Swiss director Marie Elsa Sguard’s “The Silent Rebellion,” a period drama that follows a rape victim’s challenging journey of self-discovery, won the top prize at the 8th Joburg Film Festival on Saturday.
Suguardo’s feature debut tells the story of 15-year-old Emma, who becomes pregnant after being raped. Resisting an oppressive rural Protestant community, she embarks on a journey of self-determination, confronting the moral hypocrisies of her village and the lingering shadow of World War II, while turning her trauma into a catalyst for liberation.
Commenting on the film winning the Guni Horn Award for Best Feature, JFF Founder and Executive Director Tim Mangwedi praised the film’s “perfect combination of gripping story and striking cinematography”.
The film, which premiered in the Venice Spotlight section at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, also won Best Cinematography for DoP’s Benoît Delvaux, and lead actress Lila Gounod received a special award from the jury for her performance.
South African director duo Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar’s Variations on a Theme, which won the top prize at the Tiger Competition in Rotterdam, won the Best African Feature Award. The director’s second film, about an elderly goatherd who falls victim to a scam promising years of compensation for his father’s service in World War II, was praised by Variety’s Guy Lodge after his victory in Rotterdam for its “warm observation and literary quality” with “loving attention to language and local customs”.
The award for best documentary went to Nolisa Refilwe Mkulisi’s Let Them Be Seen, which premiered in Rotterdam. The film offers a vivid portrait of the director’s hometown of Tapoleng, a small village in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. The award for best editing went to Czech director Ondrzej Provacnik’s #MeToo drama “Broken Voices,” edited by Anna Johnson Rindova.
The Best Short Film Award went to Tevin Kimachi and Milan Taras’ “Stero”, the Best Student Film Award went to George Themba’s “The Silent Inheritance”, and the Young Voices Competition went to Kaya Dube’s “Umxoxiso”. Veteran South African producer Harriet Gabson also received special recognition at Saturday night’s awards ceremony.
The festival’s jury consisted of producer Kate Pansegrow (It’s Not 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.
The 8th Joburg Film Festival will close on March 8th with the world premiere of first-time director Mikael Adam’s Western horror film The Trek.
This year was the largest 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 entries.
Speaking at the festival’s opening ceremony, director Ndaba acknowledged the difficult circumstances of this year’s event, but reminded the filmmakers in attendance that their voices are as important as ever.
“This festival comes at a moment when the world is less nuanced, a moment when artists are being asked whether to speak or remain silent,” Ndaba said. “At the Berlinale, we witnessed a heated debate about whether filmmakers should get involved in politics. It was suggested that artists should stay away from politics because cinema is the antithesis of politics.”
“The Joburg Film Festival has always been a place where politics and art meet, where the African continent and the world connect, where politics is just another story, where we don’t pretend that storytelling happens in a vacuum,” he continued. “The moment we stop reflecting the world in all its beauty and fragility, that is the moment we cease to have meaning.”
The Joburg Film Festival will be held in Johannesburg from 3rd to 8th March.
