11 Flowers

11 Flowers may be Wang Xiaoshuai’s most personal film to date. Taking place in 1975, a year before the Mao’s death, the film follows eleven year-old Wang Han (Liu Wenqing) as he goes about his daily life in his rural town in southwest China. After displaying a strong work ethic, Han is appointed school gym leader and is told that he should get a new shirt as he will be the one that the students look up to. Reluctant at first, Han’s mother (Yan Ni) spends a year’s worth of cloth rations to get the material needed to make the shirt. After impressing his friends with new attire, Han is horrified when his shirt is stolen by a wounded fugitive, Jueqiang (Wang Ziyi), taking shelter in the woods.

The film is a tale of a society repressed by its government. Han’s shirt represents a loss of innocence. Whether Han is playing hide and seek with his friends or searching for his stolen shirt, he is constantly confronted with the harsh reality of the time in which he lives. Xiaoshuai shows how the Cultural Revolution impacted every single facet of life. 11 Flowers is a poignant film that effectively displays the Cultural Revolution from the perspective of a child

Anderkant die Stilte

A group of unlikely characters come together to do the stage play of their lives. Under the lead of the faithful and dreamful Piet, this group consisting of elders from the old age home needs to find a way to not only put together and act out this play, but to get past the all controlling Sara, who runs the old age home with an iron fist. It is a classic story of the value of each individual person and how even the least expected person can truly contribute to a team. Rich in its humour and old age home story details, this story touches not only the elder of our society - but indeed all to understand and appreciate those we come from and the value they indeed do have, bringing life to what is seen as old bones. Director Desmond Denton’s films have been officially selected and screened at Festivals nationally, such as Innibos, Apollo, KKNK, Golden Lion, Durban International film festival, as well as other international screenings. Desmond has won various awards - the latest best short film, and best director for Apollo 2008 for the film Vaderland.

Apartment in Athens

Italy/Greece 2011

95 minutes

PG13 V

Director: Ruggero Dipaola

Cast: Laura Morante, Richard Sammel and Gerasimos Skiadaressis

Language: Greek and German, with English subtitles.

Print source: L’Occhio e la Luna

Athens, 1943. An apartment is requisitioned to provide accommodation for a German officer. In the apartment live the Helianos, a middle-aged couple who used to be welloff. They have a 10-year old son who is filled with revenge fantasies and 12-year old daughter. With the arrival of Captain Kalter everything is wiped out. The cruel Kalter is a military god who inflicts terror. And the Helianos give in, being submissive. At night, they dread the following day’s orders; they exchange sparse, terse words.

Baba

Germany/Morocco 2010

63 minutes

PG13

Director: George Inci

Cast: Beatrice von Moreau

Language: No dialogue.

Print Source: George Inci.

Baba is an independent film made by George Inci. The film was shot in

Morocco and Germany. The film attempts to look behind the faces of "strangers" in our society. Who are these people? Where do they come from? In Baba we see an old musician telling his life's story by his music. We see a young mother who gives birth to twins. She knows that she can only feed one of them and has to decide to which one of the children she will give the chance to survive. The film is based on the true story of the filmmaker’s father. George Inci was born in Turkey in 1965. At the age of four he moved to Germany with his parents and sisters and lived there till today.

He studied acting, dancing and singing in Berlin. Before he started to direct and to produce his own movies, he acted in several film and TV productions. With Baba George Inci tells a story based on the true life of his father. With his sensual way of telling stories the filmmaker wants to touch people all over the world. Sometimes those who don’t seem to have a chance in life, develop the strength to go beyond limits. Not to be missed!

Buta

Azerbaijan 2011

98 minutes

PG

Director: Ilgar Najaf

Cast: Rafig Guliyev, Tofig Aliyev, Elnur Kerimov, Leman Nebiyeva

Language: Azerbaijani, with English subtitles.

Awards:

Best children’s feature film, Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2011

Print source: Asif Rustamov

Buta is a story about a lonely 7 year old boy (named Buta), who lives in a mountain village with his grandmother. He is befriended by an old man, a liquid soap merchant who once loved (and lost) Buta’s grandmother. The old man’s friendship and wise advice helps Buta to overcome his difficulties in life. Buta’s grandmother, in the meantime, is weaving a special carpet in memory of Buta’s mother. The carpet features a ‘buta’ pattern, which represents love. The boy is inspired by grandmother’s work, and decides to make his own “buta” made of rocks and stones, high on the top of the mountain…

Casting Me

South Africa 2012

94 minutes

0-18 SNL

Director: Quinton Lavery

Cast: Paul Snodgrass, Roxanne Prentice, Colin Moss, Louw Venter, Andy Lund, Claire Dante, Michael Everson Bjorn Steinbach, Jenna Saras, Jonathan Hearns

Language: English.

