DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (15-26 June)
Documentary Films: (subject to change)

A Child is a Child
d. Madoda Ncayiyana, South Africa, 2005
This poignant documentary explores the consequences of the infiltration of Aids into South African society, focusing on how it has left many children growing up without parents. It is a unique and intimate story of a group of children in KwaZulu-Natal who come together to record a song about the meaning of family and childhood. When this song is taken back to the communities we witness both the importance of encouraging self-expression and the powerful resilience of children.
The director, producer and members of the cast will attend the festival.
English and Zulu, Video, 52 mins

Alter Egos
d. Laurence Green, Canada, 2004
Ryan Larkin and Chris Landreth are Alter Egos. Both geniuses in the craft of animation– Ryan is losing his ability to create whereas Chris is only just beginning to experience the adulation that Ryan had decades earlier. Alter Egos is a study of the delicate relationship that emerged between the two filmmakers when Chris filmed a documentary chronicling Ryan’s career descent. Alter Egos contextualises the making of the short film Ryan and includes significant footage from this 2005 Oscar winner.
English, Video, 52min

Arlit the Second Paris
d. Idrissou Mora-Kpai, France 2005
Arlit, a town in Niger, prospered through uranium mining and seemed the kind of place where everything seemed possible- the Second Paris, they called it. The Tuareg rebellion and the collapse in uranium prices changed all that. The director follows the aging Issa on his last trip back to Arlit to see his son and old friends, allowing us a window onto this last desert frontier town turned about by the shifting sands of politics and economy.
Bariba/Haussa/Tamasheq/French with English subtitles, Video, 78 mins

Awake (Vuwani)
d. Rudzani Dzuguda, South Africa 2005
How will the extended African traditional family survive in a fast changing modern society? Rudzani Dzuguda, a  young African man comes from a deeply cultural, traditional family and struggles between his identity as a modern man and his family's expectations of his role in the clan his clan in rural Venda . It is a personal film in which the filmmaker tries to understand and come to terms with making a choice between his two worlds.
Venda with English Subtitles, Video 52 mins

Back to Bosnia
d. Sabina Vajraca, USA, 2005
The film traces the journey of a family who return to post-war Bosnia in order to reclaim their stolen property. They are confronted with the destruction of their city and forced to examine the community they left behind. They encounter an exhumation, visit war sites, and seek out the remnants of a city they once called their own. Interlaced with archival footage, interviews with war survivors, and high drama in their own home this award-winning film is a compelling look into the harsh reality of the aftermath of war.
The director and producer will attend the festival.
Bosnian and English with English subtitles, Video, 75min

Blandine’s Story
d. Emmanuelle de Riedmatten, Switzerland , 2004
This multi-award winning documentary recalls memories through the eyes of Blandine, of the most shocking tragedy of the twentieth century, the genocide in Rwanda. Ten years after the catastrophe, the documentary follows the young woman, deprived of her close family, on the voyage back to the places and the manifestations of horror. But Blandine is contemplative and determined not to be consumed by a desire for vengeance.
French with English subtitles, Video, 52min

Born into Struggle
d. Rehad Desai, South Africa, 2004
The filmmaker, Rehad Desai, takes us on an intimate journey mapped out by the scars etched into his family’s life from having a father who was intensely involved in political struggle in South Africa. Barney Desai was a hero during the struggle against apartheid, yet as a father, he was damagingly emotionally absent. On this intensely personal journey into his past, Rehad Desai realizes he is following in his father’s footsteps as he reviews his relationship with his own estranged son.
The director will attend the festival.
English, Video, 74min

The Black Mozart / Le Mozart Noir
d. Raymond Saint-Jean, 2003 Canada
Filmed for the first time, the story of  the life and music of Joseph Boulogne, Le Chevalier Saint Georges, also known as “Le Mozart Noir”, portrays the remarkable life of a man who overcame the adversities of class, race and a new society to become a superstar violinist-composer-conductor, in 18th century. A man whose music inspired Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, Saint-Georges was also France 's finest fencer, a famed lover, and a General.
English and French and with English subtitles , Video, 52min

