Durban Film Festival Opens With Rousing Defense of Personal Freedoms, Power of Cinema as South Africa Reflects on 30 Years of Democracy

The 45th Durban Intl. Film Festival kicked off Thursday, as the world celebrated the birthday of freedom fighter and South Africa’s first Black president Nelson Mandela, with a rousing defense of hard-won personal liberties and an insistence that the art of cinema remains “as vital as ever.”

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“As we celebrate 30 years of democracy and with this 45th edition of Durban Intl. Film Festival opening on Nelson Mandela Day, we also consider the role of cinema and filmmakers in reflecting society and in creating visions of a better world,” festival manager Andrea Voges said at Thursday night’s opening ceremony.

“We should never take our freedom and our right to freedom of artistic expression for granted. Many filmmakers and artists around the world create under extraordinary pressure and in great danger,” she continued. “We see the art form of cinema to be as vital as ever in challenging, confronting, enlightening and entertaining the audience.”

It was a fitting start to a festival that was founded during the apartheid era, at a time when the country’s repressive white nationalist regime and its draconian censorship board banned subversive films from reaching South African audiences and used censorship as a tool to suppress the country’s Black majority.

Since its inception, the Durban festival has reflected the spirit of the times — mixed-race audiences at early editions ran the risk of arrest, as cinemas across South Africa were forced to impose segregation laws — and this year’s selection underscores the ongoing struggles of a country still finding its footing three decades into democratic rule. “South Africans are a resilient people, and many of the films in our program depict that resilience, not only conveying, frankly, the challenges we face as a society but also showing, optimistically, a path forward,” said Voges.

The festival’s opening film , “Legacy: The De-Colonized History of South Africa,” from South African-born, U.S.-based actor and filmmaker Tara Moore, is a probing documentary that examines the legacy of apartheid and the inequality that persists 30 years since the advent of majority rule. The closing film, “The Showerhead,” directed by Craig Tanner and produced by Anant Singh (“Sarafina!,” “Cry, the Beloved Country”), is a documentary portrait of the legendary political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, known as Zapiro, whose relentless pursuit of speaking truth to power has put his subversive work at the forefront of post-liberation South Africa’s fight for justice.

Speaking to Variety ahead of opening night, Voges, who worked as a programmer in Durban from 2010-14 and returned last year to assume her current post, said the program of the festival’s 45th edition showcases DIFF’s commitment to bringing local audiences both films that reflect their current reality, as well as urgent stories from around the world.

“I hope that when you look at the program, it feels coherent and that there’s a voice in Durban that’s commenting on cinema and what we stand for,” she said. Highlights include Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix winner “All We Imagine as Light,” Mati Diop’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Dahomey,” Sandhya Suri’s Un Certain Regard standout “Santosh” and Mohammad Rasoulof‘s Cannes multi-award winner “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.”

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The selection also reflects Voges’ determination to “create a space for emerging filmmakers,” particularly from underrepresented African countries, with Kenya (“The Battle for Laikipia,” “After the Long Rains”), Mozambique (“The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder”), Madagascar (“Disco Afrika”), Somalia (“A Village Next to Paradise”) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (“Rising Up at Night”) all represented in the official selection. The host nation is also well-represented, with eight feature films and documentaries screening for Durban audiences — most having world premieres.

Like many international film festivals, DIFF is still reckoning with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, which hastened the already-shifting consumption habits of audiences amid the rise of global streaming services. South African cinemas have struggled to rebound from a COVID-19-related downturn — Ster-Kinekor, the country’s largest theater chain, spent two years in a local form of bankruptcy protection before returning to solvency in 2022 — and festival management is introducing a range of discounted ticket package deals to try to woo Durban audiences back into theaters.

For the first time, DIFF will also be taking its show on the road, partnering with independent cinemas in Johannesburg and Cape Town to screen program highlights after the festival wraps. “I think it’s important that we support each other, because in South Africa, cinemas are shutting down in big numbers,” said Voges. “While we partner with the big chains, it’s also a statement that we also support independent cinemas.”

This year in Durban will also see a stronger focus on Isiphetu, the festival’s industry program for emerging filmmakers, which Voges describes as a “stepping stone” to the more established Durban FilmMart, the parallel industry event now in its 15th year. Through a series of free workshops, Isiphetu offers training sessions not readily available to many aspiring filmmakers in South Africa. This year’s event will be more closely integrated into the main festival program than in previous years, with Voges insisting: “We don’t want them to feel like outsiders.”

Such initiatives, as well as a series of screenings at venues scattered across Durban, especially in the city’s poorer townships, reflect the festival’s long-running commitment to the local community. Amid uncertain times in South Africa, where the ruling African National Congress — the party of Mandela’s Black liberation struggle — failed earlier this year to win a majority of the vote in a general election for the very first time, the festival is renewing its commitment to a mandate forged in a daring series of screenings at the historic Avalon Cinema more than four decades ago. “It’s important that Durban, this 45-year-old institution, continues to exist, despite all of the challenges,” said Voges.

The Durban Intl. Film Festival runs July 18 – 28.

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