Print source: Quinton Lavery

Paul is a frustrated but like able casting director who has dreams of finally making his own feature film. His girlfriend Chloe has broken up with him and he is frustrated by his job, although he has great colleagues at the agency in Rueben and Janet. He lives in a flat with his friend, the computer nerd Nic. To get his life on track again and win back his girlfriend he decides to make a film about his job, love life and all the funny things that happen behind the scenes at the casting agency! Director Quinton Lavery obtained his Honours Degree at The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance (AFDA) in Cape Town, South Africa. During his four years there he wrote and directed eight films including his graduation film, Freedom Days and his Honours film Barren. Both Freedom Days and Barren were selected for numerous Film Festivals, both locally and abroad, including The Prague Short Film Festival, The Bermuda International Film Festival and The Jordan International Short Film Festival. Freedom Days won a Special Mention Jury Award at the 14th Chilean International Short Film Festival while Barren went on to win Best Short Film at the 7th Sometime in October Film Festival in North Carolina. After completing his studies Quinton started Chasing Migada Productions with his long-time collaborator and cinematographer, Darren Wertheim, where over the course of 3 years he directed and produced music videos for Lark, Unit R, Tait, The Ragdolls, Hey Mister, 7th Son and La Vuvuzela. He has also worked as a Casting Director, doing more than 60 commercials, series and feature films, which became the inspiration for Casting Me...

Cherkess/Al Sharakissa

Jordan 2010

116 minutes

PG13

Director: Mohydeen Quandour

Cast: Sahar Bishara, Azamat Bekov, Mohamad Abadi.

Language: Arabic and Cherkess (Circassian), with English subtitles.

Awards: Seven international awards

Print source: Mohydeen Quandour

An impossible love story set in the late 19th century in the area now known as Jordan, CHERKESS historically represents the period during which many Circassians immigrated to the Arab world. The Cherkess are from the North Caucasus and have escaped the rule of the Russian Tsar in search of freedom. They find this freedom in the Ottoman desert of Transjordan and are ordered to establish their farms near the springs of Ras Al Ain. Unfortunately, the springs are also a religious site of the nearby Bedouins and tensions escalate quickly between the two cultures. Their struggle to maintain peace is augmented when they become aware of the forbidden love between Nart, a Cherkess from Istanbul, and Hind, the beautiful daughter of the Sheikh of the nearby Bedouin tribe. When Aziz, Hind’s brother, finds out about the secret affair he vows to kill Hind and Nart, possibly igniting the beginning of a war between the two civilizations. A dramatic film rich with music, dance, and culture, CHERKESS is a proverbial tale about two young people from different worlds and the miraculous power of true love. Director Quandour is a writer, film producer and businessman with more than 40 years’ experience in international arenas. Quandour was born in Jordan and completed all his tertiary education, including a PhD in the USA. He began his creative & business career in New York at J. Walter Thompson Co. (1962) in advertising and documentary film productions. He later moved to Bristol Myers in marketing and remained until the end of 1969. In 1970 he published his first novel The Skyjack Affair and moved to Hollywood in the early seventies where he worked as a screenwriter and later producer/director for television and feature films. In 1990 Quandour resumed his writing career with several historical novels and produced many documentary series. In recent years Quandour has been writing classical music (concerts of his works playing in Russia, Japan, Germany, Spain). He is currently commissioned to writing the musical score for the new project Lost in Chechnya, a film he is also directing.

How I was stolen by the Germans

Serbia 2012

139 minutes

PG13 V

Director: Miloš Radivojević

Cast: Jelena Djokic, Douglas Henshall and Svetozar Cvetkovic

Language: Serbian, English and German, with English subtitles.

Print source: Svetozar Cvetkovic

One of the highlights of this year’s film festival. ALEX (67) is a vigorous misanthropic writer who lives a solitary life on the North Sea shore, estranged from

the people from his distant past (Yugoslavia) and his current environment (Germany). One day, an orphan girl called ROMI (6) is brought to Alex. The girl may or may not be Alex’s child from a random encounter with a prostitute. While driving Romi to a near-by town and Social Welfare Center, where he plans to hand her over to the authorities, Alex tells Romi in flashback form a story about his childhood, from the

time of his accidental and unwanted conception in 1939 to age eight. Alex’s mother JELENA (25), a communist activist, is carried away by her grandiose ideals yet is incapable of loving those closest to her. The only person who offers Alex any love and warmth during his childhood is WERNER KRAUS (35), a high-ranking officer of the Wermacht, accommodated in the house of Alex’s family during the German occupation of Yugoslavia. Alex remembers the story-telling sessions, piano

playing, picnics and trips to the movies, all of which were from the time he spent with Werner.

Miloš Radivojević (born November 3, 1939) is a television and movie director, and a professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade. Miloš was born in 1939 in Čačak, Serbia. He started his higher education as a philosophy student but eventually graduated in 1966 from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade in 1966, as one of the first students of Aleksandar Saša Petrović with the medium length film Adam & Eva 66. He worked as assistant director under Puriše Đorđević between 1961 to 1969. He directed 16 feature films, beginning with Bube u glavi ("This Crazy World of Ours") which received the Golden Lion medal at the 1970 film festival. Numerous other prizes include the following:

Silver Mermaid and Roberto Paolela (Naples, 1975) – Testament (1975)

Bronze Palm (Valencia, 1989) – Čavka (1988)

Locarno, 1979 - Kvar

Insects in the Backyard

Thailand 2010

93 minutes

0-13 MS

Director: Thanwarin Sukhaphisit

Cast: Nonpavit Dansriboon, Suchada Rojmanothum and Thanwarin Sukhaphisit

Language: Thai, with English subtitles.

