(Elton
John appears in “George Michael: Freedom – The Director’s Cut”)
The 8th annual Durban Gay & Lesbian
Film Festival will be running from September 21 to 30 September, 2018, at
select pop-up venues around the city. Now in its eight year since opening in
October 2011, the festival will screen 57 titles over a 10-day programme.
“Earlier this year our team decided on
taking advantage of the Heritage Day long weekend in boosting the number of
days patrons who work full time can enjoy our programme. So the decision was
taken to position the Festival around this important holiday on 24 September.”
says festival director Jason Fiddler.
“2018 is proving to be a financially
challenging year for many South Africans, and we found it particularly hard as
a cultural event to secure sponsorship. Fortunately, thanks to the invaluable
ongoing support of Alliance Française of Durban and venue help from commercial
property urban regeneration specialists Urban Lime, the DGLFF can confidently
screen films this year. This is the first year we won’t be able to screen at
our beloved KZNSA gallery, owing to a full exhibition calendar, but we
certainly look forward to bringing some films back there next year.”
The format of the festival continues its
eclectic tradition of including a tremendous diversity of subjects and film
formats. The Opening Night film on September 21 is a truly remarkable
feature-length documentary, George
Michael: Freedom – The Director’s Cut.
Directed by George Michael himself, and co-directed by David Austin, audiences
can look forward to nearly two hours of celebrity interviews including Sir
Elton John, Mary J Blige and Liam Gallagher, whilst the man himself tells his
story, his way.
With frank revelations interspersed with
the songs and music that made him a global pop and soul phenomenon, George shares
an enthralling autobiographical journey that doesn’t shy away from unpleasant
truths, nor does it sensationalise seminal experiences in his life and career.
He simply and effectively shows how a gay boy found fame, excess, love, painful
loss, contractual battles alongside his career defining music.
The DGLFF is proud to have secured the
rights to show this incredible film, and audiences should note that there is
only one screening of the film at a cost of R80 per ticket. Our pop-up main
venue is at the top of vibrant Florida Road, at 344 Florida Road, Durban.
Ticket enquiries can be made via our website.
There are seven feature films this year
including Breathe, a French
coming-of-age drama about two young women and their relationship twists and Time Is Up, a gay drama from Greek
filmmaker Nicolas Pourliaros that poignantly looks a through monochromatic
palette at the contemplation of life’s value.
Johannesburg-based South African filmmaker
Sean Steinberg will celebrate the world premiere of his 55-minute (S)He at DGLFF this year on September 22.
Breaking important ground for an under-considered community, (S)He tells the story of Penny Kemp, an
intersex teenager who, after qualifying to compete in the 2016 Olympic trials,
is forced to undergo gender treatment in order to keep her high levels of
testosterone at bay. Only, she doesn’t want to. Made with a micro-budget the
film explores a very difficult subject with delicacy.
(A
scene from “Shadowlands”)
Still
Waiting In The Wings follows on two years later
from their last visit to the DGLFF with a familiar cast of characters breaking
out into original song as they busk their way ‘off-Broadway’ and battle their
way through backstabbing musical theatre. Durban audiences will recall Canadian
filmmaker and gay film star Charlie David and he continues his support of DGLFF
with Shadowlands, a darker and
occasionally disturbing, if not exquisitely shot, homage to the bygone queer
eras of the 30s, 50s and 60s that explores love in three separate stories – a
couple renegotiating a relationship, a narcissist grasping to comprehend it,
and star-crossed lovers mourning its loss.
Joseph Adesunloye, a British-Nigerian
award-winning filmmaker premiered his Faces
at DIFF this past July to much acclaim. “Joseph and I felt that the film needed
to be seen by more LGBTIQ people in Durbs and the producers kindly agreed to
allow us to make it our Closing Night film on Saturday 29 September with an
encore screening the following afternoon” says Fiddler. “Weaving such a
powerful storyline with a predominantly black UK cast, Joseph is able to tell
Durban audiences of all persuasions and backgrounds utterly human and relatable
stories, some that will shock, others that will make one cry, but ultimately
that reinforce the beauty of love and friendship, especially between women who
have endured great pain and suffering.”
There are a dozen other fascinating
documentaries that explore transgender stories from Tonga to Chile to Pakistan,
a gay Israeli man’s struggle for familial acceptance whilst HIV-positive and
the acceptance he finds in a gay men’s choir in Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?, haunting stories from Zimbabwean gay men
in Give A Man A Mask … and drag
queen, and king, cultures from China to the United States.
The Festival programme continues to embrace
and celebrate short film as powerful means of telling a diversity of stories,
with high production values. 34 short films from 18 different countries across
five continents have been packaged into seven feature slots that include
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer comedies, dramas and even
stop-animation films. Audiences can again look forward to an entertaining,
thought-provoking, disturbing and ultimately fun film selection in 2018.
On Heritage Day afternoon, and throughout
the week of September 24 to 28 at 14h00 and 16h00, the Festival offers patrons
free screenings of a number of short films and documentaries, including
acclaimed South African short films in the Mzansi
Mix. Also continuing with is the effective Festival Ticket Pool that
includes donated tickets for underprivileged, senior citizen and student
patrons. Requests for tickets can be made direct with the organisers.
Those interested in supporting the Festival
and the Ticket Pool, can use the Zapper code on display on the DGLFF website or
Facebook page to facilitate card payments via the phone app, and even make
donations to the Festival.
Normal screenings are R40 each with 50%
concession to students and senior citizens with card – these are however not
applicable to the Opening and Closing Nights that cost R80 per ticket. Patrons
can also buy Silver Festival Passes for R250 that include 10 screenings and are
transferrable. Gold Festival Passes this year are reduced at R500 that includes
all screenings.
The main Festival Hub venue will be at POP,
344 Florida Road, Berea, a former art gallery space ideal as a pop-up screening
venue, where most screenings will take place in 2018. Alliance Française will
host two weeknights in Morningside. On Friday September 28 there will be a
pop-up T-Dance social fundraiser at
the German Club in Westville – details will be on the website and Facebook
page.
Details of events, and downloadable
programme are available at www.dglff.org.za – also Instagram/Twitter
@dbngayfilmfest and Facebook @DGLFF
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