{"id":22263,"date":"2024-06-11T19:25:44","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T17:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=22263"},"modified":"2024-06-11T19:26:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T17:26:47","slug":"films-to-delight-and-surprise-at-encounters-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2024\/06\/11\/films-to-delight-and-surprise-at-encounters-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Films To Delight and Surprise at Encounters 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a fascinating lineup of documentaries from around the globe, this year\u2019s Encounters South African International Documentary Festival offers over 45 films that promise to captivate and delight a myriad of interests and tastes at venues in Cape Town and Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music, its magic and the mystery, the lives of the people who create it or surround it, and the impact it has on society always pops up as intriguing subject matter for documentaries \u2013 whether it be rock, jazz, or indigenous vibes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take the captivating and deliciously surprising Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (USA)directed byAlexis\u00a0Bloom and Svetlana Zill, a film which will have audiences\u00a0mesmerized. This is an intimate and extraordinary documentary about the life of maverick and legendary actress, model, and artist Anita Pallenberg. Produced by Marlon Richards, her son with Rolling Stones\u2019 Keith Richards, the film is based on an unpublished memoir found after her death and is a portal into a world of a creative force well ahead of her time. Using 8mm home movie footage as well as a string of fascinating interviews including Marlon, his sister Angela Richards, their father Keith, and supermodel Kate Moss whom Anita mentored.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Catching Fire – The Story of Anita Pallenberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Then Playing the Changes – Tracking Darius Brubeck<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (Netherlands\/Poland\/South Africa\/United Kingdom) directed by Michiel Ten Kleij is a soulful lick of history, backed by the soundtrack of Darius\u2019s father Dave\u2019s nostalgic classics, making for a vibrant testament to the unifying potency of music.  \u201cJazz, just by its nature, is subversive\u201d. This quote from jazz pianist Darius Brubeck encapsulates his legacy and that of his famous father Dave Brubeck with his typical modesty; without admitting that they too are subversive by nature. Both Brubecks pioneered socio-political change through their music. With his wife Cathy, Darius, this understated mentor, fledged South Africa\u2019s budding jazz scene at the Moon Hotel in Durban, created the first formalised jazz degree in the country and empowered black students musically against the government\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Playing the Changes Darius Brubeck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On a more traditional note Ballak\u00e9 Sissoko, Kora Tales<\/strong><\/a> (France\/Mali\/Senegal ) directed by Lucy Dur\u00e1n and Laurent Benhamoutells the definitive story of the mythic West African harp, with one of its modern masters, Ballak\u00e9 Sissoko, as our guide The kora is so integral to the culture of West Africa that the top players are akin to royalty. Over the past 50 years, the 21-stringed instrument has transcended its West African origins, becoming a truly global sound, with artists as diverse as Herbie Hancock, Bjork, and Damon Albarn among its devotees. Driven by the resonant rhythms of its two central subjects, this enchanting documentary is based on nearly half a century of research by co-director Lucy Dur\u00e1n.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ballak\u00e9 Sissoko, Kora Tales<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Two films about mental health and in particular Black people\u2019s mental health, asking pertinent and interesting questions promise to make for some intriguing discussions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black People Don’t Get Depressed<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (South Africa\/Canada\/Zambia)  directed by Sara Chitambo-Hatira is an engaging documentary about depression that is often unacknowledged in indigenous Southern African cultures and written off as something that is \u201cfor white people\u201d. The filmmaker, despairing for her mental peace, embarks on the journey of facing her depression and speaks to other African people about their experiences of mental illness. This is a timely and vital film for South Africa, where issues around mental health cut across all layers of society.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Black People Don’t Get Depressed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Friendship Bench<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (SA) directed by Rea Moeti-Vogt is a sensitive documentary that dives into the origin of a grassroots mental health organisation in Zimbabwe called \u2018The Friendship Bench\u2019led by determined psychiatrist Dixon Chibanda. Through raw and powerful interviews, it delves into local struggles and cultural perceptions of mental health, highlighting the organisation’s role in providing non-judgmental support and destigmatising mental health issues in rural communities.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Friendship Bench<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As always, the environment and man\u2019s impact on it takes centre stage with several films focussed on an orphaned baby elephant, seabirds, tiny American hummingbirds and citizens fighting against environmental destruction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a magnificent white rock, desolate yet teeming with life, Yves, an isolated conservationist battles seals and inner demons in equal measure, as his lone mission for ecological balance brings him to the brink of madness. The \u201cwhite gold rush\u201d for guano in the 19th<\/sup> century had almost driven the Namibian seabird colonies of Mercury Island to extinction by 1990, when Yves, a passionate maverick nature conservationist, became the island\u2019s only inhabitant, taking on the Sisyphean task of protecting tens of thousands of birds from tens of thousands of seals. In My Mercury<\/em><\/strong><\/a> co-director Jo\u00eblle Chesselet with Pippa Ehrlich uses her brother Yves\u2019 diaries and footage from his handheld camera to share the unique, primal story of his years alone.  Although the film doesn\u2019t shy away from the devastating effect humans have had on wildlife, there\u2019s a refreshing absence of environmental agenda \u2013 if anything, it is optimistic about the impact that one committed person can have to preserve the diversity of our world.<\/p>\n\n\n

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My Mercury<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Nick Chevallier, Leigh Wood and Guido Zanghi\u2019s Wild Coast Warriors<\/strong><\/a> (South Africa) explores the fight against the establishment of oil exploration operations by the Shell corporation in the Wild Coast in an effort to prevent the irreversible destruction of the environment and surrounding communities. The film goes beyond the surface of the legal case, exploring the interconnected rights of indigenous communities, customary law, and conservation in the face of foreign interests, corruption, and exploitation.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Wild Coast Warriors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Diary of an Elephant Orphan<\/strong><\/a> (SA)directed by Hermien Roelvert-Van  takes the audience through the struggles and turmoils of orphaned baby elephants and the people who have made it their life\u2019s mission to save them. The film follows Khanyisa, a baby elephant newly orphaned, on her journey in becoming strong enough to join a herd of her own.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Diary Of An Elephant Orphan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sally Aitken\u2019s gorgeous Every Little Thing<\/strong><\/a> (USA) is described as a \u201cdocumentary about hummingbirds you never knew you needed to watch!\u201d In the hills of Hollywood, Terry Masear cares for wounded hummingbirds, her life transformed by the fragility and resilience of the tiny creatures. Masear wrote a book about working with the world’s smallest birds, which led to filmmaker Sally Aitken following her over a busy caretaking season in Los Angeles. Exquisitely photographed and phenomenally heartwarming, watching Masear take care of the birds is so therapeutic that it is easy to see how her relationship with the winged wonders changed her life.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Every Little Thing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Cinemas that will screen the 2024 Encounters\u2019 line-up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n