Twenty Five years of memorable and impactful celebrations around Cape Town are under way, with never-been-seen, and much anticipated documentaries on the line-up.
Encounters, a South African international documentary festival celebrates 25 years of documentary screening excellence this year.
The festival opened on Thursday with a film titled Milisuthando. The film premiered at the Sundance international film festival looks both backwards and forwards, digging deep into the legacy of apartheid and meditating on the future of South Africa.
Filmmaker and director of the film, Milisuthando Bongela, said: “Premiering this film at home after so many years of brewing and cooking, my only hope is that it will add to the canon of a cinema that softens our understanding of the hardest parts of who we are as a people. And it is with love, as much love as we could muster, that my team and I share this story with South Africans,” she said.
Mandisa Zitha, director of the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, said Encounters has a special place in the hearts of South African film lovers.
“And in celebration of our 25th-year anniversary edition, we have curated with our audience top of mind. The festival’s durability is primarily due to its choice selection of documentaries reflecting the zeitgeist of the moment, but also exemplifying the best of excellent, insightful and innovative films.
“We aim to present programmes that cannot be found on the usual channels, and to entertain, educate and inspire festival goers. The festival has been the vanguard organisation to provide a space solely dedicated to the works of talented documentary filmmakers, with a deep-seated focus to welcome diverse voices and to advance them through our many initiatives,” she said.
Uga Carlini, film-maker of “Beyond the Light Barrier“ showcasing at the festival, said this is a gigantic and a beautiful full circle moment for her.
“My South African premiere of my first non-fiction feature, the incredible survival story of Alison Botha, premiered at Encounters in 2016 and here we are back with Beyond the Light Barrier, a film that took 13 years to complete, that was supposed to be my first film and is now in fact my third.
“Three is my lucky number so let's see and quite frankly Encounters is my good luck charm. The heart and spirit of the organisers are infectious and keeps one going as a film-maker. Their passion for the genre matches our passion as filmmakers. It's a great match and team effort,” she said.
Julia Jaki, who is the film-maker of “Dorpie”, one of the much-anticipated films on the line-up, said her day job is producing TV reports and documentaries, and that “Dorpie” was her first stint into the world of independent documentary film-making.
“It was emotional and beautiful, but without doubt the toughest project I've worked on thus far, for several reasons: lack of funding, maintaining the relationship with your protagonist, doubts about the way to go forward, my own role in the process and the list is endless. I have a newfound respect for independent film-makers. It's a marathon, but it is worth it,” she said.
Encounters runs until July 2. The following cinemas will be screening the 2023 Encounters’ line-up: In Cape Town, Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront, The Labia Theatre, The Bertha House Mowbray, and The Bertha Movie House Isivivana Community Centre, Khayelitsha.