DRIFTART

(Digital art work by Markus Wörsdörfer)

The KZNSA Gallery is hosting an exhibition of digital art by Markus Wörsdörfer titled DriftArt.

Wörsdörfer explains his collection of works:

“What happens when a piece of clothing washes ashore? When the sun, sand, wind and water, the ebb and flow starts to play with it.

Shaping it, moving it around, washing it, tearing it, bleaching it.

When man meets nature.

When we keep our eyes open to even the smallest detail and let our imagination have

free reign.

Look from a distance or go in close, we all might see something different

and our mind plays tricks on us.

We imagine seeing that mystical creature, a couple dancing or a howling wolf. We might see

the knight on his horse and the smoking gun, the seal and a fish in the sea.

Take your time and let your imagination go crazy.

We've all played the game where we look at a cloud in the sky and imagine seeing a dog or

a dragon, or maybe Mickey Mouse.

That is how I felt one day while walking early morning on a beautiful tropical beach in Zanzibar. My plan was to photograph the fishermen leaving with their dhow's. When suddenly I came across a piece of textile sticking out of the sand that caught my attention.

At first I didn't know what I was looking at, but the shape and color made me walk around it until I saw it. Mmmm, kinda looks like a fish. I photographed my "fish" and continued on my walk, but subconsciously I was already searching for my next piece of DriftArt

And so it began. During the next week I deliberately started looking for pieces of clothing, fabrics and paper that had washed on to the white beaches around the island. Not as an easy task as one would think because generally the beaches are very clean.

But I had time and what better thing to do than to put my feet in the soft sand.

And with time my collection of photographs grew to the selection of images you see at this exhibition.

To me it became much more than a piece of rubbish but a piece of art created by nature.

A beach as a canvas and the paintbrushes in form of the sun, wind, rain

and the ever flowing tide.

Moved and shaped by the elements.

Captured and recorded for all of you to see.

I hope that this selection of images inspires you to keep your eyes open for whatever nature puts in front of us.

Look close and let your mind drift away.

Enjoy your journey with DriftArt.”

DriftArt runs in the KZNSA’s Mezzanine Gallery until August 19, 2018. The KZNSA Gallery is situated at 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, in Durban. More information on 031 277 1705, fax 031 201 8051 or cell 082 220 0368 or visit www.kznsa.co.za

DUIGAN & GRACE – TOGETHER AGAIN

(James Grace. Pic by Val Adamson)

Pietermaritzburg audiences should not miss an opportunity to enjoy a beautiful evening of music featuring world-class soloists, pianist Christopher Duigan and guitarist James Grace, at the Cordwalles Chapel in Wembley, Pietermaritzburg. The concert, presented by Music Revival, takes place on August 2, 2018.

"The chapel at Cordwalles Preparatory School  has recently been extended and now offers a wonderful performance space with very rewarding acoustics. We are looking forward to performing in this inviting stage and to bring our wonderful music and musicians to a new audience in Athlone, Wembley and surrounds,” says Duigan.

Duigan, one of South Africa’s leading concert pianists, can be heard in piano solos from his recent programmes of music by Gershwin and Debussy. Together with guitarist James Grace, the Duigan & Grace Duo, an usual combination of piano and guitar, has won a popular following at major festivals and on stages across South Africa.

Cape Town-based James Grace is a SAMA nominated artist with a string of successful recordings under his belt. Their programme together includes many of their own duo arrangements and improvisations on classic melodies, jazz standards, Latin milongas and Spanish classics. Their session will include Fields of Gold, Tico Tico and favourite Spanish guitar solos. Duigan’s own composition Indigo, a favourite at any Duigan and Grace concert, will complete the programme.

The concert on August 2 runs from 18h30 to 19h45. Tickets R120 (R60 scholars). Bookings (essential for catering purposes) are at email: booking@musicrevival.co.za or MUSIC REVIVAL 083 417 4473 (SMS or WhatsApp).

There will be complimentary soup and rolls or tea and coffee before the concert from 17h30.

The Chapel, Cordwalles Preparatory School, is situated at 101 Howick Road, Wembley in Pietermaritzburg. Secure parking is available on the school campus with access through the main gates of Cordwalles Drive (opposite Redlands Estate traffic lights). 

39TH DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS

The 39th Durban International Film Festival held its awards ceremony on Saturday (July 28, 2018) at Suncoast CineCentre on as filmmakers and film-lovers gathered to watch the official closing film Rafiki, directed by Wanuri Kahiu.

A total of 17 awards were given out at the ceremony:

(“The Reports on Sarah and Saleem” - Best Feature Film)

Best Feature Film: The Reports on Sarah and Saleem, directed by Muayad Alayan, and produced by Muayad Alayan, Rami Alayan, Hans de Wolf, Hanneke Niens, Rebekka Garrido, Rodrigo Iturralde, Georgina Gonzalez, and Alejandro Duran. The award is accompanied by a cash prize of R50,000.

