DIFF 2010 PROGRAMME

31st Durban International Film Festival unveils extensive programme.

Daring, innovative and controversial films and filmmakers from around the world will take the spotlight at the 31st Durban International Film Festival which takes place from July 22 to August 1. The festival programmers have scoured the globe for films that excite, thrill, raise awareness and provoke. These films will be presented in over 200 screenings at venues across Durban and in surrounding communities. Alongside the screenings of films, the festival offers an extensive workshop and seminar programme, as well as training and industry events. The festival is particularly pleased that, in a difficult funding climate, the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) has come aboard as a principal funder.

The festival will open with the world premiere of Khalo Matabane’s State Of Violence, a powerful tale of revenge, history and memory. The closing film is Josh Appignanesi’s hilarious comedy, The Infidel, about a British Muslim who discovers that he was born Jewish. Between these two outstanding films, film-lovers will find daring films from new talents, superb new works by established masters, award-winners from around the world, and an unprecedented number of world premieres of new South African films.

Including State Of Violence, DIFF will present nine World Premieres of South African feature films, as well as the African Premiere of Life, Above All, the recent Cannes hit directed by Oliver Schmitz (Mapantsula, Hijack Stories). South African feature films making their debut at the festival are Jahmil XT Qubekas’ stylish and original A Small Town Called Descent, starring Vusi Kunene and Hlubi Mboya, Jann Turner’s much-anticipated follow-up to White Wedding, Paradise Stop which features Rapulana Seiphemo and Kenneth Nkosi, the hilarious Attack Of The Indian Werewolf by Masood Boomgard, Jyoti Mistry’s striking experimental film The Bull On The Roof (Le Boeuf Sur Le Toit), Regardt van den Bergh’s charming The Incredible Adventures Of Hanna Hoekom (Die Ongelooflike Avonture van Hanna Hoekom) , the gangland action film Jozi Kings by Jonathan Boynton-Lee and Jamie Ramsay, the inspirational Machansa by Muntu Zwane, and the quirky romantic comedy Visa/Vie by Elan Gamaker.

Raoul Peck, the acclaimed director of Lumumba and Sometimes In April, will visit the festival to present his new masterpiece, Moloch Tropical, a searing satire on political dictatorship. Chadian Mahamet-Saleh Haroun’s A Screaming Man, recent Jury Prize-winner at Cannes, is a devastatingly powerful film about the complicated relationship between a father and his son set against the backdrop of civil strife. The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke’s vision of an early 20th century German village in which disturbing acts of cruelty take place, is both terrifying and masterful. Palestinian Elia Suleiman’s The Time That Remains is an astute and surprisingly funny look at the Palestinian struggle. In one of the year’s most controversial films, Michael Winterbottom x-rays the mind of a sadistic killer in The Killer Inside Me which stars Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson.

Also courting controversy is Four Lions by Christopher Morris, which finds hilarity in the misguided efforts of a group of British jihadists who collectively decide to become suicide bombers. Produced by Indian megastar Aamir Khan and directed by Anusha Rizvi, Peepli Live is a hilarious comedy about the media frenzy, political hypocrisy and general mayhem that come about when a poor farmer undertakes to commit suicide in order to save the family farm. In a remake of the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple, Chinese master Zhang Yimou follows the success of Hero and The House Of Flying Daggers with energetic and dark A Woman, A Gun And A Noodle Shop. In White Material, featuring extraordinary performances by Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Lambert and Isaach De Bankole, Claire Denis has created a riveting and politically complex film about a Frenchwoman desperately trying to hang on to her coffee plantation in an unnamed Africa country in the throes of revolution.

The festival includes films by some of international cinema's most prominent and respected directors such as Buddhadeb Dasgupta (The Window), Alain Renais (Wild Grass), Fatih Akin (Soul Kitchen), Brillante Mendoza (Lola), Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Nymph), Bong Joon-ho (Mother), Todd Solondz (Life During Wartime), Yoichi Sai (Kamui), Guiseppe Tornatore (Baaria), Ferzan Ozpetek (Loose Cannons), and Mohammad Rasoulof (The White Meadows).

Alongside these experienced filmmakers, DIFF 2010 will introduce South African audiences to the new generation of auteurs. Exciting new talents include Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother), Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History), Cherien Dabis (Amreeka), Arvin Chen (Au Revoir Taipei), Nicolo Donato (Brotherhood), Sophie Letourneur (Chicks), Paz Fabrega (Cold Water Of The Sea), Giorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth), Christopher Morris (Four Lions), Adrien Binez (Giant), Daniel Barber (Harry Brown), Alvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro (Me Too), Sherman Ong (Memories Of A Burning Tree), Claudia Llosa (The Milk Of Sorrow), Doze, Niu Chen-Zer (Monga), Dai Sako (Running On Empty), Shalizeh Arefpour (Heiran), Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni (The Well), and Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone).

Principal screening venues of the festival are the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre; Nu Metro Cinecentre - Suncoast; Ster Kinekor Junction – Musgrave; Cinema Nouveau - Gateway; Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre in KwaMashu; and The Royal Hotel, with further screenings in township areas where cinemas are non-existent.

Programme booklets with the full screening schedule and synopses of all the films are available free at cinemas, Computicket, and other outlets. Call 031 2602506 or 031 2601650 for further details.

The Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre For Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with support by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), National Film and Video Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, HIVOS, City Of Durban, German Embassy, Goethe Institut, Industrial Development Corporation, Commonwealth Foundation, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture, and a range of other valued partners.

See separate article for focus on cinema of Sweden, DIFF doccies, Eco-Lens, Short Cuts, as well as workshops and seminars. For full festival information, click on the Centre for Creative Arts advert which will take you to the Durban International Film Festival site.