9 Star Hotel Israel 2006 78min subtitled
Dir: Ido Haar

Portraying deep irony, this heart-rending, touching film follows the desperate plight of a group of illegal Palestinian construction workers. Every day they stream down from their dire, make-shift shanty huts in the hills, putting their lives at risk and dodging traffic, flooding rivers and police sweeps in order to build Israel’s latest sparkling new city in Occupied Territory. Viewed unofficially as a necessary evil, they are officially hounded and kept on their weary toes. The film focuses on two friends – wiry, hoarding Ahmed and tall, muscled Muhammad. When Muhammad unexpectedly collapses, his near-death reinforces both the fragility and the bond between these compatriots. Lured by (meagre) wages, these young, poorly educated, likeable sole-income earners are inspiring in their determination to live as they worry about what will happen when the mooted partition is finally erected.
Awards: Best Documentary Jerusalem International Film Festival 2006, Munich International Film Festival 2007; Audience Award, Madrid International Film Festival 2007.

Courtesy of Eden Productions

Jhb Sat 14 / 8pm Fri 20 / 7.45pm
CT Tue 24 / 6.30pm Sat 28 / 8.30pm Thu 2 / 9pm

Beethoven's Hair Canada 2006 84min
Dir: Larry Weinstein

When Beethoven died in 1827 a devoted student, Ferdinand Hiller, snipped a lock of his hair and kept it as a talisman to guide his subsequently successful career. But as it travelled through the annals of history, possession of the lock was not always lucky, until almost 180 years later, it resurfaced at auction where it was bought by a pair of unlikely-named American Beethoven enthusiasts, called Ira Brilliant and Che Guevara. Against the backdrop of Beethoven’s soaring music, this beautifully told, endlessly revealing film traces this journey that ends when a few strands are subjected to nuclear scientific analysis and finally fulfils Beethoven’s last wish, to discover the great musician’s source of tortuous pain and encroaching deafness.

Courtesy of Rhombus Media

Jhb Sat 14 / 8.15pm Fri 20 / 8pm
CT Sun 22 / 6.15pm Fri 27 / 6.30pm Wed 1 / 6.30pm Sun 5 / 4.15pm

Bonhoeffer Germany 2005 56min subtitled
Dir: Martin Doblmeier

Exploring the writing and choices of the brilliant Protestant theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this impressive, thorough film debates the implicit involvement of the church in, and resistance of the clergy to, the rise of Hitler.
Born into a distinguished family, from early on in his career Bonhoeffer became a clerical leading light. Interviews with colleagues (including Archbishop Tutu), theologians, friends and family, and archive footage, chart Bonhoeffer’s implacable belief that he should practice what he preached and act on his conscience, at what proved to be great personal cost. This lead him to publicly question Hilter’s ascension, and on a path of clandestine opposition - as a founder of the Confessing Church and active member of the Abwehr, the military intelligence organisation that hatched the 20 July assassination plot.

Courtesy of Journey films

Jhb Tue 17 / 9pm Fri 20 / 6.45pm
CT Sun 22 / 6.30pm Wed 25 / 8.30pm Sun 29 / 8.30pm Thu 2 / 8.45pm

WORLD PREMIÈRE
Dance for All Germany 2007 min
Dir: Viviane Blumenschein & Elena Bromund

In 2002 former Cape Town principal ballet dancer, Philip Boyd, and former Royal Ballet soloist and prima ballerina abssoluta, Phyllis Spira, formed a non-profit dance education centre called Dance for All. Learning ballet techniques (from plié to dancing en pointe) without loosing sight of African dance and beat, the school introduces commitment, discipline and a sense of purpose to the children in the township. Based in Gugulethu, the school has grown into a dance company. They are about to give their inaugural performance at Artscape, which Boyd, Spira and the company’s dancers, Nqaba, Zandile, Theo, Noluyanda, Xola, hope shows that the company is capable of competing against the Cape Town Ballet. In this inspiring, very local tale, we explore the daily lives of the company’s members as they grand jeté towards new, exciting horizons.

Courtesy of the Directors and InsideOut Films

CT Sun 22 / 5.30pm Thu 26 / 8pm

Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story Australia / SA 2006 54 min
Dir: Julian Shaw

This endearing and revealing film places our very own acclaimed satirists and HIV/AIDS activist in a whole new light. Never shy of tackling even the most controversial national issue, Pieter-Dirk Uys now uses his inimitable skill as a mimic and raconteur to politicise the HIV Aids pandemic at grass roots level.
Believing that he can help to prevent South Africa’s teenagers from joining the ranks of the estimated 5.5 million citizens with the virus, Uys travels the country wowing students of all backgrounds, flagrantly raising the most taboo subjects.
Footage of these performances are accompanied by intimate interviews that get under the skin of this beloved comic who brought us Evita, and dared to ridicule the leaders of Apartheid - and got away with it.

