Festivals: Durban
Review: THE WOUND, An Essential South African Masterpiece
This week South Africa must decide which of its films to submit for the Oscars’ Best Foreign Language Film category. Likely, it’ll come down to a choice between The Wound, which has the advantage of having collected a plethora of...
Durban 2017 Review: LIYANA Inspires, And Wins For Artistic Bravery
Liyana documents the inspiring story of a young girl in rural Swaziland, whose parents die from AIDS, and whose little twin brothers are stolen by child traffickers after she and her frail grandmother are assaulted and abused. Liyana must then...
Durban 2015 Review: THE SHORE BREAK Tries To Stem The Tide, But Only Time Will Tell
The 36th Durban International Film Festival in South Africa has wrapped its annual showcase of international film, with this year's menu providing distinctly more African fare under the new directorship of Pedro Pimenta. South African documentary The Shore Break is...
Durban 2014: THE LAST BOERS OF PATAGONIA Trailer And Stills
The Last Boers of Patagonia documents an astonishing community in Argentina whose roots stretch back to what is now South Africa. Though we've had a taste thanks to a trailer (see below) and a teaser for the eventual feature film documentary The Boers...
Durban 2014 Review: COLD HARBOUR Gets Moody About Corruption
Another South African film at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) brings another challenging reflection on the country's modern identity. This time, it's Carey McKenzie tackling corruption with her moody and noirish crime thriller, Cold Harbour, which just had its world...
Durban 2014 Review: Kenyan Crime Thriller VEVE Is A Damp Misfire
Though it boasts handsome production values and Tom Tykwer amongst its producer team, Kenyan crime thriller Veve is otherwise a catalog of missed and squandered opportunities, a thriller that simply fails to thrill thanks to a script overstuffed with unengaging...
Durban 2014 Review: LOVE THE ONE YOU LOVE Is A Luminous, Perplexing, Engrossing Debut
Kennel worker Sandile and phone sex operator Terri have an unusual problem: Their life together is too good. They're perfect together. Their friends say so, holding the duo up as the ideal to which they aspire. Sandile's mother is pressing...
Durban 2014 Review: BETI AND AMARE Is A Bizarre Ethiopian Oddity
It is 1936 and Mussolini is on the move, the fascist leader's troops pressing into Ethiopia to increase their foothold in Africa. Fearing the worst teenaged girl Beti is sent away from the big city by her mother to live...
Durban 2014 Review: 1994 THE BLOODY MIRACLE
"The true miracle of the 1994 elections, is that they happened at all. If this was a miracle, it was a truly bloody one." John Kani, narrating for 1994 The Bloody Miracle.1994 The Bloody Miracle, a documentary three years in...
Durban 2014 Review: HARD TO GET Is Easy To Love
Over the past few years there has been an unmistakable sense that South Africa is a film nation on the rise and if that is, indeed, the case then its continued ascent will rest on the shoulders of bright young...
Durban 2014: OF GOOD REPORT, Revisiting Last Year's Banned Masterpiece
Of Good Report is an astonishing South African noir thriller -- I've never seen better South African film making -- about a teacher-pupil relationship that spirals into obsession and violence. The film was selected as the opening film for the 2013...
Introducing Durban 2014: Seaside South African Cinema At The Durban International Film Festival
Ah Durban! South Africa's cultural melting pot of English, Afrikaner, Indian, and Zulu. Famous for her sunny beaches and busy harbour; infamous for her cauterizing curries and wizardly weed. I grew up in the central green foothills you can see...