Between Midnight and the Rooster’s Crow
d. Nadja Drost, Canada/ Ecuador, 2005
This in-depth and searching documentary film follows the globalization debate from the heart of the Amazon forests to the Canadian office towers through the point of view of an incisive first time filmmaker as she investigates the complex involvement of a Canadian oil company in environmental abuses and human rights controversies. This film won the top film award at Toronto’s Hot Docs festival of 100 top documentary films.
Spanish and English with English subtitles, Video, 66min
 

Bridging The Gap
d. Lindokuhle Mnyandu, South Africa /USA 2005
What does it mean to be a South African living at this time? Is it about about just being proudly South African? This vibrant, uplifting and yet sobering series of interviews with young South African intellectuals captures insightful perspectives and attitudes around issues to do with what it means to be called a South African whether living abroad or at home.  The film demonstrates that South African live in a place that most people in the world envy.
English and various languages and with English subtitles , Video, 52min

Brown
d. Kali van der Merwe, South Africa, 2004
Cape Town singer/songwriter Ernestine Dean embarks on an enquiry into her heritage as she embraces motherhood. Her grandparents return to Constantia, from where they had been evicted, unleashing suppressed emotion resulting from years of marginalisation and loss. The process of her exploration of past, present and the celebration of new community, new nation and new family culminates in the song Brown. This film won best African Documentary prize in Milan 2005.
The director will attend the festival.
Afrikaans and English with English subtitles, Video, 54min

The Colonial Misunderstanding
d. Jean- Marie Teno, Cameroon, France, Germany 2004
In a film full of interesting historical connections to the Cape, Cameroon and especially Namibia, this enlightening documentary takes us on a captivating search for what remains of the legacy of the first German missionaries in the Dark Continent, and the damages caused by colonialism in the hearts and minds of contemporary Africans. It is a penetrating look at the relationship between religion and economic interests as a backdrop to the oppression of the Herero people.
French with English subtitles , 35mm, 87min

The Demining Camp
d. Licino Azevedo, Mozambique, 2005
Some fought on opposite sides in the recent war which ravaged Mozambique. Others were civilians, and for them de-mining work was an alternative to unemployment and a life of crime. Their long periods far from their families, living all together in tents, and the fact that each day they risk their lives together locating and dismantling landmines, places huge demands on the deminers and the community where they operate.
Portuguese with English subtitles, Video, 60min
 
Generally Fucked Up Afrikaans
d. Nikki Comninos, Kristen Broberg, South Africa, 2004
A past paced documentary which looks at Afrikaner identity in post-apartheid South Africa. The film focuses on youth culture and looks to icons like Karen Zoid, Koos Kombuis, Brasse van die Kaap, Godessa and Fokofpolisiekar for answers about what it means to be Afrikaners in South Africa today.
English, some Afrikaans, Video, 26min

Ginga A Capoiera
d. Gustavo Moraes, Brazil, 2004
The teachings of capoeira Master Jelon Vieras inspire five young capoeristas from Boca de Rio – a poor district on the outskirts of Salvador – who travel to the US with his modern dance company Dance Brazil. Following these young people over a two year period we discover how Jelon Vieras, capoeira and their experiences in the US shaped their lives.
Portuguese with English subtitles, Video, 55min

Grannies on Safari
d. Dave Monk ,USA, 2004
The Grannies are Pat Johnson and Regina Fraser, who between them have travelled to more than 80 countries over the last 3 decades. They offer audiences surprises at every turn in their determination to track down cultural treasures. They follow winding roads, ride canoes, camels and donkeys and visit urban city centers, including Durban, and rural hamlets. Together they present the interesting, bizarre, exotic and sublime.
English, Video, 28min