Best South African Feature Film: High Fantasy, directed by Jenna Bass and produced by David Horler and Steven Markovitz. The film received a cash prize of R25,000.

Best Documentary: New Moon, produced and directed by Philippa Ndisi-Hermann. The film received a cash prize of R25,000.

(“Sisters of the Wilderness” - Best South African Documentary)

Best South African Documentary: Sisters of the Wilderness, directed by Karin Slater and produced by Ronit Shapiro. The award is accompanied by a cash prize of R25,000.

Best Direction: Constantin Popescu for Pororoca

Best Cinematography: Liviu Marghidan for Pororoca

Best Screenplay: Jennifer Fox for The Tale

Best Actor: Bogdan Dumitrache for his role as Tudor in Pororoca, directed by Constantin Popescu

Best Actress: Maisa Abd Elhadi for her role as Bisan in The Reports on Sarah and Saleem

Best Editing: Anne Fabini, Alex Hall and Gary Level for The Tale

Artistic Bravery: was won jointly by High Fantasy, directed by Jenna Bass and Supa Modo directed by Likarion Wainaina.

Best South African Short Film: Stillborn, directed by Jahmil X T Qubeka and produced by Huanxi Media Group, Xstream Pictures, and Yellowbone Entertainment. The film received a cash prize of R20,000 sponsored by the Gauteng Film Commission.

(“Aya” - Best African Short Film)

Best African Short Film: Aya, directed by Moufida Fedhila and produced by Appel d’Air Films. The film also received a cash prize of R20,000 sponsored by the Gauteng Film Commission.

Best Short Film: -The Patience of Water (La Paciencia Del Agua), directed by Guillem Almirall. The film received a cash prize of R20,000 from the Gauteng Film Commission.

Audience Choice Award: The State Against Mandela and the Others, directed by Nicolas Champeaux and Gilles Porte, which received a cash prize of R25,000.

Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award: Silas, directed by Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman and produced by Appian Way, Big World Cinema and Ink & Pepper Productions.

Best Wavescape Film: Heavy Water, directed by Michael Oblowitz

DIFF has recently been included as a Documentary Feature Qualifying Festival by the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences, which means that both the winners of the Best Documentary, New Moon and Best SA Documentary Sisters of the Wilderness, will now automatically qualify for consideration for an Oscar nomination.

The Shorts jury included creative media education and development specialist Alicia Price and Leon Van Der Merwe of the Cape Town International Film Market and Festival. The fiction feature jurors were SA Producer Bongiwe Selane, Nigerian actor Hakeem Kae Kazim and Nigerian actress Nse Ikpe-Etim. The documentary film jury included South African producer Uzanenkosi, Zimbabwean producer Nakai Matema, Nigerian filmmaker Mahmood Ali-Balogun and Berlin-based freelance filmmaker, writer and curator, Dorothee Wenner.

The festival closed on July 29,2018. DIFF 2018 is part of a month-long feast of film in Durban, including the BRICS Film festival and industry programmes, the Durban FilmMart, Isiphethu, Talents Durban, and the Nature Environment and Wildlife Film Congress.

For more information see www.durbanfilmfest.co.za

BECOMING IMAN

Review by Margaret von Klemperer of “Becoming Iman: An Adventure through Rebellion, Religion and Reason”. (Courtesy of The Witness)

 For readers who only know Iman Rappetti as a warm, skilled and urbane presenter on television and radio, this memoir will come as something of a surprise. We may think we know someone through their daily arrival into our space via the media, but in fact, we really know nothing about them other than that they are the one we like, or dislike.

Rappetti grew up in Phoenix, living with her Indian father and her Coloured mother, a combination that caused deep family rifts. She loved both her parents, though her father was violent and abusive to his wife until he became part of an Evangelical Christian church and apparently changed his ways. And then there were her siblings. Her eldest brother had been forcibly removed from her mother straight after his birth to live with his Indian grandmother, and there were another older brother and sister who suddenly arrived back to live with the family without explanation. It was a complex, very South African childhood, taking place in the apartheid days where discovering your own identity was always going to be compromised and complicated.

But Rappetti tells her tale with humour, bringing to life aunties and their “School of Suffering” (SOS) which they raised to an art form. The writing is beautiful, with unexpected and memorable turns of phrase, while the telling of the story is episodic, linear in emotion rather than in time.

Once beyond the coming-of-age memoir stage, Rappetti’s life takes unexpected turns. From the evangelical Christianity of her upbringing, she converts to Islam, moves with her husband to Iran and becomes a veiled, submissive Muslim wife and mother as the reader begins to realise that whatever Rappetti does, she does wholeheartedly. It’s an extraordinary story, and the frankness with which she relates her growing later disillusion with both her marriage and her faith is powerful and compelling. Now, she sees the Muslim veil as a symbol of oppression, but her journey into faith and on to rebellion is fascinating to follow, as are the swings in her story between the sacred and the profane.

Becoming Iman: An Adventure through Rebellion, Religion and Reason by Iman Rappetti is published by Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-77010-596-6 - Margaret von Klemperer