The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) has opened the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) with the screening of the film 1960 at the CineCentre Suncoast and virtually. This year the festival presents a hybrid programme of close to 200 feature films, documentaries and short films alongside an exciting community and student programme: Isiphethu.
In front of a packed house and with much excitement about being back in the cinema, writer and composer Bruce Retief, directors Michael Mutombo and King Shaft and cast members Zandile Madliwa and Sanda Shandu were in attendance to present their work to the audience.
The festival hosts 21 live screenings at CineCentre Suncoast, with the closing film, You’re My Favourite Place, screening on 29 July. This is the 5th feature film by one South Africa’s most acclaimed directors, Jahmil X.T. Qubeka. The film is a vastly different canvas from Qubeka’s previous work. The director refers to it as a merging of his past struggle to come to terms with himself in a viciously unfair society with the struggles facing young black bodies in South Africa today.
From today until Saturday, 30 July, the festival’s virtual edition, which includes the opening and closing films, is screening films on durbanfilmfest.com, where festival lovers can find a feast of thought-provoking shorts, documentaries and feature films with the theme: “Adaptation, Survival and Sustainability”.
Some of the festival’s highlights include the South African shorts programme, screening live at the cinema this Saturday, 23 July. Many directors and cast will be in attendance, and this screening truly reflects many facets of our country. The carefully curated package is screening:
- Amagama kaNokutela, directed by Zimisele Ngubane, is a celebration of the life and legacy of South African musician, teacher, school and newspaper co-founder Nokutela Mdima-Dube.
- Dreamwriter, directed by Nathan Rice, in which young cattle herder must overcome his stutter to perform in a poetry competition.
- Time and Tides, directed by Lamar Bonhomme, in which a struggling yacht cleaner takes a heroin addict on Valentine’s date to remember.
- Maverick, directed by Luthando Mngomezulu, in which a cowboy searches for a notorious bandit to cash in a huge bounty.
- Nefarious Creatures, directed by Camilo Saloojee and Xolelwa Nhlabatsie, is a neo-noir love letter to the city of Johannesburg.
- Prayers for Sweet Waters, directed by Elijah Ndoumbe, intersects across vivid realities and dreamscapes to submerge us into the worlds of three Transgender sex workers living in Cape Town.
- The Town, directed by Lindiwe Makgamele, shows seven-year-old Lesedi throwing stones at a passing car, which later forms an unlikely connection with its driver, Naledi.
The shorts package will also be available to watch online from 23 July.
Programme and details
DIFF 2022 will be presented in a hybrid edition with online screenings at www.durbanfilmfest.com and a diverse live programme offered at Suncoast CineCentre, Durban. The live screening schedule is accessible on ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za. Tickets for the live screenings will be available directly at the Suncoast CineCentre www.cinecentre.co.za. The virtual festival programme is available on www.durbanfilmfest.com.
The 43rd edition of the festival is produced by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, in partnership and with the support of KZN Film Commission, the National Film and Video Foundation, KZN Department of Arts & Culture, Avalon Group and other valued funders and partners.
