If you’re a movie buff then the Durban International Film Festival is the place for you.
The 44th edition, taking place in Durban and online, welcomes filmmakers and cinephiles from all over the world to get their fill with more than 90 feature films, shorts, documentaries and student films, from July 20 - 30.
Presented by the University of KwaZulu Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, the festival celebrates excellence in film-making by unearthing and showcasing films that provide a memorable and enriching cinematic experience for audiences, with courageous tales or new ways of retelling often-told narratives.
Whether you are attending in-person or joining online, make sure to catch these top five films.
“Banel & Adama” (includes English subtitles)
French film director and screenwriter Ramata-Toulaye Sy will captivate audience with this forbidden love story.
The film is a feisty tale of romance, family relationships and the chaos that ensues when Adama refuses to fulfil his birthright to serve as the village’s future leader.
Set in the North of Senegal in a small remote village, Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families and that Adama wouldn’t accept his blood duty as future chief.
But when Adama informs the village council of his intention, the whole community is disrupted.
The rain that’s supposed to come doesn’t come. The two quickly learn that where they live, there is no room for passions, let alone chaos.
“Banel & Adama” is set to close the festival.
“Sira”
Written and directed by Apolline Traoré, this award-winning film will open the festival.
It follows a young nomad (Nafissatou Cissé) who takes a stand against Islamist terror her family and her are attacked.
All the men are shot and the leader of the gang, Yéré, takes Sira and rapes her. Left for dead in the desert, Sira finds herself alone and takes refuge in a cave as she weaves her survival plan.
“Mapantsula” (includes English subtitles)
Directed by Oliver Schmitz this Apartheid era production examines racial discrimination and day-to-day acts of resistance to the regime.
Starring Thomas Mogotlane, Marcel van Heerden, Darlington Michaels, Peter Sephuma as Duma, Dolly Radebe and Thembi Mtshali, “Mapantsula” tells the story of Panic, a small-time thief, set against the backdrop of apartheid.
The film's use of flashbacks between Panic's time at the hands of his apartheid jailer, Stander, and the happenings in Soweto, displays the injustice black South Africans suffered during apartheid and their struggle for suffrage.
“Omen”
Director Baloji, who is known for “Zombies” and “Fifty Shades Freed”, returns with this supernatural film that follow Koffi’s return to his birthplace after he has been ostracized by his family.
“Omen” explores the weight of beliefs on one’s destiny through four characters accused of being witches and sorcerers, all of them intertwined and guiding each other into the phantasmagoria of Africa.
“Prime”
Directed by South Africa’s Thabiso Camilo Christopher, this is a tale about a young man who is still suffering the effects of childhood trauma at the hands of an abusive father.
He is haunted by the memory of his mother’s suicide but has found love and support in the arms of a beautiful woman. However, when his father dies, past traumas are triggered and he spirals into a dark place.
It impacts negatively on his relationship and sets the stage for his seduction by an ancient demon.
The film stars Richard Gau, Nomsa Twala, Jasmine Hazi, Sharon Wagner, Gérard Rudolf, Michael Potter and Llewellyn Cordier.