Courtesy of the Director

Jhb Sun 15 / 4.30pm Fri 20 / 8.15pm
CT Sun 22 / 8pm Mon 30 / 7pm Fri 3 / 6.45pm

Enemies of Happiness Denmark 2006 58min
Dir: Eva Mulvad

In 2003, at the age of 24, Malalai Joya gained international attention and national notoriety for standing up as an elected delegate to the Loya Jirga (established to ratify Afghanistan’s constitution) and speaking out about the continued domination of the warlords. She was branded an infidel and communist and banished. Despite four attempts on her life, here Joya is preparing her parliamentary campaign for the Wolesi Jirga, or National Assembly. The film follows this extraordinarily compassionate and courageous woman as she pursues political and social justice, particularly for women and girls. In May 2007, fellow parliamentarians voted to suspend Joya for breaking Article 70, which bans Wolesi Jirga members from openly criticizing each other. Joya publicly compared her colleagues to a "stable or zoo" and called others "criminals" and "drug smugglers."
Awards: Silver Wolf, International documentary Festival Amsterdam 2006; Grand Jury Prize, Sundance 2007

Jhb Wed 18 / 8.30pm Sat 21 / 7.30pm
CT Fri 20 / 8.30pm Sun 22 / 8.30pm Thu 2 / 8.30pm

Every Good Marriage Begins with Tears UK 2006 62min
Dir: Simon Chambers

For some, the idea of entering an arranged marriage is difficult to understand. For many others it is a cultural rite of passage. In this absorbing, personal account two English-raised girls of Bangladeshi origin must amalgamate the schizophrenic sides of their upbringing, and reconcile being thoroughly modern women with the demands of their traditional family. Outspoken, outrageous and wearing skimpy shorts, Shahanara Begum is in her early 20s. Her rebellious attitude and behaviour has alienated her from her conservative family. To bridge the gap, Shahanara agrees to marry a young rural Bangladeshi boy. Hushnara Begum, Shahanara’s sister, is quiet, devout and dutiful. She meekly goes along with her parent’s choice, but as the wedding day draws closer her misgivings become stronger and stronger.

Courtesy of Film Transit, the Director and the British Council

Jhb Sun 15 / 3.30pm Sun 22 / 4.30pm
CT Sun 22 / 3.45pm Tue 31 / 6.30pm Thu 2 / 6.30pm

The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief UK 2006 75min subtitles
Dir: Jake Clennell

As a candid slice of Japanese life, this excellent and unsettling film charts the emotionally spurious world of male hosting. A place where women are so lonely they’re will pay for a dream date. Designer clothes, longhair, permanent pout - Issei has it all. He’s the top host, owner of the hottest women’s entertainment club in Osaka, and the leader of a pack of interchangeable pretty boys. Women adore him. They want to have his babies. They’re willing to ‘financially worship him’ at his club. And pay they do… unfeasible amounts of money. When the more hopelessly adoring clientele become addicted to his expensive brand of hands-free loving, they begin to resort to any means possible to pay for their Issei fix. But are the girls really that naïve?
Awards: Best Documentary Feature, Edinburgh International Film Festival 2006

Courtesy of the Director

Jhb Sun 15 / 7.45pm Fri 20 / 10.15pm
CT Fri 20 / 10.30pm Mon 30 / 8.30pm Sat 4 / 6.15pm

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes USA 2006 60min
Dir: Byron Hurt

In this riveting documentary, former college quarterback turned activist and filmmaker, Byron Hurt examines representations of gender roles in hip-hop and rap music. Conceived as a ‘loving critique’ from a self-proclaimed ‘hip-hop head’, Hurt examines issues of masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today's hip-hop culture. Credence is given through revealing interviews with world famous rappers that include Mos Def, Fat Joe, Chuck D, Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons; along with commentary from Michael Eric Dyson, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Kevin Powell and Sarah Jones. Looking beyond the genre’s image of iced bling, flaunted wealth, swearing and barely dressed women to reveal a complex intersection of culture, commerce and gender, the film provides a thoughtful discourse on this music phenomenon from the people who live it.
Awards: Audience, Roxburg Film Festival 2006; Best Documentary, San Francisco Black Film Festival 2006

Courtesy of the Director and God Bless the Child Productions

Jhb Fri 13 / 10.45pm Sat 21 / 8.30pm
CT Sat 21 / 8.45pm Fri 27 / 10.30pm Sat 4 / 8pm

Jesus Camp USA 2006 84min
Dirs: Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady

Candid and impartial, but no less terrifying, this exceptional documentary follows the evangelical development of three children – geek Rachel, mullet-sporting Levi, and dancing Tory –as they attend a Pentecostal summer camp for children. At the camp (ironically sited at Devil’s Lake), they ride quad bikes and tell ghost stories, but they also get to practice speaking in tongues, enthusiastically greet cardboard cut-outs of George Bush, vilify Harry Potter, and learn how they can "take back America for Christ”. Media savvy church leader, Rev. Becky Fisher, leads the children in ecstatic prayer and later muses on how the indoctrination of Muslim children creates suicide bombers. Her zeal is countered by DJ Mike Papantonio who warns of the political influence from the 80 million-strong evangelical community of America.
Awards: Academy Award Nominee 2007; Sterling Feature Grand Jury Award, Silver Docs 2006; Outstanding Achievement in Documentary, Tribeca 2006.

