Cinephiles won't know which way to turn come the middle of the month, when the Cape Winelands Film Festival (CWFF) launches with more than 150 films screening around the Mother City and beyond. By Theresa Smith
The festival's main objective is to provide a window on world cinema and this year there is a strong focus on the environment, football and good films from elsewhere.
Fest director Leon van der Merwe started the festival three years ago to try and bring non- Hollywood films to the attention of audiences starved of good movies.
"The craving for international films not seen anywhere else in the country is the main reason we started the festival soon after we knew Sithengi was not going to happen anymore.
"Despite claims by one of our mainstream distributors regarding a diversity of film titles on their so-called art cinema circuit, one has to note the total absence of films from several countries during the past year," said Van der Merwe.
Films from Algeria, Morocco, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Iceland, Japan, Turkey, Venezuela, Singapore, Thailand and many other places which have enjoyed revivals in their film cultures will be showcased at this year's festival.
In addition, in the absence of the Apollo Film Festival, CWFF and the Durban International Film Festival are the only two strong festivals for local directors to showcase their work if it hasn't been picked up for local distribution yet.
While almost a third of the festival devoted to South African and African cinema, it will also feature 40 new productions from this continent.
No surprise then that the festival will premiere six South African films, including the opening night film, Master Harold... and the Boys.
Based on Athol Fugard's play and filmed in Cape Town, it was directed by Lonny Price and stars Ving Rhames, Patrick Mofokeng and Freddie Highmore.
The other five are Darrel Roodt's drama Jakhalsdans; a hard-hitting drama about violence in Sudan called Darfur; a Mzansi take on the Romeo and Juliet story called Gugu and Andile; Adera, the heart-wrenching story about an Ethiopian immigrant living in Johannesburg; I Now Pronounce You Black and White, a comedic look at what happens when a white South African Jew proposes to a black South African Christian; and Streetball, a documentary about eight homeless men fighting for their place on a football team.
Other football-focused films include Black Star: An African Football Odyssey, Mapi Liberia, Africa 10, Soccerman and Over the Fence.
Van der Merwe thinks it is pretty significant that 213 of the 413 entries to this year's festival were short films. This number was short-listed to 45 short films in competition and 10 outside of competition.
He thinks the sheer amount of multi-award winning entries is a sign that the CWFF is fast gaining a reputation in the world as a credible platform to showcase work and reach the South African film- viewing public.
"That says the festival has become noticeable, people are attaching relevance to the festival. It's nice, because it means you get the good stuff," he said.
Some of the other good stuff that will screen at the festival includes the Oscar-nominated documentary The Cove (about Japanese dolphin hunting); the Brazilian film Two Sons of Francisco, a beautiful story about a poor man whose dream is to make his sons into country music stars; or any of the films of French master of cinema Alain Resnais or Briton Terence Davies.
VERY IMPORTANT INFO
The Cape Winelands Film Festival takes place from March 17 to March 27 at the Labia on Orange; the Labia on Kloof; the TH Barry screening room in the Iziko Museum, Company Gardens; CityVarsity theatre on Kloof Street and Spier Estate, Stellenbosch.
There will also be an open-air screening of Sea Point Days at the Sea Point Pavilion at 8pm on March 19 and 20 (so bring a picnic basket). See http://films-for-africa.co.za/ for the full schedule.
BALTIC STATES & EASTERN EUROPE
This first South African focus on the rich film cultures of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, includes powerful period dramas such as December Heat and Taarka, as well as the stunning Vortex!
The documentaries The Singing Revolution and Disco and Atomic War provide a great informative historical point of view on the changes in Estonia during the past century.
The epic war drama St George Shoots the Dragon and the moving The Heart of the Wise Lives in the House of Sorrow hail from Serbia; the delightful Wedding in Bessarabia comes from Romania, which is enjoying a cinematic New Wave; the multi-award winning drama The Other Bank is from Georgia and the last film by the great Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk (War and Peace) is the epic Quiet Flows the Don, starring Rupert Everett, F Murray Abraham and Delphine Forest.
WHO IS VISITING
To complement the first South African screenings of Jacques Audiard's Oscar- nominated Un Prophète, two of the actors, Reda Kateb and Adel Bencherif, will attend screenings to interact with the audience on March 19 and 26.
Festival organisers are trying to get director Terrence Davies (the subject of this year's celebration of the achievements of the past) out for the screening of Time and the City.
Many South African filmmakers will attend Q&A sessions of their films as will Brian Lally (8.5 Hours); Haim Tabakman (Eyes Wide Open); Eduardo Valente (The Eye of the Storm); Srdjan Dragojevic (St George Shoots the Dragon) and Hussain Hassan (Herman).
