Winners of Best International Documentary
and Best SA Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) will
now automatically qualify for Oscar consideration.
The festival has been notified by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of this inclusion, which
effectively means that the winning documentaries will be up for consideration
for the 91st Academy Awards in 2019.
This year, the Academy established a
Documentary Feature Qualifying Festival List, and the DIFF is one of 28
selected international festivals that will have their winners up for
consideration.
DIFF joins other prestigious festivals from
around the globe including the Cannes International Film Festival, Berlinale
International Film Festival, Sydney International Film Festival, Hot Docs
Canadian International Film Festival, and IDFA – the International Documentary
Film Festival Amsterdam.
The only other qualifying African festival
is the Carthage Festival in Tunisia.
“We are delighted with this international
recognition, and we are especially pleased for the film-makers that will
benefit from the recognition that they will receive as a result,” says Lliane
Loots speaking on behalf of the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Creative
Arts which hosts the fest.
“The festival began 39 years ago as a means
to expose South Africans to global stories, during the really dark days of
Apartheid, where censorship and government policy, as well as hard-felt, yet
very effective, cultural boycotts denied us access to international creative
expression. It was also started as a means to offer cinema experiences in
townships where people had very little access to “the media” at large. So from
these humble beginnings, we are really grateful to the Academy for providing
this opportunity for the filmmakers who have films in the festival,” she adds.
The Durban International Film Festival is
currently running at various venues in Durban until July 29. Within the
festival, over 850 filmmakers have been and are still in Durban for the
business of film in the Durban Filmmart until, July 23, and for the Wavescape
Surf Film Festival at Ushaka until July 27 and the BRICS Film Festival, from
July 23 to July 27 at The Playhouse.
For more information visit https://www.durbanfilmfest.co.za/
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