Africa’s top documentary fest comes to town
MABONENG PRECINCT - Africa's top documentary film festival has returned to Johannesburg with a powerful line-up.
The 16th Encounters South African International Documentary Festival will run at The Bioscope Independent Cinema.
In addition to award-winning films, the festival will also feature master classes, an editing seminar, the Al Jazeera Pitching Forum and Presentation, the National Film and Video Foundation in Conversation, and panel discussions.
“Many of the international documentaries take you behind recent news headlines,” said spokesperson Sharon Jackson.
“In The Unknown Known, Oscar-winner Errol Morris uses declassified memos to guide former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld through a discussion of his controversial career under four different Republican presidents, shedding light on Vietnam, the Cold War, Desert Storm, and the War on Terror.”
Jackson said that the film Return to Homs, winner of the Sundance festival’s Grand Jury prize, will take audiences to the Syrian front lines, where two friends fight against the army transforming their city into a ghost town.
“The Green Prince, winner of the Audience Award at Sundance, focuses on the oldest son of a founding member of Hamas, who agrees to spy for Israel. Many of the documentaries explore contrasting responses to injustice,” she said.
Other highlights include Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus, focusing on a defiant theatre group; Fuck for Forest, about an NGO that fundraises with homemade erotic films; and Concerning Violence, in which Lauryn Hill narrates Frantz Fanon’s critique of the dehumanising effects of colonisation.
“There is also beauty in this year’s selection,” said Jackson.
“The Oscar-nominated Cutie and the Boxer celebrates the challenges and richness of… marriage and art. The award-winning Finding Vivian Maier depicts a nanny whose posthumous cache of 100 000 photographs has seen her hailed as one of the world’s most accomplished street photographers.”
My Name is Salt, Stories We Tell, 12 O’Clock Boys, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, The Great Night, and The Pirate Bay: Away From the Keyboard will also be shown at the festival.
The festival will run from 6 until 15 June at The Bioscope, 286 Fox Street, Maboneng Precinct.
Click here to view the schedule. [https://www.encounters.co.za/jozi-schedule/]
Details: The Bioscope www.encounters.co.za
Watch the trailers:
Cutie and The Boxer:
Return To Homs:
The Unknown Known:
Finding Vivian Maier:
Stories We Tell:
Fuck For Forest:
My Name Is Salt:
12 O’Clock Boys:
The Pirate Bay: Away From Keyboard:
The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology:
Concerning Violence: Click here to view the video
Dangerous Acts Starring The Unstable Elements of Belarus:
