Stunning cinematography, rare filmmaking talent, incredible performances - are some of the words chosen by this year’s Festival organizers to describe the films in the 2004 Cape Town World Cinema Film Festival (CTWCF) lineup.
The Festival takes place from 12-20 November 2004 at Cinema Nouveau, V&A Waterfront; V&A Amphitheatre, Artscape; Labia; Cinemax Promenade in Mitchells Plein; Joseph Stone Theatre in Athlone; Emarike Centre in Phillippi and the FAWU Hall in Gugulethu, Cape Town. The CTWCF has doubled in size since last year with over 90 films being screened from over 25 countries.
The Festival's strong affinity for African and Independent cinema has already been established as the Festival will continue to highlight wondrous new talents. The world's most exciting emerging film culture may well be the burgeoning South African film scene.
Eleven South African titles have been confirmed for screening in the feature film competition strand of the CTWCF while the remaining nine titles come from the USA, Brazil, Afghanistan, Italy, Angola, France, Germany and Spain. Of the films in the prestigious lineup is the Anant Singh's production Red Dust and John Boorman's
In My Country (formerly titled Country of My Skull).
Ramadan Suleman's
Zulu Love Letter entrepreneurial filmmaker Tim Greene's
Boy called Twist and Mark Bamford's
Cape of Good Hope is also part of the strong competition lineup. On the lighter side is a comedy about the local advertising industry,
Gums & Noses, directed by Craig Freimond and a comedic film from the DV8 series called
Max & Mona.
Although the Festival only screens films that have not yet been released at the local box office, a special exception has been made to include
Forgiveness, directed by Ian Gabriel, as well as
Yesterday and
Story of an African Farm for competition because they have done so well at other Festivals.
Drum, marks a coming if age for South African Film and for two of South Africa's brightest young talents: Director Zola Maseko and producer Dumisani Dlamini. As far as the international titles in the Feature Film Competition Strand of the Festival go,
Palindromes, the latest film from American director Todd Solondz, as well as Spike Lee's
She Hate me, will be screened.
Osama, the Festival's first film from Afghanistan, is a story about a 12-year-old girl who is forced to wear male garb in a land where such deception is greeted with stoning. Spanish director's Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education and the Berlinale winner,
Head On, are also included in the competition lineup.
Moving across the globe, the Festival is presenting a few examples of the exciting cinema that is emerging from Latin America. Daughters of the Wind explores the routine social and economic discrimination of the darker members of Brazil's "non-racial" society.
The
Consequences of Love, directed by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, tells a fascinating story of an aloof fifty-year-old that has lived in an anonymous hotel room for eight years.
Hollow City is a hauntingly powerful sketch of the forgotten casualties of Angola's political landscape.
For the armchair traveler, this year's Cape Town World Cinema Festival is a wondrous journey through the landscapes of the mind and the heart, while presenting a vivid portrait of life in all its diversity from all corners of the globe. No passport required.
Posted on Thursday 21 Oct 2004
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