Over 200 local and international feature films, shorts and documentaries will be shown at the 43rd Durban International Film Festival’s hybrid event which starts next week and runs until July 31.
Some of these incredible films have the opportunity to compete in the 2022 competition. Films will compete for titles such as: Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Performer and Best Cinematography.
The jury consists of industry specialists from all over the globe.
Here are the films that are in the running this year:
Feature Films
“1960”
Directors King Shaft and Michael Mutombo from South Africa show what happens when the remains of an apartheid-era policeman are discovered 60 years after he went missing; a retired singer revisits her past to help with the investigation.
But how much does she know, and what is she holding back?
“2 Thirds of a Man”
Directed by Earl Shaun Kopeledi from South Africa, it draws an image of how Justin returns to Cape Town as a first-year student at Rocklands University after spending most of his teenage years living in Beaufort West, where his mom took up a teaching job after the untimely death of his father, a musician on the brink of success.
“Bangarang”
Directed by Robin Odongo from Kenya, it is inspired by actual events. Otile, a poor “bodaboda“ rider, is jobless 10 years after graduating with a second-class Honours degree in automotive engineering.
When election violence erupts after the disputed Kenyan presidential elections, Otile leads other rioters in the streets of Kisumu.
“Bantú Mama”
Directed by Ivan Herrera. After being arrested in the Dominican Republic, an Afropean woman escapes and is sheltered by three minors in a dangerous district of Santo Domingo.
“Dealer”
Directed by Jeroen Perceval from Belgium, let’s one in on a story about a 14-year-old drug runner Johnny, staying in a home for young people from challenging backgrounds. He dreams of a better life.
“Donkeyhead”
A 2021 Canadian comedy-drama film written and directed by Agam Darshi in her directorial debut.
The plot follows Mona (37), a failed writer who carves out a life of isolation while caring for her ailing traditional Sikh father.
“Good Madam”
Directed by Jenna Cato Bass, this is a psychological thriller and a commentary on the contemporary state of race relations in South Africa following the end of apartheid.
“Juwaa”
Directed by Nganji Mutiri and shot in Belgium and the Congo, this is a powerful drama based on African characters rarely seen on screens. Years after a traumatic night, a son and a mother slowly reveal all the layers that redefine what they mean to each other.
“Klondike”
Directed by Maryna Er Gorbach from Ukraine, it follows July 2014, when expectant parents’ nervous anticipation of their first child’s birth is violently disrupted as the vicinal crash of flight MH17 elevates the forbidding tension enveloping their village.
“Public Toilet Africa”
Director Felix (Kofi) Ofosu-Yeboah from Ghana follows after several years of her disappearance; a reticent Ama returns to the city where she was gifted to a white art collector as a little girl.
Her quest to even the score results in a heist-gone-wrong that sends her and an ex-lover on a lonely country road.
“Ring Wandering”
Director Masakazu Kaneko from Japan captures a story in central Tokyo, where a young man named Sosuke aspires to be a manga artist.
“Streams”
Directed by Mehdi Hmili, hailing from Tunisia, this story follows Amel, who works in a factory in Tunisia. She lives with her alcoholic husband Tahar, a former local football player, and their only son Moumen, a talented teenage football goalkeeper.
“Tug of War”
Directed by Amil Shivji from Tanzania, this brings a coming-of-age political love story set in the final years of British colonial Zanzibar. Denge, a young freedom fighter, meets Yasmin, an Indian-Zanzibari woman, in the middle of the night as she is on her way to be married.
Documentaries
“Adam & Ida”
A German film directed by Jan Tenhaven, tells the story of Polish-Jewish twins who survived the Holocaust.
“African Moot”
Directed by Shameela Seedat, it shares the story of the competitors in the prestigious African Human Rights Moot Court Competition.
“Batata”
Directed by Lebanese-Syrian film-maker Noura Kevorkian, it follows the plight of Syrian migrant workers.
“Black Mambas”
From Germany, this offering, directed by Lena Karbe, follows an all-female anti-poaching unit in Kruger National Park.
“Forgotten Dreams”
Directed by Marwa El Sharkawy from Egypt, it follows the story of a young, talented, colloquial poet who discovers he has kidney failure.
“Girl, Taken, from South Africa and Ireland”
Directed by Simon Wood and Francois Verster, it tells the incredible story of two parents whose baby was stolen from Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, who miraculously found her 17 years later, and who then lost her again.
“Kash Kash, Feathers without Wings”
This German documentary, directed by Lea Najjar, tells the story of how her hometown, Beirut, was torn apart by a corrupt political elite, anti-government protests, and one of the biggest explosions of the 21st century.
“Umkhumbane In Me”
Directed by Malcolm Sonnyboy Nhleko from South Africa, it shows us life through the eyes of Madala “Bafo” Kunene. One gets a raw glimpse of the painful moments that defined his musical journey.
“Music Is My Life”
Directed by Mpumi Supa from South Africa, it is the official story of African icon Joseph Shabalala, who rises to international fame with his band Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
“N-Ice Cello”
Directed by Corrado Bungaro from Italy, it tells a story from the heart of a glacier in the Italian Alps in which an American sculptor shaped a cello entirely made of ice.
“No Simple Way Home”
Directed by the South-Sudanese Akuol de Mabior, it is an intergenerational conversation that charts the struggle to reconcile family and country.
“No U-Turn”
Directed by Nollywood film-maker Ike Nnabue, it goes back to the path he took at the dawn of his adult life when he wanted to reach Europe.
“Portraits Of The Future”
Directed by Virna Molina from Argentina, it paints a picture of how before the pandemic, film-maker Virna Molina was shooting a film about the resistance of the subway delegates in Buenos Aires that was interrupted by “lockdown”.
“Taamaden”
Directed by Seydou Cissé from Cameroon, it follows three young immigrants from west Africa who take the viewer into the world of African spirituality in the age of new technologies.
“In The Delights”
Director Eduardo Crespo, hailing from Argentina, shows how more than 120 kids live together in Las Delicias agrotechnical boarding school in the Argentine countryside.
“Wind Blows In The Border”
By directors Laura Faerman and Marina Weis from Brazil is about the fight for ancestral lands.