PREVIEW: 2021 SOUTH AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL

The South African Film Festival (SAFF) will present a unique and engaging collection of nine documentaries, five features and two short films when it returns in 2021. Unfolding from May 12-24, the festival will adopt a virtual program roster ahead of special event closing night screenings in Sydney and Melbourne.

“This year’s line-up presents an exciting mix of daring narratives, striking cinematography and deep explorations into South African culture and community,” said Festival Director Claire Jankelson. “South Africa produces some of the richest cinematic stories the world over. Much like the country itself, the films that come are at once challenging, bold, beautiful and heartwarming.” Thematically, the films selected for the 2021 SAFF reflect the nation’s diverse population, rich tradition of struggle for democracy and equality, and complex political and economic reality.

Films will premiere across Australia via the festival website, as well as extending its audience into New Zealand. The theatrical experience will not be lost entirely, with the festival presenting a special Closing Night session of the acclaimed feature, Barakat (pictured, right), a glimpse into the heart of the Muslim community of Cape Town, seen through the prism of one family’s complex modern life. Closing Night sessions of director Amy Jephta moving film will be held at Sydney’s Event Cinemas Bondi Junction and Castle Hill and the Classic Cinema in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick.

Leading the program highlights is Rene van Rooyen’s Toorbos, based on a novel by celebrated Afrikaans author Dalene Matthee. A moving romantic odyssey set against the stunning surrounds of the iconic Knysna forest region, South Africa’s official Oscar submission chronicles a woman blossoming against the destruction of her environment. 

Other feature films on offer include Sunu Gonera’s Riding with Sugar, an action-packed film about a young refugee's quest for BMX glory and the pursuit of identity, safety, happiness and love; Meg Rickard’s Tess is a raw, confronting and emotionally charged adaption of Tracey Farren’s novel ‘Whiplash,’ and follows a 20-year-old prostitute and addict in Cape Town whose life is turned upside-down by an unexpected pregnancy; and, Tebogo Malope’s For Love and Broken Bones, an unexpectedly tender gangster flick featuring a jazz musician debt collector who falls in love with his latest assignment, a wedding planner.

Reflecting a nation still reconciling with its apartheid past, four documentaries reflect upon South Africa’s modern history and the impact it will have on the future of the country. The factual film line-up includes Dugald MacDonald’s Blindside (pictured, above), an examination of how the 1974 boycott-breaking tour by the British rugby team became a powerful tool in helping to dismantle apartheid; District Six Rising from the Dust, director Weaam Williams’ personal account of her return to the ancestral community in Cape Town from which her family and thousands of others were forcibly removed during apartheid; and, Anthony Fabian’s upbeat Good Hope, a positive look at what the post–apartheid ‘Born Free’ generation are doing to create a brighter future.

Other documentaries in the festival include Jozi Gold, co-directors Fredrik Gertten and Sylvia Vollenhoven’s exposé of the dark heart of the nation’s mining sector; Diana Neille and Richard Poplak’s Influence, a revealing look at the immoral and weaponised influence wielded by disgraced British PR firm, Bell Pottinger; a 10th anniversary retrospective release of Mama Africa, Mika Kaurismäki’s moving account of the life of artist and activist Miriam Makeba, whose legendary singing became a passionate message of black liberation; and, Richard Wicksteed’s SanDance!, a stunning study in the culture of dance in southern Africa’s oldest tribe, the San.

Two powerful shorts feature in the 2021 line-up. Toby Wosskow’s Sides of a Horn uses a hybrid of dramatic and documentary styles to look at rhino poaching through two fictional antagonists, a ranger and a poacher, while Sibusiso Khuzwayo’s Letter Reader (pictured, right) follows a twelve-year-old boy’s ascent to the exalted position of his village’s letter reader.

All proceeds go to supporting Education Without Borders programs that assist young South Africans in some of the country’s most disadvantaged communities. The funds generated by this year’s Festival will support vulnerable groups in South Africa, of particular importance this year given the impact of COVID-19.

The 2021 South African Film Festival program and ticketing details are available at www.saff.org.au