The premiere of the film opens nationwide at cinemas on Friday, 22 July 2011, but there is an exclusive pre-release screening on Wednesday 13 July, where filmgoers can meet Frank Rautenbach, Neels van Jaarsveld, director Steven Silver and actors Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman and Taylor Kitsch at a 'black carpet' event at Ster-Kinekor Sandton City from 7pm.
Supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), National Film and Video Foundation, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, the Durban Film Festival kicks off on 21 July with the world premiere of the South African film Otelo Burning, directed by Sara Blecher at Cinema Nouveau Gateway and Ster-Kinekor Musgrave.
Set during the last days of apartheid, the Durban-shot film tells the story of a group of South African township youngsters who discover surfing as an empowering escape from the political violence of the times. There is drama, romance, rivalry, and tragedy in this convincing fulfilment of local filmmaking potential.
Between 21-31 July, the festival will present films from around the world including Skoonheid, Oliver Hermanus's groundbreaking film that caused a stir at the recent Cannes Film festival, will have its first South African screening at the festival.
DIFF will present the following world premieres:
Making their African premieres are:
Other highlights include:
African cinema will also be well-represented by Djo Tunda Wa Munga's Viva Riva! , Nigerian director Andrew Donsunmu's Restless City, Justin Chadwick's Kenya-set film The First Grader and Ebrahim El Batout's Hawi, which first appeared in Durban as a project at the inaugural Durban FilmMart in 2010.
DIFF will focus on two national cinemas this year: India and Canada.
Six films from the Indian master Satyajit Ray will be presented, alongside new works by new Indian filmmakers. Leena Manimekelai will present the world premiere of her film The Dead Sea and other Indian films include Onir's I Am, Sanjoy Nag's Memories In March, Kaushik Mukherjee's Bengali hip hop film Asshole and Aamir Bashir's Autumn.
In a strong year for Canadian cinema, the festival will present Denis Villeneuve's Oscar-nominated Incendies, the drama Jo For Jonathan, Ed Gass-Donnelly's Small Town Murder Songs, Xavier Dolan's Heartbeats and Familiar Ground by Stephane Lafleur. Canadian documentaries include Barry Steven's Prosecutor, a look at the International Criminal Court and Shannon Walsh's St. Henri, the 26th of August.
Local stories in the documentary line-up include world premieres such as Ryley Grunewald's The Dawn of a New Day, Mickey Dube's Sobukwe, A Great Soul, about one of this country's most influential, but unsung, heroes, the Keith Jones/Deon Maas music revolution collaboration Punk In Africa, the Dara Kell/Chris Nizza collaboration Dear Mandela about innovative leadership emerging in informal settlements and the African premiere of Mama Africa, the film about Miriam Makeba.
Opening with an outdoor screening on the beachfront on 24th July, DIFF will host the Wavescapes Surf Film Festival for the seventh consecutive year, a six-day blast of wave action, surf stories and cinematography.
Festival screenings will take place at Ster Kinekor Musgrave, Cinema Nouveau Gateway and other venues. For film synopses, screening schedules and programme details, go to www.sterkinekor.com or www.cca.ukzn.ac.za.