Grietjie van Garies
d. Odette Geldenhuys, South Africa, 2004
A unique documentary that takes us into the world of 77-year old Grietjie Adams, whom some regard as the mother of all rap. She was born on a farm in Namaqualand and spent most of her life as a domestic worker, but never stopped singing. Her songs, in poetic Afrikaans, tell the stories of South Africa’s history. At the age of 76, she made her first CD. A heartwarming look at a world filled with family, friends and music.
The director will attend the festival.
Afrikaans with English subtitles, Video, 48min

Guardians of the Bow
d. Roger Lucey, Angola/ Mozambique/ South Africa, 2004
An inspiring exploration of musical partnerships, Guardians of the Bow covers the collaboration and subsequent tour of renowned Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, along with talented musicians Victor Gama and Kituxi, Angola’s most celebrated traditional musician, together with their range of extraordinarily exotic instruments. The journey moves from Angola through Mozamibque to a musical finale at the Awesome Africa festival in Durban.
The director will attend the festival.
English and Portuguese and English with English subtitltes, Video, 54min

Home: Malawi / Ikhaya: Malawi
d. Omelga Mthiyane, South Africa 2005
Since her birth Margaret Mthiyane has been wanting to go to the land of her ancestors: Malawi . Through this documentary the director makes this journey possible. They venture from the hills of Inanda, which is their home (Ikhaya) in KwaZulu-Natal , in South Africa , past the rocky lands of Zimbabwe , through the green forests of Mozambique and finally unite with their ancestors beside the great lake of Malawi
English/Zulu/Chichewa/Tonga with English subtitltes, Video, 75min

I Couldn’t Be Your Son, Mom
d. Sohini Dasgupta
This is the story of Tista, who feels like a girl trapped in a male body – her struggles and frustrations within an Indian society ruthlessly negating her endeavors to attain her real self. The film is a personal and compassionate investigation from the point of view of the transsexual subject, and the filmmaker, who attempts to come to terms with her own feelings of sympathy and confusion.
Hinid with English subtitltes, 35mm 13 min
The director and producer will attend the festival.

Journey to Nyae Nyae
d. Daniel Riesenfeld, USA, 2003
A portrait of the life of Nixau, a Ju / ’oan man from the Kalahari desert in Namibia. He became internationally famous as the star of the popular South African The Gods must be Crazy films in the 1970s. The documentary was filmed just before his untimely death in July 2003.
Ju/ ‘Hoan and English, Video, 25min

Marrabentando – The Stories My Guitar Sings
d. Karen Boswall, Mozambique, 2004
On a tour to South Africa with Mabulu, their band of young jazz/hip-hop ‘marrabentistas’, Dilon Dsinsi and Antonio Marlos tell their stories. Evoking the spirit of Mozambique – love and passion, union and separation, tears and laughter, war and peace. The journey takes us to their rural roots as they share their philosophical vision based on a lifetime ‘marabentanoo’.
Portuguese/ Shangan with English subtitles, Video, 52min

Massacre
d. Monika Borgmann, Lokman Slim, Herman Theibann, Germany, 2004
This documentary is a political and psychological portrait of six of the men who took part in the massacres at Sabre and Shatila, where more than a thousand Palestians were slain in three days. Through the perpetrators narrative the film sheds light on the massacre itself as well as the concept of collective violence where the individual kills as if in a competition. Unconsciously everyone wanted to be the strongest, the most terrible and the greatest avenger.
Arabic with English subtitles, 35mm, 96mins

Mondovino
d. Jonathan Nossiter, Argentina/ France/ Italy/ USA, 2004
Wine has been a symbol of Western civilization for thousands of years and according to the filmmaker, never has the fight for its soul been as desperate and never has so much money and pride been at stake. But the battle lines are not what you'd expect: local versus multinational, simple peasants versus powerful captains of industry. In the world of wine, it's never the usual suspects. Nossiter’s fascinating documentary travels across three continents weaving together an ominous tale of globalisation of the wine industry, from Napa Valley power brokers, to Florentine dynasties.
English/ French/ Italian/ Spanish/ Portugese with English subtitles,35mm, 135min

