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2002 Film Festival
Synopses and Screening Times
THE LITTLE GIRL WHO SOLD THE SUN (Saturday 13th April 18H30)
Director: Djibril Diop Mambety 1998
45 minutes, Senegal Wolof with English subtitles
A twelve-year-old paraplegic, Sili Laam, begs for alms at the market with her blind grandmother. Although she is from one of the most reviled lower castes in her community, her strength lies in her refusal to accept the demeaning roles which society thrusts on her. In this, his last film, Mambety takes marvelous liberties with both imagery and metaphor.
TREMBLING BEFORE G-D (Sunday 14th April 18H30)
Director: Sandi Simcha Dubowski, 2000
84 minutes, US; English and Hebrew with English subtitles
This feature-length documentary is about Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who “come out” as gays and lesbians, and as a result must reconcile their sexual orientation with the drastic discipline of their tradition. As the film unfolds, we meet intolerant rabbis, narrow-minded family members, and abandoned gays and lesbians who are all struggling to solve an inscrutable dilemma: How is it possible to remain true to familiar, age-old traditions and simultaneously be true to oneself?
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES THEME (Monday 15th April 18H00)
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SARA BAARTMAN - “HOTTENTOT VENUS”
Director: Zola Maseko, 1998
53 minutes
“Hottentot Venus” is a documentary about Sara Baartman, a Khoi-Khoi woman who was taken from South Africa in 1810 and exhibited as a freak across Britain. Even after her death, Baartman remained an object of imperialist scientific investigation. In the name of Science, her brain and sexual organs were displayed in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris until as recently as 1985.
REGOPSTAAN’S DREAM
Director: Christopher Walker, 2000
52 minutes
The film follows David Regopstaan Kruiper, an elder of the Khomani Bushman clan, in his struggle to reclaim his people’s land in today’s Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa. The struggle encompasses the sensitive issues of wildlife conservation, and the rights of indigenous peoples to live in protected areas and preserve their language, tradition and culture.
TRUTH AND RECONCILATION THEME: Landscape of Memory (Tuesday 16th April 18H00)
A series of 4 x 26 minute documentaries about truth and reconciliation in Southern Africa produced by Don Edkins, 1999
"By remembering, we can ensure that never again will such inhumanity tear us apart ..." Nelson Mandela
MOÇAMBIQUE: From the Ashes
Director: Karen Boswall
Set in a small village called Ilha Josina in the south of Moçambique, "From the Ashes" gives us a window onto some of the ways in which the villagers are working towards healing the wounds of the past. The film follows people who fought on both sides of the war and who suffered at the hands of both. The characters have different belief systems and different philosophies. They show in the film their private ways, partly through ritual, partly through personally developed philosophies, of reconciling their past, living the present and working towards their futures.
NAMIBIA: Nda Mona - I Have Seen
Director: Richard Pakleppa
Against the context of a bitter war, the film's voices tell of war crimes committed by Namibia's former liberation movement and today’s ruling party, SWAPO. The policy of the government is that the past should be forgotten and forgiven. This kind of reconciliation poses serious questions for the victims.
SOUTH AFRICA: The Unfolding of Sky
Directors: Antjie Krog and Ronelle Loots
The film centres on a dialogue between an Afrikaner woman and an African woman. One has been a victim of the Apartheid system, the other has reported on the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Together they explore the notion of reconciliation, and what it means for each of them. Their shared journey into South Africa¹s heart of darkness reflects the inner struggle to find meaning about truth and reconciliation in South Africa today.
ZIMBABWE: Soul in Torment
Director: Prudence Uriri
Independence in Zimbabwe in 1980 meant an end to many forms of oppression. Yet soon after the celebrations, another war started in Matabeleland. Why another war, asks a former guerrilla fighter, when they had fought for freedom and justice and thought they had won? The filmmaker's quest takes her to meet a member of the 5th Brigade, which had undertaken the massacres on behalf of the newly formed Zimbabwean government. His deeds still torment him, although he has tried the channels of official restitution. The war for freedom has not yet been won.
SISTERS IN RESISTANCE (Friday 19th April 18H30)
Director: Maia Wechsler, 2000
60 minutes, France; French with English subtitles
“Sisters in Resistance” shares the story of four French women, who risked their lives to fight the Nazi occupation of their country. Neither Jews nor Communists, they were in no danger of arrest before they joined the Resistance. Within two years, all four were arrested by the Gestapo and deported as political prisoners to the hell of Ravensbruck concentration camp, where they helped one another survive. The film captures their amazing lives, and reveals an uncommon, intense bond of friendship that survives to this day.
THE GATES OF CLEVELAND ROAD (Sunday 21st April 18H00)
Director: Du Preez Heunis; 93minutes, South Africa
Samantha has the right to be as “insane” as she wants to be. It’s her human right. Joe has the right to be angry. Just as Pula the street child has the right to love and a home. And the domestic worker, Mrs Mabasu, Minister of Home Affairs, has the right to forbid every one to swear in her lady’s castle.
Beating the odds against the money-hungry sister and her psychiatrist husband in their endless efforts and schemes to have her certified. Hiding guns from the ex-freedom fighter, and running away from the money-hungry soulless company and their utterly incompetent and highly amusing PI. That’s what’s facing Jonathan Oakley in his struggle to find humanity, himself and his love behind the Gates of Cleveland Road.
HIV/AIDS THEME: Steps for the Future (Monday 22nd April 19H00)
Selected from a collection of documentaries about living with HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa
IT’S MY LIFE
Director: Brian Tilley
75 minutes, South Africa
It's My Life is a film about Zackie Achmat, an AIDS activist who refuses to take anti-retrovirals until they are available in public hospitals and clinics. He leads the court battle against the multi-national drug companies and takes on the South African government for its confusing policies around HIV/AIDS.
A MINER’S TALE
Directors: Nic Hofmeyr and Gabriel Mondlane
40 minutes, Moçambique/South Africa
Joachim is a migrant labourer with a junior wife in South Africa and a senior wife and family in Moçambique. He is torn between his responsibilities for both. He is also torn between his understanding of his illness when visiting his home village after years, and what traditional society expects of him. He has to make a choice; he cannot please and protect all.
MOTHER TO CHILD
Director: Jane Lipman
40 minutes, South Africa
This astounding documentary follows the lives of two pregnant and HIV positive women lucky enough to be on a drug trial at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. The film is about their expectations, hope and inevitable fears concerning the health of their babies, and the trauma around the disclosure of their status to their families and partners. |
