The eighth edition of the Joburg Film Festival will open on March 3 in the heart of South Africa’s entertainment industry, with an event that organizers say will celebrate the “invisible hand behind filmmaking”.
The festival pays tribute to the many bottom-line craftsmen who helped bring films to the big screen, and pays tribute to “the cinematographers, editors, line producers, casting directors, investors and others who shape what audiences see,” said Timothy Mangwedi, the festival’s executive director.
“I wanted the show to have a ‘feel of frame’, exploring both the craft and the systems that make storytelling possible,” Mangwedi told Variety. “Part of what we as the Joburg Film Festival have to do to get more audiences to come to the festival is also to educate the audience. We are looking at both the technology and the systems that enable storytelling.”
The festival opens with “Laundry” by South African director Zamo Mkhwanazi. The film tells the story of a black family who run a laundromat in a white-only area during the apartheid era. Mkhwanazi’s directorial debut first premiered in Toronto last year. The festival concludes on March 8th with the world premiere of first-time director Mikael Adam’s western horror film The Trek.
The festival’s main competition will see 12 feature films competing in the Nguni Horns category. Highlights include “Variations on a Theme” by South African directing duo Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar, which won the Tiger Award in Rotterdam earlier this year, and “The History of Sound,” a gay romance drama starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor directed by Oliver Hermanus that competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year.
Also in contention is “Dreamers” by Joy Galolo-Akpojotlu, a Nigerian-born London resident. The film is a queer romance set in a British immigration center about two Nigerian asylum seekers who find love while battling the system. The festival will also host the African premiere of “The Dutchman,” Andre Gaines’ adaptation of the civil rights-era play by Amiri Baraka, starring Andre Holland as a black man seduced by a destructive stranger.
The jury consists of producer Kate Pansegrow (“This Isn’t a Burial, It’s a Resurrection,” “The Wound”); The producer is Bongiwe Serane (“Happiness is a Four Letter Word”). producer and director Thea Stewart (“Why Not Us: Southern Dance”); Jan-Willem Broulet, filmmaker and founder of the Septimius Prize. Dorothy Wenner, Berlinale curator and World Film Fund juror; and programmer Keith Shiri, founder of Africa at the Pictures.
This year promises to be the biggest in JFF history, with festival curator Nhlanhla Ndaba saying organizers received a record 770 entries from around 100 countries before narrowing down the final selection to 60 films.
“We have carefully selected selections that will move the audience emotionally,” says Ndaba. “We want them to be in a space where they can really relate to the film, and we want them to take that home with them. We’re inviting the audience to not just consume the story, but to engage with it on an emotional level, so we chose a fairly wide range of South African films that bring the story home.[It]makes the film authentic and allows the audience to really see themselves.”
The drive to attract and grow local audiences is key to the mission of both the Joburg Film Festival and the Joburg Exchange (JBX), a parallel industry event held in a country where inequality is rife in the post-apartheid era. Organizers are focused on building that culture in the next generation of South African film viewers and filmmakers, as many parts of South Africa, particularly in townships and other poorer communities, struggle to establish a culture of moviegoing.
That’s why the festival has partnered with five universities around Gauteng, including Johannesburg, to offer support to student films with a chance to compete at the JFF. Two past winners of the festival’s Young Voices competition, and emerging talents George Themba and Ntokozo Mhlaba, will share their stories during JBX, which will also provide discounted access to up-and-coming young voices in the industry through the JBX Youth Programme.
“There are initiatives aimed at audience development and getting them involved in the festival. We also aim to make the festival as inclusive as possible,” Ndaba says. “We want both JBX Youth and the screenings to bring many young people from traditionally disadvantaged communities to the festival to fully experience what the Joburg Film Festival is all about and what opportunities there are for the film industry.”
The Joburg Film Festival runs from 3rd to 8th March.