Namibia Crossings
d. Peter Liechti, Switzerland, 2004
The Hambana Sound Company is a troupe made up of 12 musicians who journey through a country that is in the process of reinventing itself from scratch: Namibia. Their search for the origins of music takes them on a trip through a country of archaic beauty and bizarre contradictions. The film creates polyphonies of soulful landscapes made up of each individuals highs and lows.
English, 35mm, 90min
 
Nikiwe
d. Ingrid Gavshon, South Africa, 2003/ 2004
A poignant story of 15-year old Nikiwe, who is left to look after her younger brothers in Acornhoek, a sprawling, poverty-stricken village surrounded by luxury game lodges bordering the Kruger National Park. Her dream is to obtain her ‘identity papers’ which will give her legitimacy and access to a government grant.
Nikiwe explores the joys and despairs of the children’s lives and the filmmaker’s dilemma as she struggles to document their story without stepping in to rescue them.
The director will attend the festival.
Tsonga with English subtitles, 35mm, 56min

Nkosi
d. Liza Aziz, South Africa, 2005
Presented by Gcina Mhlophe, Nkosi traverses the life's journey of a twelve year old that became the face of Aids in Africa and the world. He was born an Aids statistic but against all odds, he became a hero in the fight against Aids stigmatization and a leading advocacy voice for the rights of people living with HIV and Aids. Through this portrayal we learn how he awakened our conscience, our humanity, our ubuntu of social and moral responsibility to each other.
English Video, 28 mins

Oberlin-Inanda
d. Cherif Keita, USA, 2004
Shot in Inanda (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), and in Oberlin (Ohio, USA) the film features the life and work of Dr John Langalibalele Dube, pioneer educator and politician, who co-founded the African National congress in 1912 and served as its first president until 1917. The film connects Dube’s American education with his early struggle for political and economic independence and celebrates his enduring legacy in today’s democratic South Africa.
The director will attend the festival.
English, Video, 54min

Peace One Day
d. Jeremy Gilley, UK, 2004
The story of the filmmaker’s quest to establish one day of peace, enlisting the help of Kofi Anan, the Dalai Lama and Mary Robinson, and encountering unforeseen dramatic coincidences along the way. Subsequent to his endeavours, the United Nations International Day of Peace as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence is now fixed in the calendar as 21st September from 2002, asking the people of the world to honor and celebrate the Day in a moment of global unity.
www.peaceoneday.org
The director will attend the festival.
Various Languages narrated in English with English subtitles, 35mm, 80min

Rhythm is it!
d. Thomas Grube/ Enrique Sanchez Lansch, Germany, 2004
Rhythm is it! records the first big educational project of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. It follows a group of multi-cultural youngsters who had been strangers to classical music through arduous but thrilling preparation by choreographer Royston Maldoom for their dance to Stravinsky’s ‘Le Sacred u Printemps’ under the astute and philosophical Sir Simon Rattle. ‘Rhythm is it!’ is a delightful and moving record of the fascination of music, of the need for safeguarding education and training, of passion, diligence, love, esteem and zest.
German/ English with English subtitles, 35mm, 100min

Sahara Marathon
d. Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi, Spain, 2003
A desert marathon like no other, there is no tougher race than this! The Sahara Marathon takes place in the Saharwi Refugee Camps of Tindouf. Abdula trains every day as he is aware that a good placing will allow his people to be happy, even if only for a few hours. Through this extraordinary marathon one begins to gain an understanding of the Sahawari people who once had a country of their own but have been tent-refugees for 30 years.
English/ Spanish with English subtitles, Video, 55min

Scars: Community Peace Project
d. Karin Slater South Africa
A young girl's face is brutally cut when she is attacked by one of the members of a girl gang outside a Khayalitsha tavern. Though it is one of many police matters that occur in Khayalitsha every week, the Community Peace Program steps in and their dignity and concern demonstrate the power of Ubuntu and reconciliation in action. The film is an intimate, deeply textured slice of township life that takes everyone's scars into consideration.
The director will attend the festival.
English and Xhosa and with English subtitle , Video, 52min

