IFFI 52, 030: BRICS film festival held alongside IFFI
“We are all from different cultures, different backgrounds and different thought processes; coming together on the same page to pick out a best film for this competition unanimously is quite an achievement”, said Rahul Rawail, noted Indian film director, editor and Jury Chairperson of the BRICS Film Festival, at a press conference at the 52nd International Film Festival today in Goa.
For the first time, the BRICS Film Festival...
IFFI 52, 05: Lifetime Achievement Award for Szabó, Scorsese; Saura’s The King of all the World, opening film
Legendary Hungarian film-maker István Szabó and veteran Hollywood figure Martin Scorsese will be honoured with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement award at IFFI 52. 83 year-old Szabó is a graduate of the Budapest Academy of Film Art, and is known for such classics as 25 Fireman Street, which was an IFFI favourite, Mephisto and his latest, Zár&...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
Introduction: Moonyeenn Lee (1944-2020), daughter of actress Shirley Hepburn, who became a casting powerhouse known for putting together actors in films such as BLOOD DIAMOND, the Oscar-nominated MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM, as well as HOTEL RWANDA, has died. Moonyeenn was nominated for two Emmy Awards for “The Looming Tower” and “Roots;” her legacy continues with director daughter Cindy Lee and her son David Lee. She s...
Greetings!
This Halloween season the independent Labia Theatre in Cape Town will be the location for our annual South African Horrorfest FilmFestival for the 13th time!
Access us at:
www.horrorfest.info
www.facebook.com/SouthAfricanHorrorfest
https://twitter.com/SAhorrorfest
https://www.instagram.com/terminatryx
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Siraj Syed’s IFFI 2016 diary, IV: BRICS by bricks
A film festival, with a competition section, was held in September, in New Delhi, preceding the Brazil, India China, Russia and South Africa (BRICS) summit, to which Goa played host last month. 20 films (4 each from member countries) were screened. Awards were given in five categories: (i) Best Film- Thithi (India); (ii) Best Actor Male- Thabo Rametsi (South Africa); (iii) Best Actor Female- Yulia Pereslid (Russia); (iv) Best Director- H...
The Durban International Film Festival opens on 16 June and the SA film industry is alive and well. The day is significant as it is the 40th anniversary of the Soweto uprising.
The world premieres of 2 local doccies and the SA premiere of Oliver Hermanus’ new thriller are some of the highlights. Hermanus made the gay film Beauty that won the Queer Palm.
Nobody’s Died Laughing is a theatrical-action-documentary that celebrates the life and work of performing artist and activist Piet...
Producer, Anant Singh and director, Oliver Schmitz announced with great disappointment, the withdrawal of their film SHEPHERDS AND BUTCHERS from the Durban International Film Festival.
Speaking from Berlin, Oliver Schmitz said, “It is with great regret that I support the withdrawal of SHEPHERDS AND BUTCHERS from the Durban International Film Festival. I had high hopes of premiering SHEPHERDS AND BUTCHERS in Durban. It has been the most respected South African festival for me for...
The Durban International Film Festival is pleased to announce that the opening night film of the 37th edition will be the World Premiere of the South African documentary, The Journeymen, the latest instalment in the Twenty Journey project. The documentary has been directed by Sean Metelerkamp and produced by filmmaker Jolynn Minnaar whose film, Unearthed, was one of the big hits at DIFF 2014.
Filmed as part of the Twenty Journey project in 2014, the year in which South Africa celebrated 20 year...
The annual Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) and the Durtban FilmMart (DFM) have announced the dates for next year’s editions, which take place almost a month earlier than the usual July dates. The DIFF will now take place from June 16 to 26, 2016 while the DFM will take place from 17 to 20 June, 2016
The events have been rescheduled due to a clash with the 21st International Aids Conference, which takes place at the end of Jul 2016. The AIDS conference will be using both the El...
Ron de Cana Productions' "Games People Play" won the Best Foreign Short Film award at the 2015 Ugu Film Festival in Port Shepstone, South African on September 13th. The panel of judges were writer Andrew Worsdale, the Durban-based director of "Poison", Madoda Ncayiyana, the director of "Izulu Lami" and David Forbes, the distributor and founder of Shadow Films.
This is the third award for "Games People Play". The film has previously won prizes at fests...
The Durban International Film Festival announced its award-winners at the closing ceremony of the festival’s 36th edition at the Suncoast Cinecentre, prior to the screening of the closing film, The Prophet directed by Roger Allers.
The international jury this year was led by former Manager of the DIFF and current Director of the Sydney Film Festival, Nashen Moodley and included prolific and award-winning South African filmmaker Robbie Thorpe, South African producer of numerous award...
I arrived in Durban, one of the world's top surf cities and a sub tropical paradise on 22 July and it's wet, cold and gloomy.
Allow me to quote eighties band A-ha when they sang "The sun always shines on TV". They sang about the unpredictable British weather; I am referring to what happens at one of the world's top film festivals.
It may have been wet and cold outside, but the impact of the two world premieres screened on 22 July and the sold o...
