Hello out there!

This is my first entry for my trip to the 31st Durban International Film Festival. The festival kicks off with the world premiere of the SA film, State of Violence, on Thursday 22 July.  I'll be in Durban from 28 July till the end of the festival on 1 August. More about my programme and what's to offer at DIFF in my next blog entry. First I have to thank the organisers for allowing me, a small-town journo, to travel to their city and attend their esteemed event. This will be my fifth trip and the programme looks as good and appealing as chocolate mousse! I'm also very glad that social networks are used more this year with twitter and facebook pages in the fold. My impression of a film festival is that you can travel from Iran to India and then to Scandinavia or Africa just by walking into the next screening. I love that and it's not possible at commercial cinemas where you almost walk from one American setting to the next American city! As film is art, I would also like to decide if a film is offensive or not and allow the festival to give me the opportunity to make that decision. The screening of the "gay zombie" film in Oz springs to mind. Funnily enough, Melbourne was in the news last year as well with the Chinese entry. Durban screened Lars von Trier's Antichrist last year and although everybody had an opinion about the film, the screenings went ahead. I cannot see anything on this year's schedule that will cause such controversy.

Signing off

Danie Jacobs