Durban - The 43rd edition of the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) themed “Adaptation, Survival and Sustainability” will run from July 21 to 30.
The festival is hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts (CCA).
DIFF 2022 will be presented in a hybrid edition with online screenings at www.durbanfilmfest.com and a diverse live programme offered at Suncoast CineCentre in Durban.
A selection of South African premieres will be screened.
These include twenty curated feature-length documentaries, of which six will be live screenings at Suncoast CineCentre in collaboration with Avalon Group.
“The documentary programme consists of a selection that shows audiences different corners of the world, from the heart of a glacier in the Italian Alpes (N-Ice Cello, directed by Currado Bungaro) to the evening skies of Beirut (Kash Kash, directed by Lea Najjar), from the farms in Argentina (The Delights directed by Eduardo Crespo) to the disputed land of Umkhumane, in Durban South Africa (uMkhumbane in me by Malcolm Nhleko).”
DIFF is bringing a special ode to homegrown music by presenting a selection of three documentaries by first-time filmmaker Malcolm Nhleko.
The filmmaker, who is well-known in the music industry as a studio owner, producer and the sound engineer of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, brings the first two stories of a series titled Legends Speak that document the lives of legendary musicians Madala Kunene in uMkhumbane in me and Themba Mokoena in Talking Guitar.
“In Sonny Boy – the making of a sound man, he tells his own life story, being a bi-racial boy, from his humble beginnings in rural KwaZulu-Natal as an orphan to his unlikely rise as a successful sound engineer on the world stage.”
Also documenting a vital part of the history of Durban’s music is Music Is My Life, the official story of Ladysmith Black Mambazo leader Joseph Shabala, directed by Mpumi Supa Mbele.
“Music Is My Life is one of the six African documentaries that have been selected in partnership with Encounters Documentary Film Festival.”
International documentary features include:
- Wind Blows in the Border
- Adam & Ida
- Portraits of the Future
- Batata
- Forgotten Dreams
Six documentaries selected in partnership with Encounters are:
- No U-Turn
- No Simple Way Home
- Girl Taken
- Taamaden
- African Moot
- The Double Futures of Athlone
Other South African stories included in the programme are:
- Black Mambas
- Lesotho the Weeping Motherland
The live screening schedule is accessible on ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za.
Tickets for the live screenings will be available directly at the Suncoast CineCentre www.cinecentre.co.za and will open July 1.
The entire festival programme will be released online on July 1 at www.durbanfilmfest.com.