South African short film selected for prestigious New York film festival

3 April, 2017 - 07:20

The Suit , directed by Jarryd Coetsee, which won the Golden Horn for Best Short Film at the South African Film and Television Awards has been selected to participate in the prestigious Schomburg Center's Best Of' film series in New York City.

The short film, based on the acclaimed short story by Can Themba, is set in 1950s Sophiatown and focuses on a cuckolded husband who forces his wife to treat her lover's suit as if it were a person. The film stars John Kani and explores the themes of adultery and revenge to make an important comment about the impact of oppression on personal relationships.

Director Jarryd Coetsee says: I think it's quite a distinction that such an esteemed American institution has recognized the broad significance of this story and the high quality of the work of our team. We look forward to sharing the experiences of The Suit and engaging with audiences in New York City.

The Schomburg Center is a research library of the New York Public Library and an archive of information on people of African descent worldwide. It was established by a donation of Scottish-American steel industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1901 and contains a vast repository of such valuable artefacts as unpublished manuscripts by Langston Hughes, documents of Toussaint Louverture and a rare recording of a speech by Marcus Garvey. As part of the Schomburg Center's rich history of collecting and preserving cinema of or featuring black talent across the African diaspora, the Center's Best Of' series spotlights a selection of the best short films from festivals in North America that express diverse global black experiences by emerging and established independent filmmakers.

The film will be screened at the Schomburg Center as part of the festival on Wednesday, April 19th 2017, and will be followed by a filmmakers' Q&A. The event will take place between 18h30 and 20h30.

The film was produced by Luke Sharland of Mandala Films in association with the National Film and Video Foundation and a partnership with AFDA. Music by the legendary Billie Holiday appears courtesy of Gallo Music and Universal Music. The Suit won the Best Short Film competition of the Scotland African Film Festival held in Edinburgh and Glasgow last November, scooped the Audience Award of the Cape Town leg of the Swiss Shnit Film Festival and opened the Mauritius International Film Festival. It received Special Jury Recognition at the Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Zanzibar International Film Festival. It also screened at the Red Bull Amaphiko Film Festival. The Suit will show in nineteen different cities in Belgium at the Leuven African Film Festival from the 21st April - 6th May 2017 and compete for the Golden Young African Filmmaker's Award (or YAFMA).

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Africa South Africa

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