The award-winning and world-renowned French filmmaker Euzhan Palcy will showcase her most celebrated work, A DRY WHITE SEASON (1989), as part of the film’s 25th anniversary at this year’s Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). The film was adapted from a book by the acclaimed South African writer Andre Brink who died earlier this year. Palcy will be honoring Brink on Mandela Day (July 18).
Additionally, in a tribute to her contribution to the South African film industry, Palcy w...
The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) has announced its programme and the choice is amazing. DIFF returns for its 36th year of cinematic celebration. From 16 to 26 July, the city will be illuminated by the wonder and diversity of global cinema.
This year's diverse line-up includes an expanded focus on African cinema with a selection of Africa's Lost Classics and a showcase of this year's FESPACO winners. Other focus areas include a cross-section of contemporary cinema...
"Games People Play" has been selected to screen in the Ugu Film Festival in Port Shepstone in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa on September 13th, 2015. The film was written and helmed by Dawn Westlake and produced by her firm, Ron de Cana Productions. Starring David Razowsky, Mark Jacobson and Westlake herself, "Games People Play" features an original score by Alvarez-featured guitarist Gregory Johnson. "Games People Play" was shot on the Canon C500, thanks ...
CHAPPiE, Review: Narcotics and Robotics
South Africa, Canada and the USA come together in this science fiction/crime/human machines saga. To reduce the high crime rate in Johannesburg, the South African police force purchases armour-plated attack robots (Robocops?) from weapons manufacturer Tetravaal (Neill Blomkamp's 2004 short film Tetra Vaal is the basis for this film--not the Transvaal--released 11 years later), which prove highly successful and the company gets repeat orders. The rob...
The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) will celebrate its 36th edition from 16 to 26 July 2015. Presenting over 250 screenings of cutting-edge cinema from around the world, with a special focus on films from South Africa and Africa, the festival exhibits films in a diversity of venues around the city. DIFF is the premiere platform for the launch of African films and a key gateway to the African film industry. The festival also includes a local and international awards component.
On...
The Durban International Film Festival announced its award-winners last night at the closing ceremonof the festival’s 35th edition at the Suncoast CineCentre Supernova, prior to the screening of its closing film, Million Dollar Arm. The announcement comes as the festival rounds off a very successful year, with significant increase in attendance with many films screening to sold-out audiences. Festival Manager Peter Machen says of this year’s event: “I was extremely ha...
My last day of DIFF had 3 films and they starred strong women. The storylines are so different – one is a monkey, the other is an elderly Chinese mother and the third is a vampire.
Day 6 kicked off with the beautiful wildlife doccie called Amazonia in 3D. The film follows a capuchin monkey called Sai, who is dumped in the Amazon after a a plane crash. I would love to know how this was filmed. It is a tale of an animal that has to survive although she is tame. The soundtrack, only monkey...
My psychic was right... I visited the psychic expo before my first film of the day and the tarot reader told me I'm very relaxed and happy. She was spot on. How can I not be? I'm in Durban at the country's top film event with a smorgasbord of art and independent films just waiting to be seen.
The 3 films on my menu are superb, albeit for very different reasons. The variety at DIFF this year is outstanding with films for all tastes.
I kicked ...
Gone to far
Technical issues can be so frustrating.
Last year's DIFF was dogged by technical issues as one of the main venues switched over to digital just before the festival. I tried to put that behind me. Come 2014, I flew to the surf city in a positive mood just to be slapped through the face with technical issues.
My first day at the prime film fest in the southern hemisphere was, I'm sad to say, disappointing. Icehorse, the first fully improvised Dutch film, was suppos...
This year’s edition of the 35th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) sees a special focus on British Cinema. Supported by the British Council and its Connect ZA programme, the focus is Part of the SA-UK Seasons 2014 & 2015 cultural season taking place over the next two years.
In recognition of this season, DIFF presents a diverse snapshot of contemporary British cinema – including the strangely compelling Lilting, which tells the story of the triangular ...
The ever-expanding African film industry will once more be represented at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) 2014 although South African film retains the festival’s key focus, with 40 feature-length films and 38 short films – most of them receiving their world premieres on Durban screens, and collectively representing by far the largest number of South African films in the festival’s 35 year history.This year’s opening night film on July 17 se...
The 35th Durban International Film Festival announces Hard to Get for its opening night film
The Durban International Film Festival (July 17 – 27) is extremely happy to announce that the opening film at DIFF 2014 will be Hard To Get from first-time feature director Zee Ntuli and produced by Junaid Ahmed and Helena Spring.
The film tells the story of TK, a handsome young womanizer from a small community who falls for a sexy, reckless young thief named Skiets. Thrust into Joburg’s ...
As ambitious as it is unforgettably bold, shnit International Shortfilmfestival unfolds simultaneously in multiple cities on five continents, bringing together more than 30,000 filmmakers and film lovers in ways rarely experienced elsewhere on the festival circuit. Over its 12 days, shnit celebrates more than 200 short films of all genres and styles and gives away US$100,000 in cash prizes.
Information, registration and regulations:
www.shnit.org
