Encounters Documentaries Put the Spotlight on the Environment

Fly with the Monarchs, discover identity with Dawn Matthews and rediscover Cape Town at Encounters today

Encounters Documentary Festival is South Africa’s premier film festival – each year the festival brings you world premiers, award winning films, and once-off screenings you can’t afford to miss. So grab a program, make your picks and head down to Encounters 2009!

For a complete outline of the Encounters events taking place in Cape Town, read our overview of the 2009 Encounters Documentary Film Festival.

16:00 - Four Wings and a Prayer
Canada / France 2007 81min
Dir: Nick de Pencier

First there was the March of the Emperor penguins, now it’s the Flight of the Monarchs!

This ode to the butterfly is not only an exceptional and in-depth view into the life and journey of this spectacular insect, but is also a reminder of the power that man continues to wield over all living things.

16:00 - Sacred Places (Lieux Saints)
Cameroon / France 2009 70min
Dir: Jean-Marie Teno

A story of a shanty town community in the heart of the city that lives and breathes film.

Every year Africa’s biggest film event, the FESPACO Film Festival in Burkina Faso draws celebrities and crowds from across the continent and the globe.

Teno’s film is a triumph is its ability to paint, through the comings-and goings at the tiny Bouba cine club, a vivid picture of a contemporary African community in all its complexity, while at the same time making the point that entertaining film can educate as well as enthral.

17:30 - Dawn Matthews
South Africa 2009 50min
Dir: Tim Greene

Delve deep into the mystery of origins to a time when your existence was of no consequence.

Taking its cue from the UK series Who Do You Think You Are? Greene delves into the background of soapie star Dawn Mathews and excavates a past as difficult as her present is privileged.

The journey becomes a very personal step back – to a simpler time when family rather than fame was centre stage, feathers were the gold of the day and women, rather than men, were the glue that bound.

Dawn Matthews is a guest of the Festival and will attend the Première screening of this film on 4 July.

17:45 - The Manuscripts of Timbuktu
South Africa 2008 87min
Dir: Zola Maseko

Uncover the manuscripts that tell of a golden age in a perceived nowhere land.

Using interviews with present scholars, historians and Imams and a recreation of the life of Ahmed Baba, this thorough documentary explores and celebrates the manuscripts’ legacy against the broader political, social and intellectual African context.

Maseko is a guest of the Festival and will attend the screening of his film on 4 July.

18:00 - The Age of Stupid
UK 2009 90min
Dir: Franny Armstrong

The environment warned us – but we refused to listen.

The year is 2055. Deep in the not-so-frozen wastes of Norway’s northern sea a fortress protects the astonishing achievements of soon-to-be-extinct Mankind.

In this captivating, powerful and intentionally portentous film, the lone Archivist compiles footage of the warning signs that we collectively ignored, through the eyes of seven likeable, well-meaning people.

There is nothing so chilling as death-knell and this film might just be the one for mankind.

19:15 - ARTSLOT

This year, the Goodman Galley presents a selection of films by contemporary artists that embrace a diverse array of attitudes and approaches to film as a visual medium.

From the directly political to the whimsical and absurd, ARTSLOT introduces a range of video works from both established and up-and-coming artists to Encounters 2009.

Artists Kathryn Smith and Sue Williamson will attend the first screening on 4 July.

*Tickets can be purchased online on the Encounters website or at the V&A Waterfront box office
 
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