-- Encounters Documentary Film Festival reveal its full 2016 line-up --
Fri, 13 May 2016 10:36
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Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore s latest offer to the Pentagon Where to Invade Next screened for the first time in South Africa.
2016 Guggenheim honouree and film veteran Werner Herzog s wild ride through the web Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World that just premiered at Sundance Film Festival.
The Shadow World an international feature documentary on the arms trade based on the former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein s controversial book.
Maya Angelou and Still I Rise a heart-breaking portrait of the achingly meaningful story that created one of America s finest writers.
South African director Nadine Cloete s poignant debut feature documentary on anti-apartheid student activist Ashley Kriel.
Introducing The Dutch Focus which includes the acclaimed Strike a Pose - Madonna s backing dancers tell their tales.
Two internationally acclaimed documentary film-makers are to screen their latest works in South Africa for the first time next month. Oscar-winning documentarian Michael Moore s search for a better life Where to Invade Next and German veteran film-maker Werner Herzog s ride through the online jungle Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, will premiere at the 18th Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival, from 2 to 12 June in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The line-up includes the world premieres of some ground-breaking and politically relevant South African documentaries said Darryl Els newly appointed festival director, plus several new South African voices, including a number of compelling debuts.
Soweto the Times Of Wrath by a group of young Sowetan filmmakers Siphamandla Bongwana, Jerry Obakeng Gaegane, Stanford Gibson, Nduzo Shandu, Asanda Kupa and Gontse More opens the festival. The film concentrates on those excluded from the so-called South African dream 20 years into democracy.
Poignant snapshots are captured by the directors supported by French JBA Productions, depicting a country wearied by endemic corruption with frustrated activists (young and old) continuing the struggle for greater equality.
Precious Metal, a UK/SA short by Isis Thompson, takes another look at the Marikana massacre only this time focusing on the women of the Wonderkop settlement. Theirs is a struggle against forgetting the tragedy and a demand for justice, despite continuing violence that ensues between rival unions and Lonmin. Other local shorts to look out for include The Silent Form Simon Wood s film grapples with the essence of the artist Dylan Lewis and his work and Roger Horn s beautifully crafted These Objects Those Memories focuses on the mementos that migr s carry with them. Both shorts receive their world premieres at the Festival.
Action Kommandt: The Untold Story of the Revolutionary Fighter Ashley Kriel Nadine Cloete s debut feature exposes the story of anti-apartheid student activist Ashley Kriel. This is the kind of documentary which we need in South Africa, said Els. It is one which makes us confront our past making the voices and the actions of those who fought against apartheid visible to us. Recently the Hawks have reopened Kriel s case.
Alison Uga Carlini s hybrid feature documentary on Alison Botha is a deeply personal and emotional story of triumph and survival.
International and local favourites
A number of internationally acclaimed portraits and documentaries which reflect on the challenging times in which we live will be shown in South Africa for the first time:
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise directed by renowned Afro American writer Rita Coburn Whack together with Bob Hercules pieces together the life of prejudice and oppression that made the seminal American author of Know Why The Caged Bird Sings the great, inspirational author whose name defies categorisation.
Jihan El-Tahri s revealing profile of Nasser offers a rare insight into the social justice agenda of an Egyptian president whose revolution and the Suez Crisis defied the West. Features candid interviews with revolutionary Free Soldiers, the Muslim Brotherhood and other political groups.
Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures Directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato trace the controversial artist from his middle-class, small-town upbringing to his success in the 1980s New York art world until his death in 1989 from Aids-related illness. The documentary follows both the pictures and the man, enriched by interviews with curators, celebrities, models, lovers and family from archival audio.
Shadow World based on former South African ANC MP Andrew Feinstein s acclaimed book on the global arms trade. Director Johan Grimonprez takes audiences deep into the murky world of illicit deals, corrupt governments and arms dealers worldwide.
Requiem for an American Dream, said to be the last full-length interview by one of the world s most important intellectuals. Noam Chomsky gives a definitive and thought-provoking account of global inequality and how wealth and power has come to rest in the hands of the select few.
A Syrian Love Story, director Sean McAllister s Bergmanesque portrait of love against a tumultuous political backdrop. With thousands fleeing Syria towards Europe, it is easy to relegate refugees stories to sensational newspaper headlines and political banners. This is the story of one man, the people he loves and the country that hates him.
Evocative films that focus on the plight of children will also be screened
Walking In My Shoes profiles the story of Siphilele who trudges 15km to school (spruce in the yellow school shirt he ironed that morning) and Nompilo who has to walk two hours home from school and must still fetch 50 litres of water from the communal tap. An informative film on the lack of transport facing
