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We have the pleasure of offering
you over 60 films, everything from a 6 minute short to a 145 minute feature.
Each year South African filmmaking becomes more diverse, in depth and challenging.
Together with more training initiatives, more funding sources and more
broadcaster slots for documentaries, we look forward to increased activity in
the genre for many years to come.
This year we present a record
number of South African films, 26 recently produced films, three of which are
World Premieres, and another 17 films from the vaults of the National Film
and Sound Archives. As the industry grows so does the Festival. Last year
almost 10 000 people attended the Festival and now we see documentaries
entering the mainstream.
Of the films in our line up three
will have theatrical releases in
South Africa
. During the Festival
Farenheit 9/11 will be released in
South Africa
. At the time of
writing this, the film has opened in about 1000 theatres in the
USA-
a record
for a documentary. Audiences want a real experience, documentaries are
delivering this, and providing as entertaining as any feature film out there.
This year we celebrate a Decade
of Democracy by screening 8 films from the SABC / NFVF / Binger series -
Project 10; two of Afravision's History Uncut; and a collection from the National Film and Sound Archives.
We are pleased to welcome a
number of International guests (see pages 49-51), some of whom will be giving
workshop seminars on documentary filmmaking. Please see page 6 of this
programme to see where and when these will take place.
We are very proud to welcome the
Best of INPUT at Encounters brought to you by SABC. INPUT will bring the best
of public broadcasting from around the world to our cinemas and provide the
space for important discussions and debates. We look forward to a long a
fruitful relationship with SABC and INPUT.
Close Encounters runs
concurrently with the Festival in
Cape
Town
. We are pleased to welcome 6 filmmakers who
will be taking part in the Black on White series that will be produced in
conjunction with SABC 1.
In addition there will be the
Preliminary sessions of the 2nd Documentary Co-production Forum. Here a large
number of filmmakers will be pitching to a panel of commissioning editors,
producers and distributors. Some projects will be selected to go forward to
the DCF held at Sithengi in November.
Without funders we would not be
able to host this special event. We heartily thank the National Film and
Video Foundation and CEO Eddie Mbalo for supporting the Festival for the next
three years. It is this kind of stability which will encourage other funders
to support us. Thank you to both Jean September and the British Council, and
Margriet Leemhuis and the Royal Netherlands Embassy who have been supporting
the Festival for five years. A very special thanks to Mirjam Asmal and Pro
Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council. They co-founded this Festival as the Swiss
South African Festival in 1999 and are funding us this year. We welcome the
support of Laurent Allary and the French Embassy, BASA and Holland Film.
Thanks also to our commercial sponsors: Kate Harrison and Jameson Whiskey
who, for the third year running, are supporting the Audience Award; Tempest/ Sixt
Car Hire for providing cars; and TNT for moving our freight. A big thank you
to Nico van der Merwe and Cinema Nouveau screened by Nedbank, our cinema
partners, and Ronald Henry at Spectrum VNS for supplying the digital
screening systems.
Steven Markovitz and Nodi Murphy
Festival Directors
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