Print Source: Thanwarin Sukhaphisit

In the absence of their parents, Johnny (15) and Jennifer (17) are being brought up by their "big sister" Tanya, an overdressed transvestite, who eats and smokes too much and causes both kids endless embarrassment. It's a situation ripe for problems and Tanwarin's debut feature - as director, writer and star - explores those problems with unbridled determination. Both children mess up their pursuit of romance, in the ways that teenagers do, and both look for ways to break away from the family home and become independent. For Johnny, this entails going into male prostitution, which is as much an attempt to erase his own self-esteem as a way of earning some fast bucks. Jenny makes other mistakes, but both of them wind up deeply dissatisfied. And Tanya? When Johnny catches her trying to seduce one of his buddies, things start to go downhill for her too.

It's Getting Better

Thailand 2012

90 minutes

PG13 M

Director: Thanwarin Sukhaphisit

Cast: Penpak Sirikul

Language: Thai, with English subtitles.

Print Source: Thanwarin Sukhaphisit

It Gets Better has a lighter tone than director Sukhaphisit’s previous feature Insects in the Backyard. It deals sensitively with three stories of love that crosses traditional boundaries. Penpak Sirikul, the Thai star who has appeared in over 25 movies takes on a surprising role as a transsexual who travels to Northern Thailand, only to fall in love with a local man. Another of the stories features real-life transsexual star Bell Nuntita who rose to fame after stunning the judges of 'Thailand's Got Talent' when she revealed her bass vocal singing talents. Director Tanwarin Sukkhapisit is Thailand's most well-known if not only transgender director and makes films which explore areas of sexuality and gender identity.

Lucky

South Africa 2011

100 minutes

PG???????????

Director: Avie Luthra

Cast: Sihle Dlamini, Jayashree Basavaraj, James Ngcobo, Vusi Kunene

Language:

Zulu, Hindi and English, with English subtitles

Awards:

WINNER – Best Film – 2011 Bengaluru International Film Festival

WINNER – Best Actress – Jayashree Basavaraj, 2011Abu Dhabi Film Festival

Print source: Indigenous Film Distribution

OPENING NIGHT FILM

How could a recently orphaned, 10-year old homeless South African boy ever be called Lucky? Over the grave of his dead mother, Lucky makes a promise to make something of himself. Leaving the security of his remote Zulu village for the big city with the hope of going to school, he arrives on the doorstep of an uncle who has no use for him. Lucky falls in with an elderly Indian woman with an inherent fear of Africans, who takes him in as she would a stray dog. Together, unable to speak each other's language, they develop an unlikely bond. Through an odyssey marked by greed, violence, and ultimately, belonging, LUCKY shows how a child's spirit can bring out decency, humility and even love in adults struggling to survive in the new South Africa. Director Avie Luthra is an award winning writer/director who has worked in short films, features, TV drama, documentaries and radio. Avie resides in London, UK and is a 2002 graduate of the Director's Course at the National Film and Television School in the UK. In 2003, he wrote an episode for the high-profile BBC series, Canterbury Tales and won the BBC's Dennis Potter Award for his 60 minute BBC film, INDIAN DREAM. In 2004, he was listed in Screen International's 'Stars of Tomorrow'. In 2006, he was nominated for a BAFTA for his short film LUCKY, which was also short-listed for an Oscar in 2007. In 2009, he completed his first feature film MAD, SAD AND BAD, which premiered at the British Gala, Edinburgh Film Festival 2009 and was released in cinemas that year. LUCKY is Avie Luthra's second feature length film, which he wrote and directed after overwhelming success with the short-subject film LUCKY (2006); having won 43 international film festival awards.

MONTEVIDEO, TASTE OF A DREAM

Montevideo, Bog te video

Serbia 2011

136 minutes

PG

Director: Dragan Bjelogrlić

Cast: Miloš Biković, Milutin Karadžić, Viktor Savić,

Language: Serbian English subtitles

Montevideo, Taste of A Dream is a story about the extraordinary feat accomplished by young Serbian football players who will, in the years to come, turn into genuine stars, idols of their nation, and true legends. The story follows their journey from the cobblestone streets of impoverished Belgrade neighbourhoods, their local football matches and an array of challenges they face, up until their departure to the first FIFA World Cup in Uruguay,1930. Inspired by faith, hope and vision, they become a team prepared for great deeds; the initial doubt that surrounds their personal and professional lives is transformed into great friendships, promising love affairs and most importantly a united decision to prove themselves in Montevideo. The film is designed as a long-owed homage, a testimony about a time in which, among all other things, a small Serbia became great thanks to football and its football players.

Mooz-lum

USA 2011

99 minutes

PG

Director: Qasim Basir

Cast: Evan Ross, Nia Long and Roger Guenveur Smith

Language: English.

Print source: Dana Offenbach

Amid a strict Muslim rearing and a social life he's never had, Tariq (Evan Ross) enters college confused. New peers, family and mentors help him find his place, but the 9-11 attacks force him to face his past and make the biggest decisions of his life.

North Sea Texas/Noordzee Texas

Belgium 2011

94 minutes

PG13 SL

Director: Bavo Defurne

Cast: Jelle Florizoone, Mathias Vergels, Nina Marie Kortekaas, Eva Van der Gucht

Language: Flemish, with English subtitles.

