Film festival gems for Durban

Ster-Kinekor Musgrave's selection of almost 40 films, includes the documentary Youssou N'Dour: Return to Goree in which the renowned African singer travels to perform on the island of Goree – closely associated with the slave trade. The festival also boasts the Cannes award-winning first feature film to come out of Paraguay in three decades; Paraguayan Hammock (Hamaca Paraguaya). The Australian drama Tan Lines is described as a ‘gay surf movie', a ‘coming-of-age' story, and a punk's view of teenage sexuality.

African films are prominent in the festival. Highlights include South African Darrell James Roodt's lion-stalker flick, Prey, produced by Videovision Entertainment, which is having its South African premiere on 26 June with producer Anant Singh and director Roodt in attendance. It stars Bridget Moynahan, Peter Weller, Jamie Bartlett and Carly Schroeder. The film is the terrifying story about the peril of an American family on holiday in Africa that becomes lost in a game reserve and are stalked by lions.

Exploration

Another highlight is an exploration of immigration and integration in Juju Factory by Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda from the DRC.

Master filmmaker Lars von Trier's The Boss of It All (Direktøren For Det Hele) also features at Musgrave, as does Opera Jawa; an audacious contemporary Indonesian adaptation of the Sanskrit epic, The Ramayana.

Highlights from Cinema Nouveau screened by Jameson's equally vast festival selection at Gateway include the highly anticipated anthology Paris Je T'aime in which some of cinema's great directors present short tributes to romance and Paris.

Greed

The greed of corporate America comes under scrutiny in the documentary In Debt We Trust: America Before The Bubble Bursts while Still Life, winner of the Golden Lion at Venice, is a Chinese drama set against the backdrop of the controversial Three Gorges Dam.

Russia's dark comedy Playing the Victim (Izobrajaya Zhertvy) is a modern interpretation of Hamlet, which scooped the Best Film prize at the Rome Film Festival. Aviva My Love is another award-winning notable (six Israeli Academy Awards) in which a hardworking cook finds herself on the brink of fulfilling her lifelong dream. And, himself no stranger to many accolades, Kenneth Branagh directs The Magic Flute, a spectacular interpretation of Mozart's classic opera, with a libretto by Stephen Fry.

Durban International Film Festival programme booklets with the full screening schedule and synopses of all the films are available free at cinemas. For more info, go to www.sterkinekor.com.