Cape Town - A Belgian film-maker who has created a documentary on life in Delft has given residents a first preview of the movie.
Titled The Stretch of the City is only noticed by Nightfall, the documentary features residents from the community. It also premiered at the Belgian Film Festival.
The premiere took place at the Home of Compassion College in Delft.
Bram Crols, the Belgian documentary film-maker, has more than a decade’s experience in film-making and graduated as a director and producer of the Royal Institute for Theatre Cinema in Brussels and at the European Film College in Denmark.
Crols also hosted a two-day master class film-making workshop and training in Cape Town.
Dominique Vandenhoudt is the festival director of the Belgian Film Festival in Cape Town in partnership with the Belgian Chamber of Commerce Cape Town.
Vandenhoudt said the festival is aimed at creating a relationship between Cape Town and Belgian film-making.
He said the showcasing of the film was best to be presented in Delft because it told the story of those living there.
“Bram, the Belgian film-maker, made a documentary about Delft instead of doing the premiere in Berlin or New York,” he said.
“Bram gave Delft the first (chance) to see the show and those characters who are in the documentary got to see themselves on the big screen.”
Vandenhoudt said that not only did the documentary create awareness, but the two-day course also gave aspiring film-makers a chance.
“Previously we had 60 submissions where people had to create short films using just their cellphones and the winner came from Philippi. Then trainees took part of the work and it is giving them a platform and we really want to engage in a dialogue with Belgian and South African film-makers.”
Pastor Charles George, who is the public relations officer of the Delft Community Policing Forum and runs various upliftment programmes, partnered with the film-makers and the Belgian Chamber of Commerce Cape Town.
He said the partnership will open up doors for the youth and better opportunities.
“They have told the stories of those living in the township called Delft,” said George. “We would like to take this to the film festivals competitions in Europe. The opportunity is there now for us to start telling our stories, to show the possibilities by partnering with outside countries, and we are looking at overseas partnerships as there is no support from the government and to help empower our youth and get them out of gangsterism and drugs.”
The screening was part of the Belgian Film Festival Cape Town organised by the Belgian Chamber of Commerce.
* The preview of the movie will only be made available once the competition has been completed.
Weekend Argus