Awards:

FIPRESCI Prize – Montreal Film Festival

Silver Zenith, First Films Competition Jury prize

Print source: Wavelength Pictures

Pim (an understated performance by ballet dancer-in-training Jelle Florizoone) is a quiet kid who enjoys spending hours drawing and keeps all his secrets, even those that are a little naughty, in a shoebox hidden in his closet. When he was a child he liked wearing his absent ex-beauty queen mother's tiara and pretending to be a great lady from the past. His first crush was an older and handsome gypsy who was also his mother's lover and, at 15, he's discovering sex and is madly in love with rebellious biker Gino (punk rock singer Mathias Vergels), the boy next door. Gino has problems of his own: a very ill mother, a sister (incredibly mature 16-year-old first timer Nina Marie Kortekaas) who is growing up too fast, and the fear of being found out fooling around with another boy. When Gino decides that it's time to grow up and start dating girls, little Pim's whole world crumbles, at least until his old crush comes back into his and his mother's life...but was Gino really using Pim only for sex? It will take tragedy for both of them to truly grow up, and finally realize what they feel for each other. Based on a hit young adult novel by Belgian author André Sollie, North Sea, Texas is Bavo Defurne's feature film debut, after years of making internationally successful LGBT-themed short films. The movie was presented at the International Rome Film Festival in a section – Alice in the City – dedicated to movies targeted towards a younger audience, and ended up being one of the most talked-about films of the festival, winning the main prize in its category and immediately finding an Italian distributor after the first press screening. The success of this slow-paced, intimate little movie lies in the fine details: there's grace and incredible love in the way Defurne builds up the small world in which his characters move, and all that grace, all that affection for each and every character, even those who are superficially "bad," comes through the screen and affects the audience. The timeless quality of the setting – a general "past" that is not really from a specific era but is the memory of a universal childhood we all share (the screenplay calls it "Our youth, some decades ago") – helps envelop the viewer in a surprising sensation of warmth, even when the movie deals with loneliness and unrequited feelings. Sudden bursts of bright colour have the same effect, of significant details suddenly emerging in our memory from dreams that have been long forgotten. It's also a movie about love and, as Defurne said when accepting his award, it's easy to like a movie about love, but there's more than that. It's not only delicate and it's not only whimsical, the movie is thoroughly real. It doesn't shy away from the most trivial aspects of puberty; it never tries to give an idyllic view of adolescence and manages to be quite mean when dealing with the difficult relationship between Pim and his mother (the best exchange of the movie is when Mom says, "Normal boys your age hang out with friends," to which Pim replies, "Normal women your age don't spend their nights out"). There's truth in the whimsy, and the narrative is perfectly balanced between a grounded reality and the world seen through the eyes of a romantic (one of the film's leit-motifs is the line "Pim is a dreamer"). There's truth and there's tragedy. Or rather, tragedies, of very different kinds. The tragedy of a longing that can never be fulfilled, that of Gino's sister for Pim, which can be turned into another sort of affection. The tragedy of fear of the outside world. And real, palpable tragedy that can only be overcome through growing up. When the world of grown-ups clashes with the expectations of children and these characters enter adulthood, the movie is at its most poignant. This adulthood can only be reached through the silent acceptance of both mothers, and it's a happy ending both touching and hopeful as it comes from loss and solitude, but never regret. What is pure and strong wins in the end. Defurne, whose filmmaking is summarized in his words, "I don’t want to show people what they see when they look out their windows, I want to show what they can see when they close their eyes," gladly stepped out of his comfort zone of doomed gay romances to demonstrate "that the life that wasn't possible for the boys from Brokeback Mountain is not beyond everybody's reach."

Moments of sadness, sometimes naive and sometimes bitter, and moments of innocent happiness are the winning combination of this movie. It's no wonder that it charmed a jury of kids aged 13 to 18. The movie gives hope without sentimentality and delivers truth without grittiness. It's something that kids can relate to and that adults will fondly remember from years gone by, years of first crushes and desires, little secrets and family conflict. Bavo Defurne stole a little from all our childhoods, and made something special and beautiful with all our memories. Not to be missed!

Otelo Burning

South Africa 2011

72 minutes

PG 13 V

Director: Sara Blecher

Cast: Jafta Mamabolo, Thomas Gumede, Sihle Xaba, Tshepang Mohlomi, Kenneth Nkosi, Harriet Manamela

Language: Zulu, with English subtitles.

Print Source: Sara Blecher

Shot in Durban and directed by Sara Blecher (Surfing Soweto), the film tells the story of a group of township kids who discover the joy of surfing. It's set in 1989, against a backdrop of brewing conflict between two political groups in Lamontville. When 16-year-old Otelo Buthelezi takes to the water for the first time, it's clear that he was born to surf. But then tragedy strikes. On the day that Nelson Mandela is released from prison, Otelo is forced to choose between surfing success and justice. This is a beautifully made, insightful and entertaining film that captures a turbulent time in the history of South Africa. An award winning documentary director and producer, Sara Blecher executive produced and directed Bay of Plenty, a SAFTA (South African Film and Television award) winning 26-part drama series for SABC 1. The series chronicled the lives of a group of Zulu life guards on the Durban beach front. It was largely based on research and work she’d done over the years with the lifeguards and surfers on the Durban beach front. In 2009 she produced and directed the South African version of Who Do You Think You Are? Based on the BBC format of the same name, this 12-part series traces the ancestry of well-known South African celebrities including Vusi Mahlasela, Zapiro, and HHP. Sara is a co-founder of Cinga Productions which, together with Ochre Films, produced the international Emmy-nominated drama series Zero Tolerance for SABC 2. She co-wrote, directed and produced episodes in all three series of this production. She also free-lances as a drama and documentary producer/director. She has extensive television and theatre experience and has worked as a researcher and production assistant for numerous major overseas film companies, including BBC, WGBH, Channel 4 and NBC. She has been an associate producer on The First Accused, an Emmy-nominated documentary for PBS and SABC 3. She was an assistant director and associate producer on Scientific American Frontiers, produced by PBS. In 2011 she released Surfing Soweto, a documentary following the lives (and deaths) of a group of so-called ‘train surfers’ in South Africa.

