Seventh Ugu Film Festival to focus on strides made by female filmmakers

The seventh edition of the Ugu Film Festival, presented by Sollywood Films in partnership with The National Film and Video Foundation and Ugu South Coast Tourism, is back with a bigger and better programme.

The festival runs at the Margate Hotel  from Friday, January 24 to Sunday, January 26, and the focus this year will be on female filmmakers through an initiative dubbed “Through the Lenses of South African Women”.

The aim of the festival is to provide a vital local film development platform giving aspirant and up and coming filmmakers an opportunity to not only gain expert insight and exposure on the value chain of the industry, but also a chance to showcase their craft to potential investors, film enthusiasts and media.

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The opening day will feature a special screening of  the award-winning South African film  “Uncovered”, directed by Zuko Nodada. It tells the story of the young, driven, and intelligent Aluta Ndlovu whose ambition to become CEO of a mining company clouds her judgment when her journalist sister, Pumla, informs her about possible corruption.

Out of the blue, Aluta’s boss, Frank Drake wants to sell a worthless mine to the people of Somkhele Village. It is only when Phumla dies that Aluta sees through Frank and figures out what he is up to which drives her to vengeance, not only for her sister’s death but also for her people and her own life.

“I am very excited by the support the festival continues to receive from its partners, particularly the National Film and Video Foundation and Ugu South Coast Tourism,” said Senzo Zindela, founder and executive director of the Ugu Film Festival.

“Through such backing we can continue with our objective which is to empower both the youth and female filmmakers from our disadvantaged communities, opening the doors needed for them to successfully pursue their careers.”

The programme will also feature:

• Palace of Bones, written and directed by Claire Angelique This daring filmmaker turns the culture of self-documentation on itself in this unique feature film which plots a documenter’s attempt to discover the truth about a young woman she has filmed, who was alleged to have killed several people.
• Zulu Return by KZN filmmaker Gugulethu is a fascinating documentation of American rap artist Afrika Bambaata, coming to South Africa to find his perceived African roots. The rap singer’s sometimes murky history in the music industry is not avoided and Gugulethu’s wonderful style takes the viewer on a fascinating journey sprinkled with sangomas, the ancestors and colonial history.
• Nicole Schafer’s Buddha In Africa is already creating a stir after screenings at Encounters Documentary Festival and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) where it garnered awards at both locations. Documenting a Chinese Buddhist academy in Malawi where the methods are sometimes highly questionable and the issues of colonialism come up loud and clear. The director observes all these permutations with a distant but incisive eye. The film is up for consideration as a South African entry into the Oscar competition.
• Robin Burke’s Spookie Kom Huis Toe was premiered at DIFF in 2019. The young Pretoria director looks at her history as an Afrikaner with a critical and highly experimental eye. Already causing sometimes trenchant debate within the Afrikaans community, the film is a brave and unique statement.
• Cape Town filmmaker Uma Martinez’s independent short production Forest Drive is a structurally complex examination of death, loss and complicity that takes the breath away with its stylistic audacity. Martinez, a Phd in geological surveying brings a very different eye to the filmmaking process.

Besides the plethora of films, aspiring filmmakers and participants can look forward to engaging and gaining skills from amongst others award-winning South African actor Menzi Ngubane (Kwakhala Nyonini, Generations, Isibaya), international star Simon Kook who continues to mesmerize the global film industry with his action films, Peter Pham from Vietnam, Patrick Garcia from Act Films and Gavin Potter (film music scorer).

The communities based in the surrounding areas will be offered opportunities to learn about filmmaking, and enjoy the films that have been scheduled to screen through the Outreach Programme the festival has planned.

“The impact of the festival over the years has been highly significant. It has changed perspectives, promoted South Coast as a film destination of choice, inspired emerging filmmakers and creative individuals to pursue and start film businesses, furthermore it has awakened local authorities to take film business seriously as they are putting by-laws in place and establishing film offices. This initiative has attracted several institutions to undertake research in the district,” said Mr Zindela.

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