A film labelled as “a masterpiece’ and lauded for “astonishing performances from the ensemble cast” was awarded the top prize at the 32nd Durban International Film Festival which ended at the weekend after more than 200 screenings at venues in and around the city.
The festival, with principal funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, awarded the honour of Best Feature Film, and a prize of R50 000, to the Iranian drama Nader and Simin, A Separation, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi.
The drama focuses on an Iranian middle-class couple who separate, and the intrigues which follow when the husband hires a lower-class caretaker for his elderly father.
The film received the Golden Bear for Best Film and the Silver Bears for Best Actress and Best Actor at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival, becoming the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear.
Receiving a cash prize of R25 000, the film voted as Best South African Feature Film at the Durban festival was Skoonheid (France/South Africa), directed by Oliver Hermanus.
The jury commended the film as revealing a director on a “remarkable trajectory”, praising the film’s “subtlety, control and knowledge of film history” and one which “tells a complex South African story with universal appeal”.
The Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award, with a prize of €2 500 (about R24 000), went to Sobukwe, A Great Soul (South Africa), directed by Mickey Madoda Dube.
A R20 000 prize for Best First Feature Film was awarded to Matthew Gordon for The Dynamiter (US).
Andrey Zvyagintsev took the award for Best Director for his Elena (Russia) while Nadezhda Markina took the award for Best Actress in the same film.
The movie also took the prize for cinematography (Mikhail Krichman).
The Best Actor award went to William Patrick Ruffin for his performance in The Dynamiter (US), while the prize for best screenplay went to Asghar Farhadi for Nader and Simin, A Separation (Iran).
Special Mention Feature Film award-winner was Skoonheid (South Africa), directed by Oliver Hermanus, And the Special Mention South African Feature Film winner was Eldorado, directed by Shaldon Ferris and Lorreal Ferris.
The award for Best Documentary went to Position Among the Stars (Stand van de Sterren, The Netherlands), directed by Leonard Retel Helmrich.
Best South African Documentary was Dear Mandela (South Africa/US), directed by Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza.
Best Short Film was Dirty Laundry (South Africa), directed by Stephen Abbott, and the award for Best South African Short Film went to Dirty Laundry (South Africa), directed by Stephen Abbott.
The Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award winner was Sobukwe, A Great Soul (South Africa), directed by Mickey Madoda Dube.
The Durban Film Festival Wavescape Surf Film Festival Audience Award went to A Deeper Shade Of Blue (Australia), directed by Jack McCoy.
The Documentary Audience Award went to Fire in Babylon (UK), directed by Stevan Riley.
The Feature Film Audience Award went to The First Grader (Kenya,UK, South Africa), directed by Justin Chadwick.
The 32nd Durban International Film Festival is organised by the Centre For Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with support by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), National Film and Video Foundation, KZN Department of Economic Development and Tourism, HIVOS, City of Durban, German Embassy of South Africa, Goethe Institute of SA, Industrial Development Corporation, KZN Department of Arts and Culture, and a range of other partners.
Still talking local movies… Ster-Kinekor has announced that Jock of the Bushveld 3D, South Africa’s first 3D animated feature, released at the weekend, outperformed other films opening this past weekend, including Super 8 and Larry Crowne.
The movie also outperformed the likes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and Cars 2 in their second and third week respectively.
Jock of the Bushveld grossed in excess of R2.4 million at the South African box office at the weekend. - The Mercury