Highlights of the four-day Jozi Film Festival include:
Thursday October 3
An Ordinary People (screening at 20:00 at The Bioscope)This feature-length documentary leaps into the thrilling world of car spinning, South Africa's first original motorsport, taking viewers into this high-octane world where hustlers and dreamers of modest means become heroes behind the wheel. Entrance to this film screening is free.
Friday October 4
South African Short Fiction (screenings start from 18:00 at The Bioscope)An anthology of films from emerging directors, the South African Short Fiction screening kicks off the festival with three new short films (each approximatetly 25 minutes long). Screenings start from 18:00.
Someone to Blame – The Ahmed Timol Inquest (screening at 19:30 at The Bioscope)
This riveting documentary weaves a compelling narrative that draws on the 2017 re-opening of the inquiry on the untimely death and brutal murder of the young activist Ahmed Timol, who died at the hands of the security police at Joburg's infamous John Vorster Police Station in 1971.
Golden Fish, African Fish (screening at 20:45 at The Bioscope)
The Casamance region in the South of Senegal is one of the last areas of traditional fishing in West Africa. This documentary film follows the struggles of the fishermen of Casamance to continue to fish when faced with the growing menace of industrial fishing companies.
Saturday October 5
International Short Documentary films (from 11:00 at The Bioscope) and International Short Fiction Films (from 12:30 at The Bioscope)This year's international short films programme includes new films from France, Sweden, Poland, Australia, China, Canada, Hong Kong the USA and Ireland covering topics ranging from tragi-comic traffic situations and student doctors to petty nationalism and smartphone addiction.
At Jolie Coiffure (showing at 14:00 at The Bioscope)
A feature-length documentary film that traces one Cameroonianwoman's struggle to escape modern-day slavery in Lebanon and to start a regularised and legal hairdressing business in Belgium.
Nigeria’s Lost Generation (showing at 17:00 at The Bioscope)
A powerful new documentary looking at the devastation wrought by Boko Haram as seen through the eyes of an ex-Boko Haram fighter, a former kidnapped girl and a relentless activist, who are united by a common desire to see a Nigeria that’s free from terrorism.
(S)he (showing at 20:30 at The Bioscope)
This new South African feature film is a coming-of-age story of an intersex teenager and Olympic swimmer who is forced to undergo gender treatment and who battles to stand up for herself against relentless prejudice and injustice.
Sunday October 6
South African short documentary films (from 12:30 at The Bioscope)A selection of powerful short documentary films that highlight ordinary and extraordinary stories including; Billy Monk - Shot in the Dark about the amazing 1960s underground photographer Billy Monk and Scenes from a Transient Home that sheds light on the fractured life of a Zimbabwean migrants working as domestic workers in the Cape Town suburbs.
Freedom Isn’t Free (showing at 15:00 at The Bioscope)
This South African documentary assesses the history and role of the Freedom Charter since its adoption in June 1955 by the Congress movement, up to the present period and includes rare archival footage with interviews of a cross-section of outspoken, influential South Africans.
Seapoint 280SL (showing at 17:00 at The Bioscope)
Set over a weekend, this 45-minute South African feature film is the tale of a long-time sex worker and her sleazy friends surviving in the picturesque upmarket Cape Town suburb of Sea Point.
The Woman Who Loves Giraffes (showing at 15:00 at Nu Metro Hyde Park)
Described as 'Canada’s Jane Goodall' Anne Innis Dagg is a Canadian scientist who has devoted her life to the study of giraffes, becoming the world's leading expert on giraffe behavior, all the while fighting a long battle against a deeply sexist academic culture which consistently refused to recognise her achivements.
See the full film schedule and book tickets here.
