general manager of the Studios in downtown Toronto....
26/04/2024
Quantum to Offer Advanced Filesharing Technology and Performance in StorNext and...
26/04/2024
FilmLight Colour Awards welcomes 2024 entries and introduces new Emerging Talen...
26/04/2024
Picture Shop Announces Chris Evans as Head of Unscripted
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
Picture Shop announced Chris Evans will lead Unscripte...
26/04/2024
Participate in a Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this survey,...
26/04/2024
Toy maker Mattel said it is working with Samsung to launch its first free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels later this year....
26/04/2024
Trusted Media Brands (TMB) said it named Marty Moe as president....
26/04/2024
Ron Howard is the director on Jim Henson Idea Man, a documentary that premieres on Disney Plus May 31. Henson of course created Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Big...
26/04/2024
The ice continues to melt under the regional sports network business as the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League have made a long-term deal to broadcast...
26/04/2024
Heading into the upfronts, Warner Bros. Discovery said it launched Olli, a first-party data platform advertiser can use for converged, targeted advertising camp...
26/04/2024
CBS has renewed the drama The Equalizer, which will see season five on in 2024-2025. Queen Latifah stars....
26/04/2024
The CW has entered into an exclusive multiyear broadcast partnership for the Miss USA Pageant and the Miss Teen USA Pageant. The 73rd Miss USA Pageant will air ...
26/04/2024
Fuse Media isn't mincing words in a campaign urging its young viewers to register and participate in the 2024 elections....
26/04/2024
Dead Boy Detectives, a series from Neil Gaiman about a detective agency staffed by ghosts, debuts on Netflix April 25. George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri are in t...
26/04/2024
The Story Collective has gradually repurposed the former Mortlake Brewery to include production offices, workshops and sound stages
By Matthew Corrigan
Publi...
26/04/2024
Perkett joins the company following a 25 year career in product management, product marketing, engineering and user experience (UX) across multiple industries
...
26/04/2024
Teradek, the industry leader in wireless video transmitters and receivers, announced today the launch of new Bolt 6 LT 750 and Bolt 6 Monitor Module 750 RX with...
26/04/2024
NEW YORK Amagi has appointed Richard Perkett chief product officer (CPO)....
26/04/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced the results of the 2024 NAB Radio and Television Board of Directors elections. The...
The 16th Encounters South African International Documentary Festival opens to the public tonight in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