Sink or Swim
d. Nicki Westcott, South Africa, 2004
Shot in classrooms in the Western Cape, the documentary examines the effects on children of learning in a language that is not their mother tongue. Children are allowed to speak for themselves and in so doing, unwittingly raise all the social problems arising from the sense of exclusion that comes from not understanding language. The film addresses the issue of language as unique to the African continent.
English, Video, 26min

Story of the Weeping Camel
d. Byambasuren Davaa & Luigi Fiorni, Germany / Mongolia 2004
A family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi Desert assist with the births of their camel herd. A difficult delivery results in a rare white calf that is repeatedly rejected by her mother. Two young boys are sent on a journey through the desert in search of a musician whose two-stringed instrument will ultimately reunite mother and calf. This ritual recalls the ancient bond between people and animals, and the healing power of music.
Mongolian with English subtitles, 35mm, 91 min

That Man: Peter Berlin
d. Jim Tushinski, USA, 2005
A feature-length documentary that recounts the life and times of photographer, filmmaker, model and gay male sex icon, Peter Berlin. The documentary features hundreds of Peter Berlin’s personal and professional photographs, excerpts from his films and videos and interviews with John Waters, Wakefield Poole, Rick Castro, Robert Mapplethorpe and others. It is also a portrait of Armin, the man who created the Peter Berlin icon and then eventually rejected the spotlight.
English, Video, 80min

The Take
d. Avi Lewis, Canada, 2004
Director/producer Avi Lewis and writer/producer Naomi Klein (No Logo) take viewers inside the lives of ordinary visionaries, as they reclaim their work, their dignity and their democracy. A simple act by 30 workers in a Buenos Aires factory has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. The story of workers’ struggle is set in the wake of Argentina’s economic collapse in 2001 and against the backdrop of a crucial presidential election, in which the front-runner is Carlos Menem, the architect of the economic disaster. The filmmakers champion a radical economic manifesto for the 21st century.
The director and producer will attend the festival.
English, Video, 87min
 
Two Worlds Colliding
d. Tasha Hubbard, Canada 2004
An examination of the strained relations between the aboriginal community and the city’s police force in Saskatoon, Canada. On a cold night in January 2001, two police officers pick up Darrel Night, an Aboriginal man, and drove him to a lonely spot where he was abandoned. He survived but two other Aboriginal men also allegedly abandoned by police in the same vicinity did not survive the -25C temperatures. The director takes a deep and honest look at the racial tensions that exist within the community.
English, Video, 48 min

War Hospital
d. David Christensen and Damien Lewis, Canada/Japan 2004
A revealing chronicle of the world’s largest field hospital, run by the Red Cross in remote northern Kenya to treat the wounded from nearby Sudan, the site of one of Africa’s longest-running civil wars. The lives of both staff and patients are irrevocably changed by facing the stark reality of survival, injury and death. Shot without narration, capturing just the actual conversations and emotions of victims and patients, nursing staff and field-workers, this is a dignified view, deep into the eyes of humanity.
English and Swahili, Video, 89:10min

Weapons of Mass Deception
d. Daniel Schechter, USA, 2004
Danny Schechter turns the cameras on the role of the global media. Weapons of Mass Deception is an outspoken assessment of how Pentagon propaganda and media complicity misled the American people, while selling the Iraq war to influence international public opinion. Schechter compares and contrasts coverage on a global basis, including exclusive material and insider interviews.
The director will attend the festival.
English, Video, 98min

Well Guarded Dreams
d. Isabel Noronha, Mozambique, 2004
Who are these almost invisible men outside our homes, who guard our sleep and permit us to dream? What dreams are those that keep watch and share themselves, on the nights of forced insomnia, by the light of the bonfire, between fear and cold, the nights silence and the will to see one more dawn arrive? The once thriving film industry of Mozambique is by comparison now decimated and its former employees eke out an existence as car-guards.
Portuguese/ Shangana with English subtitles,Video Sp, 30min