Otelo Burning, shot in Durban, South Africa, in July 2010, is her first feature film.

Pechorin

Russia 2011

95 minutes

PG

Director: Roman Khrushch

Cast: Stanislav Ryadinskyi

Language: Russian, with English subtitles

Print Source: Leonid Litvak

Based on the Russian classic Mikhail Lermontov novel The Hero of Our Time. All events shown as they are reflected in the mind of the dying hero, as a series of irrevocable mistakes and interpreted anew: it is either reconsideration or repentance. Recollections make main hero torment himself over his own past pretences that seem ridicules now agonize and despair over his perfect indifference to everything except himself, see the horrible aspect of killing his friend, a greenhorn and a show-off. The final action of an intelligent and outstanding man is judging oneself without mercy.

Roman Khrushch was born in Kharkov (Ukraine) in 1960. He graduated from VGIK (1981, All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography) and VKSR (1998, Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors).

Riscardo/ Craft

Brazil 2011

84 minutes

PG????

Director: Gustavo Pizzi

Cast: Karine Teles

Language:

Portuguese, with English subtitles

Awards:

Best Actress, Rio International Film Festival

Print Source: FiGA Films

Bianca (Karine Teles) is an excellent actress, but theatre doesn’t pay the bills yet. In order to make a living, she impersonates movie divas and promotes events. Bianca auditions for a big international production and gets the part. The director of the film, inspired by her work, changes the character he wrote into a version of Bianca.

Is this the chance of a lifetime?

Roepman

South Africa 2011

115 Minutes

16 LPV

Director: Paul Eilers

Cast: Paul Loots, John Henry Opperman, Deon Lotz, Rika Sennett, Lida Botha, Desire Gardner, Beate Olwagen, Andrew Thompson, Eddie de Jager, Paul Lückhoff, Altus Theart and Ivan Botha

Language:

Afrikaans, with English subtitles

Print Source: Ster-Kinekor

Roepman tells the story of a 1966 railway community told through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy called Timus (Paul Loots). Timus and his family are trapped within the structural violence caused by the government and the church at the time. An unlikely hero, Joon (John-Henry Opperman) often appears to save Timus when he's in trouble. These acts of kindness are seen by Timus as miracles. Timus tells the story of Joon, his own coming of age and loss of innocence, and how Joon tries to give a little of that lost innocence back to Timus. South African film critic Jean-Marie Korff described the film as a beautiful, sensitive adaptation of Jan van Tonder's acclaimed novel about a young boy's coming of age in a railway community during Apartheid South Africa.

'n Saak van Geloof

South Africa 2011

90 minutes

PG

Director: Diony Kempen

Cast: Robbie Wessels, Lelia Estebeth, Vanessa Lee, Michael Brunner, Niekie van den Berg, Reana Nel

Language: Afrikaans, with English subtitles.

Print Source: Welela

Set in the magical Karoo town of Prince Albert the story revolves around forgiveness, acceptance and the meaning of miracles. Marietjie Naude, an 18-year-old country girl, goes home to her parents’ farm Hoopfontein for Christmas. When she tells her parents Ella and Kallie that she is pregnant, they are shocked. But the real blow comes when she assures them she is still a virgin and that the Holy Spirit must be the father of her unborn child. Her father Kallie, really wants to believe his daughter, but as Sanna the kitchen maid puts it, "Faith does not always come easy."

Semi-Soet

South Africa 2012

114 minutes

PG L

Director: Joshua Rous

Cast: Anel Alexander , Nico Panagio, Diaan Lawrenson, Paul du Toit, Louw Venter and Sandra Vaughn

Language: Afrikaans, with English subtitles

Print Source: Anel Alexander, Indigenous Film Distribution

Workaholic Jaci will go to any lengths to protect the boutique advertising agency she works for from being bought and dismantled by a ruthless businessman known as ‘The Jackal’. Hope exists in the form a huge contract for a prestigious wine farming family. But winning this contract won’t be simple. Jaci needs to convince the farm owner that she lives up to his company’s ideals of family values and commitment by proving that she is in a loving, long term relationship. Desperate to appear to be living the balanced life she has long discarded, Jaci decides to hire a model to pretend to be her fake fiancé for the day. At the pitch meeting the facade seems to have worked until the client insists her and her fake fiancé come away for the weekend to experience the wine farm before she pitches for the contract. Things start to get very complicated, very quickly for poor Jaci, especially since the man she has hired to be her stand-in-fiancé, is the very ‘Jackal’ himself who is trying to sink her company. Joshua Rous is an award winning writer/director who has worked and studied in both theatre and film in South Africa, Oxford, Boston and Los Angeles. Having attained his Master of Fine Arts in Film Production from the University of Southern California he worked for a year as an editor and director in Hollywood. Since returning to South Africa in 2005 Josh has worked constantly as a director in sitcoms and soap operas where he has won SAFTA Golden Horns for Best Director, Best Writing, Best New Sitcom, Best Ensemble Cast, and Best Short Film. He currently co-runs Rous House Productions with his brother Luke where her has written, directed and produced over a hundred episodes of sitcom. He is also one the directors at the local soap opera Scandal. In 2008 his debut feature film, Discreet, was released by Ster-Kinekor to critical acclaim. He follows it up with the much more commercial and distinctly Afrikaans romantic comedy Semi-Soet.

