CTIFMF Announces Documentaries In Official Selection 2018

The Cape Town International Film Market and Festival is proud to announce the official selection of documentaries for the 2018 edition of the festival. This year will see 20 documentary films screening from 10 – 19 October at various cinemas within the V&A Waterfront.

Amongst the incredible list of powerful and moving documentaries is award-winning South African director Rehad Desai’s Everything Must Fall.  The film is an unflinching look at the #FeesMustFall student movement that burst onto the South African political landscape in 2015 as a protest over the cost of education, and morphed into the most militant national revolt since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. The story is told by four student leaders at Wits University and their Vice Chancellor, Adam Habib, a left-wing, former anti-apartheid student activist.

Director Rehad Desai has this to say of the film, “This film has been in the making since late 2015 and is one of the most rewarding and inspiring projects I have had the pleasure to work on. It is a story of hope, disappointment, anger and a new generation that has entered our political arena. It is story of Fees Must Fall told through the prism of Wits University, my old university, one of the countries elite universities which adds some unique layers of complexity.” everythingmustfall.co.za

Having its World Premiere at the CTIFMF will be another South African documentary, Hear My Music- the Dizu Plaatjies Story from Director Ron Stuart. The documentary tells the story of local musical hero, Dizu Plaatjies, the scholar and cultural activist who has devoted his adult life to indigenous African music. His journey from childhood in the Eastern Cape and Langa Township to concert stages world-wide, is a compelling story that is the focus of this documentary.

Whispering Truth to Power, from filmmaker and human rights lawyer Shameela Seedat, tracks Thuli Madonsela, South Africa’s first female Public Protector, as she builds her second case against the country’s President, Jacob Zuma. This is documentary filmmaking at its most relevant and powerful.

The final cut of Cape Town director Weaam William’s District Six: Rising from the Dust, that just recently won an Award of Excellence from the Scandinavian Film Festival will also be screened at the Festival. The film takes the viewer through her personal account of how in 1966 the homes and land of her grandparents were declared an all-white area under the oppressive Group Areas Act. www.facebook.com/districtsixrisingfromthedust/videos/official-trailer-district-six-rising-from-the-dust/1647649145274746/

Hot off its win’s at the Zanzibar International Film Festival and the Durban International Film Festival, Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann’s beautiful film, New Moon has also been selected. The Kenyan filmmaker takes viewers on a journey of spiritual awareness. Her commitment to a path of self-discovery takes her to a woman called Raya and her young sons, Ahmed and Abu Bakr.

It is in their home that she finds a narrative anchor and a more personal entry point into the mysteries of this old town. Fragments of Lamu life unfold like chapters in a book: a man scaling a fish, children bathing by a dock, a baptism, a visual diary of a woman not entirely sure of where she is headed.

Documentaries from as far afield as Germany, France, Lebanon, Cameroon, Syria, Japan, the USA and Australia will also be featured.

The full list of documentary films to be screened is as follows:

Title Country Director
Amal Egypt, Lebanon, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Qatar Mohamed Siam
Danchi Woman Japan Akiko Sugimoto
Diamonds, Backpacks and a Matchbox UAE, UK, Kenya, Jordan Amirah Tajdin
District Six Rising from the Dust South Africa Weaam Williams
Everything Must Fall South Africa Rehad Desai
Film School Africa USA Nathan Pfaff
Food Fighter Australia Dan Goldberg
Hear my Music (W/P) South Africa Ron Stuart
Kinshasa Makambo The Democratic Republic Of Congo, France, Switzerland, Germany, Qatar, Norway Dieudo Hamadi
Left on Pearl USA Susan Rivo
Marie-Madeleine: A Female Chief Cameroon Florence Ayisi
New Moon Kenya Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann
One Table two Elephants South Africa Henrik Ernstson ,Jacob von Heland
Of Father’s and Sons Germany, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria Talal Derki
Searching for Ingmar Bergman Germany, France Margarethe von Trotta
The Long Season Lebanon / Netherlands Leonard Retel Helmrich
The State Against Nelson Mandela and the others France Nicolas Champeaux, Gilles Porte
Whispering Truth to Power South Africa Shameela Seedat

For more information on this year’s CTIFMF, please visit the website, www.filmfestival.capetown.

The Cape Town International Film Market and Festival is proudly hosted by the City of Cape Town.

By Andrew Germishuys

Founder of SAMDB | Actor | Armourer | Tech Enthusiast With over two decades in the film industry, I'm a seasoned actor and skilled armourer. I hold numerous certifications in acting and filmmaking, complemented by degrees and diplomas in IT and technology, giving me a unique blend of creative and technical expertise. When I'm not on set or in the workshop, you'll find me immersed in the world of gaming and VR, fuelling my passion for cutting-edge technology. Connect with me: X / Twitter Facebook Instagram Mastodon Threads Explore my work on SAMDB IMDb