It’s again time for the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival 2010, which is now in its 12th year.
This year, the festival, which takes place from 12 – 29 August (a month later than in previous years, because of the World Cup), will again feature some of the best documentaries to be seen.
These are not the ordinary documentaries you will see on TV. These are works which often push the boundaries of film-making – and many are just too beautiful to be seen on the small screen.
Encounters has become the the premier Documentary Festival on the African continent and a major event on the film circuit calendar. The Festival director Mandisa Zita says: “Documentaries have the power to take audiences into other worlds, to hold a mirror up to humanity and lift the veil on our perceptions of ourselves and others.”
Documentary features are now a global phenomenon and, this year, filmgoers are offered an exceptional and varied selection of more than 50 films, many of which are award-winning titles, fresh from international festivals.
Eight of these films will have their World Premières at Encounters.
Besides the usual festival venue at the Nu Metro, V&A Waterfront, this year there are also special screenings at Labia on Orange.
Monty Python, Corporate Greed, Osama’s Driver, Our Rugby Heroes, Berlusconi, Drug Barons, Jozi, Afrikaans and Township kids are all at this year’s festival – so make an effort to be there and remember to book as some of the popular titles are booked out early.
Check out, in particular, Afrikaaps, directed by Dylan Valley (SA 2010 60min). This is a world première which continues to break ground on the issue of reclaiming and liberating Afrikaans – so long considered the language of the oppressor. It does this by foregrounding alternative histories of ‘the creole birth’ of the language and shattering long-existing efforts to whitewash and purify Afrikaans.
While the ideas of the film are informed by rigorous academic study, the presentation of those ideas is steeped in the now – conveyed by hip hop-generation Cape Town-based artists like Jitsvinger, Bliksemstraal, Blaq Pearl and Emile XY, who school audiences with an immediacy, irreverence and vibrancy often frowned upon by the academy.
Check out www.encounters.co.za for more details or contact Monique Brogan at reception@encounters.co.za and 021 465 4686