So Hard to Forget (Como Esquecer)

Director : Malu de Martin

Brasil 2010, 100 min

Cast: Ana Paula Arosio, Murilo Rosa, Arieta Corrêa, Natália Lage, Bianca Comparato

Language : Portuguese with English subtitles

Production: EH! Filmes

So Hard to Forget begins with a question—“What is the opposite of love?”— and the film addresses the question through the narrative of Julia’s life, as she attempts to work through the trauma of heartbreak from her partner of 10 years, Antonia. After the breakup Julia is thrown into a desperate, painful situation. Her life and values have been tinged with unbearable melancholy and her thoughts seem to be reduced to out-of-focus fragments of her memories.

Her inner turmoil complicates the re-adaption to a new life. But throughout this process, she finds new friends like Helena who also struggles with the experience of loss in her live. Julia immediately feels attracted to her. Sharing the same experience of pain and solicitude the two women get closer...

Malu de Martino has studied at the Global Village New School / NY (Advanced Intensive Video), in Downtown Community Television Centre / NY (Editing), in Young Filmmakers, Video Arts / NY (Lighting for Film and Video) and at New School TV Academy / NY (Videotape Post-Production).

Since then she has directed several films, such as So Hard to Forget, Women from Brazil, Ismael and Adalgissa

Son of Babylon

Iraq, UK, France, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Palestine 2010

100 minutes

PG 13

Director: Mohamed Al Daradji

Cast: Shazada Hussein, Yasser Talib and Bashir Al Majid.

Language: Arabic and Kurdish, with English subtitles.

Awards:

Four international awards including the Amnesty International Film Prize, as well as the Peace Film Award at the Berlin International Film Festival

Son of Babylon, directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji, is a tough, tender, hugely moving work of mourning for all those Iraqi men and women who have disappeared since the Gulf War. Set in 2003, it follows a young boy Ahmed (Yasser Talib) and his grandmother (Shazada Hussein, also a first-time performer) as they travel through the dusty, battered roads of northern Iraq in search of their missing father/son, a jailed former soldier. This is a travel journey through a militarised nation still in the throes of unstable reconstruction. The landscapes they pass are lonely and vehicle-scarred. The pair squabble, grieve, look after each other. They have to: they’re Kurds and few of the Iraqis they meet along the way can understand what they’re saying. When they do find a fellow speaker, he turns out to be a former member of the murderous Republican Guard. It’s at moments like these that the film evokes the challenges that would face any kind of truth-and-reconciliation commission in the country. On and on Ahmed and his grandmother travel. Some of the things they’re looking for they find. Others they don’t. All the while we discover many things – about keening love, unfathomable despair, human endurance – that are hard to forget. - Sukhdev Sandhu

One of the outstanding films at this year’s film festival.

The Duck Hunter

Italy 2012

90 minutes

0-13 V

Director: Egidio Veronesi

Cast: Federico Mazzoli, Francesca Botti, Giorgio Paltrinieri, Paolo Lodi

Language:

Italian, with English subtitles

Print source: Egidio Veronesi

It’s 1942. In the countryside of Modena, in northern Italy, the story of four

friends are intertwined, each of them with their own dream to realize. The story

is set at time of second world war and the tragic events of this period will end

by sweeping away everyone and everything. Only one of them will realise his dream.

“Director Veronesi is one of the founders of the Association "Novantaseidoci" of Massa Finalese (Modena). In 1996 he began writing and directing experimental performances in a historical reconstruction, style "son et lumiere", integrated with acted parts and multimedia projections. Partnering with the film production Blondie Production in Bologna from 2003 he produces some short films which have received international prizes and awards (including Predateurs domestique 2003 and Car Jackin 2004 by the French director Lars Blummers Dominique). He also produces the film "Punk Love", directed by the American Nick Lyon (USA 2007 87min.) released in North America and Europe and winner of many prizes and awards in International Festivals like Moondance, Cinequest, Long Island, Longbaugh, RIIF-Roma, Drake

international, Bejing film Festival.

In 2006 he directed the medium "1953", (Italy, 30 min. a

The End

Morocco 2011

78 minutes

PG 13

Director: Hicham Lasri

Cast: Sam Kanater, Saleh Ben Saleh, Hanane Zouhi, Nadia Niazi

Awards:

Special Jury Prize – Tanger Film Festival, Morocco

Language: Arabic, with English subtitles.

