The Refugee honoured by RapidLion – The South African International Film Festival and film lovers
JOBURG – The film touches on issues of forced migration, sexism and patriarchy.
After eight days of screening some incredible films, from a remarkable diversity of filmmakers, RapidLion – The South African International Film Festival presented a Special Focus Award.
Asad Sikandar’s The Refugee was presented with the award at The Market Theatre. Sikander is an actor and director from Afghanistan.
The RapidLion Special Focus Award is given to a film that highlights a pertinent issue facing South Africa today. The Refugee is a film about an Afghanistan refugee who tries to get his daughter into a school and ends up being arrested and losing his family.
The film touches on issues of forced migration, sexism and patriarchy – an issue relevant to South Africa regarding xenophobia and, in particular, the recent news reports about illegal immigrants’ children not being allowed into local schools because of their lack of legal papers.
“The Refugee, a film that has had special screenings at many film festivals, including Cannes International Film Festival, is an amazing film in its own right. But, more importantly, it helps us South Africans, see and digest how terrible it is to not embrace those amongst us who are suffering away from their homes,” said Eric Miyeni of RapidLion.
The film festival, which ended on 12 March, hosted a number of international filmmakers and lovers of local movies, while showcasing the talents of actors, directors and producers from the Brics nations.
Read: Kalushi headlines RapidLion Film Festival
