Major local film support from Ster-Kinekor

In July 2011, Ster-Kinekor will support the 32nd Durban International Film Festival and launch the local film The Bang Bang Club, the life story of a group of four young combat photographers, who risked their lives to tell the world of the brutality and violence associated with the first free elections in post-apartheid South Africa in the early '90s.

5 Jul 2011

Major local film support from Ster-Kinekor

The premiere of the film opens nationwide at cinemas on Friday, 22 July 2011, but there is an exclusive pre-release screening on Wednesday 13 July, where filmgoers can meet Frank Rautenbach, Neels van Jaarsveld, director Steven Silver and actors Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman and Taylor Kitsch at a 'black carpet' event at Ster-Kinekor Sandton City from 7pm.

Durban Film Festival offers it all

Supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), National Film and Video Foundation, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, the Durban Film Festival kicks off on 21 July with the world premiere of the South African film Otelo Burning, directed by Sara Blecher at Cinema Nouveau Gateway and Ster-Kinekor Musgrave.

Set during the last days of apartheid, the Durban-shot film tells the story of a group of South African township youngsters who discover surfing as an empowering escape from the political violence of the times. There is drama, romance, rivalry, and tragedy in this convincing fulfilment of local filmmaking potential.

Between 21-31 July, the festival will present films from around the world including Skoonheid, Oliver Hermanus's groundbreaking film that caused a stir at the recent Cannes Film festival, will have its first South African screening at the festival.

World premieres

DIFF will present the following world premieres:

Charlie Vundla's noir film How To Steal 2 Million

John Barker's heist flick 31 Million Reasons

Faith Isiakpere's crime drama The Algiers Murders

Eldorado by new talents Shaldon Ferris and Lorreal Ferris

Taka Takata, a comedy by Damir Radonic

The Dream by Zuko Nodada.

African premieres

Making their African premieres are:

Mukunda Michael Dewil's psychological thriller Retribution

Paula van der Oest's film about Ingrid Jonker, Black Butterflies

Terrence Malick's The Tree Of Life, which just won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.

Highlights

Other highlights include:

Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris, which will close the festival

Bela Tarr's The Turin Horse

Andrey Zvyagintsev's Elena

Jose Padilha's Elite Squad 2 - The Enemy Within

Takeshi Kitano's Outrage

Robert Guediguian's The Snows Of Kilimanjaro

In A Better World, an Oscar winner by Susanne Bier

Michel Ocelot's Tales Of The Night

SJ Clarkson's Toast

Lee Chang-dong's Poetry

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

African cinema will also be well-represented by Djo Tunda Wa Munga's Viva Riva! , Nigerian director Andrew Donsunmu's Restless City, Justin Chadwick's Kenya-set film The First Grader and Ebrahim El Batout's Hawi, which first appeared in Durban as a project at the inaugural Durban FilmMart in 2010.

India and Canada in focus

DIFF will focus on two national cinemas this year: India and Canada.

Six films from the Indian master Satyajit Ray will be presented, alongside new works by new Indian filmmakers. Leena Manimekelai will present the world premiere of her film The Dead Sea and other Indian films include Onir's I Am, Sanjoy Nag's Memories In March, Kaushik Mukherjee's Bengali hip hop film Asshole and Aamir Bashir's Autumn.

In a strong year for Canadian cinema, the festival will present Denis Villeneuve's Oscar-nominated Incendies, the drama Jo For Jonathan, Ed Gass-Donnelly's Small Town Murder Songs, Xavier Dolan's Heartbeats and Familiar Ground by Stephane Lafleur. Canadian documentaries include Barry Steven's Prosecutor, a look at the International Criminal Court and Shannon Walsh's St. Henri, the 26th of August.

Local documentaries

Local stories in the documentary line-up include world premieres such as Ryley Grunewald's The Dawn of a New Day, Mickey Dube's Sobukwe, A Great Soul, about one of this country's most influential, but unsung, heroes, the Keith Jones/Deon Maas music revolution collaboration Punk In Africa, the Dara Kell/Chris Nizza collaboration Dear Mandela about innovative leadership emerging in informal settlements and the African premiere of Mama Africa, the film about Miriam Makeba.

Opening with an outdoor screening on the beachfront on 24th July, DIFF will host the Wavescapes Surf Film Festival for the seventh consecutive year, a six-day blast of wave action, surf stories and cinematography.

Festival screenings will take place at Ster Kinekor Musgrave, Cinema Nouveau Gateway and other venues. For film synopses, screening schedules and programme details, go to www.sterkinekor.com or www.cca.ukzn.ac.za.