Print source: Hicham Lasri

June 1999: This powerful film is a fable about Mikha, a parking guard in Casablanca, who falls in love with Rita, the psychologically fragile sister in a family of car thieves…

The Giants

Belgium/France/Luxembourg 2011

84 minutes

PG13

Director: Bouli Lanners

Cast: Zacharie Chasseriaud, Martin Nissen, Paul Bartel, Karim Leklou, Didier Toupy, Gwen Berrou, Marthe Keller

Language:

French and Russian, with English subtitles

Awards:

Winner of Best French Language Film and the Art Cinema prize at the Cannes Film Festival­ Directors' Fortnight

Print source: Memento

"A joyous heartwarmer with an endearing Mark Twain meets Ken Loach vibe." - Screen International

Two teenage brothers and their tag-along friend navigate a summer by themselves in an abandoned country cottage. As they scavenge for food, hunt for pot and pursue harebrained schemes to make money, they find their bravado repeatedly punctured by the rigours of an adult world they cannot comprehend. The American coming of age story finds itself transplanted to the countryside of Western Europe in The Giants, the latest film from actor-turned-director Bouli Lanners. Shot with a painter's eye for the lushly wooded Belgian landscape, and filled with Lanners' bittersweet humour and feel for the rhythms of working class life, The Giants is a funny yet melancholic ode to the idleness, adventures and fears of adolescence.

The Last Christeros

Mexico 2011

90 minutes

PG13 V???

Director: Matías Meyer

Cast: Alejandro Limón

Language:

Spanish, with English subtitles

Awards: Special Jury Mention, Paraty International Film Festival

Print Source: FiGA

At the end of the nineteen-thirties, a small band of men and their Christero colonel (Alejandro Limón) refuse to accept amnesty, instead continue their fight against religious persecution and their right to practice their faith. Matias Meyer’s The Last Christeros tells the valiant story of these soldiers of Christ, the last men standing against the Mexican army, with diminishing food and provisions, as they continue their journey against an arid and forbidding landscape.

The Joy

Brazil 2011

106 minutes

PG 13 LS

Director: Felipe Bragança and Marina Meliande

Cast: Tainá Medina

Language:

Portuguese, with English subtitles.

Print Source: Felipe Bragança and Marina Meliande

THE JOY is a fairy tale about youth and courage. THE JOY tells the story of 16-year old Luiza, who is tired of hearing about the end of the world. On Christmas Eve, her

cousin João is shot in a poor neighbourhood and disappears in the middle of the night.

A few weeks later, while alone in her apartment in a middle class neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Luiza finds a mysterious guest waiting for her in the living room: João, as a ghost, asking her to be hidden there. Felipe Bragança and Marina Meliande, both 29 years old, are two young directors from the new-new generation of Brazilian filmmakers that began their careers at the beginning of the 21st Century. They have worked together since college, co-directing two award-winning shorts (“Waterbound” and “His Name: The Clown”) that were presented in more than 50 film festivals around the world between 2003 and 2005, including Oberhausen, Tampere and Cork.

The Phantom Father

Romania 2011

93 minutes

PG

Director: Lucian Georgescu

Cast: Marcel Lures, Mihaela Sirbu, Barry Gifford

Language:

Romanian, with English subtitles.

Print Source: Lucian Georgescu

American Professor Robert Traum takes a sabbatical and turns his back on a present without surprise, to live an adventure from the past. Back in the Old World, he researches the origins of his father and uncle, the famous Traum brothers: Rudolf, a famous novelist, and Samuel – once a notorious gangster in Chicago. While traveling through Transylvania and Bucovina (former Austro Hungarian Empire provinces) Robert meets Tanya, a Government archivist. Together they find Sami, the last surviving family friend, a cinema projectionist who was chased out of his old movie theatre by a greedy local politician. While Robert helps Sami win his theatre, Sami gives Robert his identity back. A “fish out of water” story of travel through the Carpathians. Lucian Georgescu belongs to the first Romanian post-revolutionary filmmakers generation. He is a film and TV screenwriter, actor, producer, film critic, (UCIN, FIPRESCI), as well as a senior Lecturer in Film and Media at the Romanian Theatre and Film University in Bucharest.

The Tree

Australia/France 2010

100 minutes

0-13 M

Director: Julie Bertuccelli

Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Morgana Davies and Marton Csokas.

Language: English.

Awards:

Best Actress - Charlotte Gainsbourg - Bratislava International Film Festival

Print source: Memento

After the sudden death of her father, 8-year-old Simone shares a secret with her mother Dawn. She’s convinced her father speaks to her through the leaves of her favourite tree and he’s come back to protect them. But the new bond between mother and daughter is threatened when Dawn starts a relationship with George, the plumber, called in to remove the tree’s troublesome roots. As the branches of the tree start to infiltrate the house, the family is forced to make an agonizing decision. But have they left it too late?

Tomboy

France 2011

84 minutes

PG

Director: Céline Sciamma

Cast: Zoé Héran, Malonn Lévana and Jeanne Disson .

Language: French, with English subtitles.

