Take the Soul Train and Discover the Nature of Life at Encounters 2009

Visit a church on a train and take a deeper look at climate change 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 the Fest today!

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

15:45 - Encounters at the end of the World
USA / Canada 2007 104min
Dir: Werner Herzog

This important, awe-inspiring, often surreal, always peculiar film is determined to turn the lens on the Antarctic through the fascinating scientific projects it hosts and the eccentric people driving them.

16:00 – Daughters of Spirits + Soul Train

Daughter of Spirits Mother of Mine
South Africa 2008 48min
Dir: Henner Frankenfeld

Seen through photographer Sipho’s eyes, this is an enthralling, compassionate, respectful and intimate account of the complexities of incorporating traditional spirituality – sangoma - into present day reality.

Soul Train South A
frica 2008 15min
Dir: Thabo Bruno Makoena

Every weekday around 1.7 million commuters board trains from Soweto to Jozi, join together for camaraderie and security, and take the opportunity to worship. And so the ‘church coaches’ each attract followers of South Africa’s many.

20:00 - Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love
USA / France / Egypt / Senegal 2008 102min
Dir: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Director Vasarhelyi followed N’dour for over two years, filming in Africa, Europe and America, to tell the story of how he faces challenges and eventually wins over audiences both at home and abroad.

18:30 - Nature of Life
South Africa 2009 52min
Dir: Craig & Damon Foster

Climate change is increasingly a tired old cliché, but told from an African perspective, the Foster brothers’ film is both refreshing and illuminating, focusing as it does on local and regional realities.

20:00 – Waltz with Bashir + Slaves

Waltz with Bashir (Vals im Bashir)
Israel | Germany | France | USA | Finland | Switzerland | Belgium | Australia 2008 90min
Dir: Ari Folman

Nominated for the Best Foreign Film at the 2009 Academy Awards, this atypical animated ‘memoir’ subtly explores the brain’s ability to suppress a horrifying incident conducted under the guise of war.

Slaves (Slavar)
Sweden 2008 15min
Dirs: David Aronowitsch & Hanna Heilborn

Based on a 2003 interview of liberated children this is the director’s second immensely powerful, animated films, with and about children in difficult situations.

Aronowitsch & Heilborn are guests of the Festival and will attend screenings of their film.

20:15 - Sea Point Days
South Africa 2008 94min
Dir: Francois Verster Emmy

Award-winning Verster’s latest film Sea Point Days presents an unusual and impressionistic record of life on the Promenade, using largely cinematic vignettes to explore various issues.

Verster is a guest of the Festival and will attend the South African Première screening on 3 July.

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

For your monthly round up on what’s happening in and around Cape Town, be sure to subscribe to our popular Editor’s Picks Newsletter.