Controversy and Anti-establishment Reign Supreme at Encounters

Documentary films at Encounters Film Festival dare to challenge the status quo

Controversy is all the rage at this year’s Encounters Documentary Film Festival. All over the world wars are being fought and injustices are going unnoticed. A small group of filmmakers have dedicated their time to ensuring the stories of the voiceless no longer go unheard.

Now in its 11th year, the popular South African documentary film festival continues to bring the best local and international documentary films to South African audiences.

The film festival showcases around 40 local and international films each year. With a 50/50 split of international and South African documentary films the festival is a good indication of the filmmaking talent both in South Africa and aboard.

The festival’s films fall into numerous categories – with films often presenting more than one theme and overlapping into more than one category - with films often presenting more than one theme and overlapping into more than one category.

Controversy, anti-establishment, and politics emerge as strong themes at the 2009 Encounters Festival.

This year’s festival offers controversy in all forms from sports during Apartheid South Africa in The Invincibles to tribal clashes in Tribes and Clans.

The festival explores ideas of challenging the norm and raging against the machine in films like Afghan star – which challenges ideas of gender equality in Afghanistan, and Burma VJ – a guerrilla film showing footage taken by amateur video journalists in a repressed country.

With so much controversy there will be plenty to keep you busy at the 2009 Encounters Documentary Film Festival.

Encounters South African International Documentary Festival 2009:

Date: 3 - 19 July 2009
Venue: Nu Metro Cinema
Location: V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Price: R33 p/p*
Contact: +27(0)21 465 4686
Website: www.encounters.co.za

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

To not let this festival go by (again) make sure you have looked through the completed Encounters Festival Overview.

An absolute recommendation is our new events section for a look at the individual Encounter Festival Day.

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