80 feature films, 20 documentaries, and 66 short films selected for CTIFMF

The curated selection includes a significant amount of African content amongst the independent feature films, short films, and documentaries. This year’s particular focus areas are New Voices (first-time feature directors), That’s So Gay (new LGBTQ releases), and Cinema of Conscience.

CTIFMF 2017 from CTIFM&F on Vimeo.

CTIFMF festival director Leon van der Merwe has this to say of this year’s selection: “This year we will present more films, including short and feature documentaries, submitted by filmmakers from more than 78 countries around the world. From the more than 700 entries we received more than 80 feature films, 20 documentaries, and 66 short films were selected. It was encouraging to see more filmmakers from Africa submitting their films to the film festival and supports our theme of create collaborate and celebrate. Woman in film and also woman film directors rose in their numbers since last year. We celebrate and congratulate the extraordinary group of talented filmmakers who have employed their skills and craft in the exploration of social, cultural, economic, and political subjects. We are extremely excited for this year’s festival. We believe that the CTIFMF provides one more outlet to local and international filmmakers.”

Films that will screen include a range of world premieres and the festival will play host to a number of respected filmmakers from across South Africa, the rest of the continent, and the globe.

Films from as far afield as Japan, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Russia, Germany, Romania, the UK, Indonesia and the Philippines will be joined from a selection from across Africa including Ghana, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Niger, and Tanzania.

Kenya is especially well represented by two films; the much-celebrated film Rafiki from the multi-award winning director Kanuri Kahiu, along with the beautifully moving Supa Modo, directed by Likarion Wainaina.

Rafiki (Friend) was inspired by Ugandan Monica Arac de Nyeko's 2007 Caine Prize Winning short story Jambula Tree, Rafiki is the story of friendship and tender love that grows between two young women, Kena and Ziki, amidst family and political pressures. The film had its international premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.  Rafiki was banned by Kenya's Film and Classification Board (KFCB) due to its homosexual theme, which in Kenya is contrary to the law.

Supa Modo tells the story of a young girl whose dream of becoming a superhero is threatened by terminal illness, inspiring her village to rally together to make her dream come true. This uplifting debut film for Likarion Wainana has won seven awards at various international film festivals.

South Africa is strongly represented with no less than 10 South African feature films in competition. Captive (Ko nkanga) from director David Kabale tells the story of an immigrant woman, who after moving into her aunt’s house, experiences sexual abuse at the hands of her in-law. She must now make a choice of whether to submit or fight.

Joseph Jones Umba’s Epiphany is a thoroughly modern story. After a clerical insemination error, an acquiescent woman must choose between her conservative husband and a child that has eluded her for so long.

Included in the selection is also a strong contingent of women filmmakers, including the world premiere event for the film Cut Out Girls, a Cape Town-made South African film from director Nicola Hanekom that is loosely based on her award-winning stage play that deals with the uneasy subject of date rape.

The coming-of-age tale from Iranian filmmaker Sadaf Foroughi, Ava has won multiple awards including the Toronto International Film Festival 2017 and the Discovery - International Critics' Award (FIPRESCI).

Other noteworthy films include from the Philippines, The Eternity Between Seconds and The Great Buddah+. The Eternity Between Seconds is a romance about two strangers who meet in Korea and form an intimate relationship as they bond over their loneliness, conversations, and neuroses and is directed by Alec Figuracion.  

The Great Buddah+ is Tawain director Hsin-yao Huang’s film that has won 15 awards in various International Film Festivals and is an almost comical tale that involves gods, middle-aged men's sexual desire, and the conversation between ghosts and humans.

The Harvesters (Die Stropers) is a South African entry within the LGBTQ section and is a 2018 internationally co-produced film written and directed by Etienne Kallos. The film presents a new generation of Afrikaans youths coming of age in contemporary Africa through the story of a teenager living on his parents’ remote cattle farm.

For a full list and information on all the feature films that will be screening at this year’s CTIFMF, please visit the website, www.filmfestival.capetown.

Ticket sales open on 1 October 2018.