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Democrats trailer --
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 11:23
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The new film by acclaimed Danish documentary filmmaker, Camilla Nielsson, tells how two parliamentarians from opposing camps undertake an epic, three-year journey to forge a new constitution for Zimbabwe.
A stony-faced Robert Mugabe, who is clinging to power after a violent presidential poll, makes little attempt to mask his disdain for the democratic project. The task falls to the ultimate political odd couple: high-minded opposition MDC-T statesman Douglas Mwonzora and his jocular opponent and collaborator, Mangwana.
Democrats provides unprecedented, exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to one of modern Africa s most gripping and previously hidden dramas of political survival at the highest level. On-screen intimidation and violence and, perhaps even more dangerously, off-screen political plotting, threaten the safety, liberty and lives of the two protagonists. They increasingly cling together despite their initial animosity as tensions mount.
The filmmakers accompany Mwonzora and Mangwana as they criss-cross the country in their SUVs, leading a nationwide bipartisan outreach programme. The documentary records the stated views of ordinary citizens on what their new constitution should say.
Well-drilled Zanu-PF followers stand beneath a tree, parroting an official line that all judges should be appointed by the president. Opposition supporters acknowledge their fears of openly expressing their views before also shouting out their political allegiances. Tell the ruler to let his children go, they sing.
Cinematographer Henrik Bohn Ipsen s still, wide-screen camerawork is a model of patient watchfulness, without being intrusive. It lays bare the moods of the protagonists, particularly as the scene moves to a series of identikit hotel conference rooms for the climactic clash of wills about the shape of the country s future.
But the heart of Democrats, culminating in the adoption of the new constitution by popular vote, is the running on-the-hoof interviews with Mwonzora and Mangwana. The audience watches as their relationship is slowly deepened by the complex game of political chess in which they are both players and pieces.
By turns vain and humble, but always determined, both reveal unexpected emotional strengths and weaknesses. Democrats is an unsettling tale of everyday heroism under extraordinary pressure as the two heroes journey of change takes them into a political storm that threatens to destroy them.
Theatrical screenings of Democrats will run from Friday, 2 December 2016 at the Labia in Cape Town and the Bioscope in Johannesburg.
The film is presented by the African Screen Network. The network have partners in over 15 African countries. The release of Democrats is presented in cooperation with Heinrich B ll Stiftung.
Watch the trailer here:
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