Awards:

Four international awards

Print source:

A simple, innocent deception exponentially grows in significance as the remarkable Tomboy progresses. Moving into a new town, tall, skinny 10 year old Laure (Zoe Heran) ventures into the streets to make new friends. With her cropped hair and startlingly fresh-faced good looks, she refers to herself as 'Mikael' when meeting a local girl, Lisa (Jeanne Disson), and is never assumed to be anything other than male from that point on. The first complication arises from Laure’s bond with Lisa who attracted in her naïve, pre-adolescent way. Writer and director Celine Sciamma creates tension from tiny moments – like taking her top off to assimilate with the boys in a soccer match - in which Laure edges tantalisingly close to the verge of being exposed. But her young, undeveloped body is an asset in sustaining the impression of her ‘masculinity’. Tomboy is a superbly realised drama; a deceptively immersive experience that, from a modest beginnings, manages to become something truly compelling. Its effectiveness, though relying almost entirely on the conviction of Heran's ambiguous appearance, is further aided by the naturalistic performances of all the children, especially cheeky six year old Malon Levanna as Laure’s young sister Jeanne, whose later compliance with her siblings cause adds to the undercurrent of vague unease. As ultimately doomed as Laure’s deception was, a part of me was hoping for it to continue despite knowing full well the internal damage it had the power to exert on the entire family once flushed into the light. Tomboy is an unforgettable experience, exquisitely crafted and capped off with a near-perfect final frame. – David O‘Connell

Tussen As en Hoop

South Africa 2011

78 minutes

PG

Director: Albert Maritz, Desmond Denton, Jonathan Myburgh

Franklyn Petro

Cast: Charlene Truter, Andre Samuels, Noel Oostendorp, Monique Rockman, Leandi

Snell, Theresa Sedras, Riaan Visman, Crystal Roberts, Jurmaine Hansen

Language: Afrikaans.

Print source: Desmond Denton

For a young preacher and his wife life seems to be heaven. An unexpected turn

unexpectedly changes matters for the worse. Jan, the preacher, looses his wife and

unborn child to TB. His life is turned upside down. He stops preaching, lives a

hermit, and hides from society. The church doors are locked. A new social worker, Petra arrives on the farm with the challenge of addressing the social ills of the community. Petra suddenly finds herself immersed in a very serious problem. A young child, Lucky, draws her in, as she tactfully tries to address the problem of abusive homes, alcoholism and the threat of TB in the community. The young boy finds his way - not only into her heart, but into the troubled life of Jan. And takes Petra with him. Tussen as en hoop brings forth the light of true forgiveness; this - and finding hope in the midst of despair.

Visible World

Slovakia 2011

104 minutes

PG13

Director: Peter Kristúfek

Cast: Ivan Trojan, Jana Hlavácová and Kristína Turjanová

Language: Czech and Slovak, with English subtitles

Source Print: Slovak Film Institute

Oliver is a lonely forty-something working as an air traffic controller. He appears to be isolated and his personal life is empty. He fills his time by watching TV and observing the family living in the house across the street – he regards them as an ideal of happiness. At first he just watches the family, but gradually he wants to learn more about them. He finds that things often look different from a distance, that the borders of one’s private life are more fragile than one would expect. Evil is endemic and discrete; we carry violence around inside ourselves.

“VISIBLE WORLD takes as its theme the business of watching and observing, the modern phenomenon of voyeurism. In addition, it asks some important questions: Where and how fragile are the boundaries of privacy? Do we have the right to enter into other people’s lives? Is evil demonic and supernatural, or rather endemic and discrete? VISIBLE WORLD is a contemporary psychological drama. It takes place in a housing estate in the Slovak capital, Bratislava. Along with Sartre, we ask “who actually is Hell? Is Hell really other people, or do we all carry it around inside ourselves?” Ultimately, it seems that, given the right circumstances, everyone has the capacity to be Hell for others…" - Peter Krištufek, director

WHITE, WHITE WORLD (Beli, Beli Svet)

Serbia & Montenegro, 2010.

Director: Oleg Novkovic.

120 mins.

Cast:

Language: Serbian with English subtitles.

Awards : New Vision Award at Crossing Europe 2011

Print source:

Rightly awarded the New Vision Award at Crossing Europe 2011, WHITE WHITE WORLD is a tour-de-force of vision and innovation. Transporting a famous Greek tragedy to Bor, a mining village in today's Serbia, the story begins when a prisoner returns home to find her adolescent daughter is liaising with her old lover and local bar owner, "King". Realistic and convincing performances are contrasted with music and moments when the main characters break into solitary, melancholic songs to tell of their innermost feelings. However, this never feels artificial. Rather, it lures the viewer into sympathising and understanding some of the characters' most cruel and senseless actions. WHITE WHITE WORLD is a great example of how opera, ancient storytelling and film can meet to present a new vision of the modern world, and of cinema.

SPECIAL SCREENING:

Strikfontein

South Africa 2012

Pilot episode of a TV series

PG

Director: Johan Cronje

Cast: Adam Heyns, Sancha Olivier, Frans van Wyk, Leané Meiring, Jakus Eloff

Language: Afrikaans,

Print source: Johan Cronje

Strikfontein vertel van 'n aantal jongmense wat terugkeer na die ongemak van hul tuisdorp. Hier moet hulle die bravade van hul nuutgevonde volwassenheid teen die magte van die dorp opmeet. Die eerste semester van universiteit is verby en ‘n vakansie by die huis ontlok oudergewoontes en vergete gevoelens. Eduan en Avianca se begrawe skoolverhouding word opnuut oopgekrap – die eerste van menigte geraamtes van hierdie groep vriende om uit die kas te ontsnap…