Courtesy of the Directors

Jhb Sun 15 / 8.15pm Sat 21 / 4pm
CT Sat 21 / 8pm Sat 28 / 8pm Sun 5 / 4pm

Jonestown: the Life and Death of Peoples Temple USA 2006 86min
Dir: Stanley Nelson

In 1978 a man convinced over 900 people to drink poison-laced cool drink and commit mass suicide. Who, why, and how are the obvious questions, and this exceptional exposé searches for those answers.
Using archive footage and the testimony of witnesses and surviving-temple members, this gripping film charts the rise and death of Jim Jones, the man behind the Peoples Temple cult and one of the most compelling, notorious and influential US preachers of the last century. The film journeys from Jones’ upbringing in small-town-Indiana, explores the non-racial, equality-driven communal haven that Jones’ passion initially inspired and created, reveals the gradual erosion of a visionary utopia by abuse and paranoia, and ends in the last chaos and paranoia-fuelled moments of murder and suicide.
Award: Outstanding Achievement in Documentary, Tribeca 2006

Courtesy of the Director and Firelight Media

Jhb Sun 15 / 3.45pm Sat 22 / 8.15pm
CT Mon 23 / 8.30pm Fri 27 / 8.30pm Fri 3 / 8.45pm

Life as a Corporate Holiday Italy 2006 83min
Dir: Paolo Muran

In the 1980s a new business phenomenon evolved: the prize of a ‘deluxe’ holiday as an incentive to improve sales performance. Silvano Bignozzi and Lino Toselli have sold camomile tea and spirits for 30 years and, as the company’s top salesmen, they have been on no less than 15 ‘executive’ package tours. Muran uses choice footage from his extensive archive of their sales pitches and holidays, and his wry, witty commentary exposes the drive to foist product on reluctant customers, and the mundane uniformity of each ‘deluxe’ excursion – the mandatory bus tour of the town (day 1), the exotic dinner to the sights of the local dancers (evening 1) - in the exclusively male company of 10 other jet-lagged salesmen. But, this last year will be different…

Courtesy of the Director

Jhb Mon 16 / 6.30pm Sat 21 / 8.15pm
CT Sat 21 / 3.45pm Sun 29 / 5.30pm Sat 4 / 2.15pm

Life on the Tracks UK/Philippines 2002 70min
Dir: Ditsi Carolino

Railway tracks fan out from the heart of Manila, sending trains out to the country. The tracks are alternately the children’s playground, the social centre, the karaoke stage and a means of less formal transport for the residents who live out their lives in makeshift, crowded houses dangerously close to the path of powerful, impervious trains. Life on the Tracks is a startlingly intimate, charming and compassionate portrait of a young Filipino family: happy, go-lucky Eddie and harried Pen Renomeron and their two daughters and three adopted kids. Eddie sells ducks eggs and Pen washes clothes to keep the family afloat, just. But when the landlord breaks the news that their home is to be demolished, their already precarious lives are thrown into more turmoil.

Courtesy of the Director

Jhb Sun 15 / 8.30pm Thu 19 / 8.45pm
CT Sat 21 / 5.30pm Thu 26 / 8.30pm

Manufacturing Dissent Canada 2007 74min
Dirs: Debbie Melnyck & Rick Caine

Poking cameras into the faces of prominent politicians, CEOs and average citizens is the hallmark of Michael Moore’s documentary style. In the name of guerrilla journalism, its all fun and games until someone does the same thing to you.
Attempting to isolate fact from fiction, and legend from ego, this intelligent, intriguing and revelling exposé trains the camera on Michael Moore, the world’s most notorious, intentionally caustic, documentary filmmaker. Whilst tagging along on the promotional junket for Fahrenheit 9/11 and the ‘Slacker Uprising Tour’, Melnyck and Caine delve deep into the politically charged climate that jettisoned Moore to fame, unveil the extent of deliberate factual manipulation in his films, meet and interview Moore’s friends and adversaries alike, and explore his growing influence.

Courtesy of Films Transit

Jhb Fri 13 / 6.30pm Sat 21 / 6.15pm
CT Sat 21 / 4pm Tue 24 / 8.30pm Sun 29 / 8.15pm Sun 5 / 8pm

The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun Denmark 2006 84min
Dir: Pernille Rose Grønkjær

Eighty-two, cantankerous, bearded, a bachelor and a virgin, Jorgen Vig is determined to fulfil a 40-year old dream before he dies – to turn his crumbling Hesbjerg Castle into a sanctuary for religious introspection (...any religion will do).
After many years of correspondence, Vig finally secures interest from the Russian Orthodox Church. They duly dispatch the efficient, and equally stubborn Sister Amvrosya to get the castle habitable, and to transform it into the sanctified monastery they all dream about. While the transformation is underway, Vig and the Sister clash on just about every level, and the castle becomes a battleground of headstrong eccentricity, quiet determination and steely wits. Charting the process over six years this charming, affectionate and rather offbeat film recalls the old maxim: be careful what you dream of; it might just come true.
Awards: Joris Ivens Award, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2006

Courtesy of the Danish Film Institute

Jhb Thu 19 / 9pm Sun 22 / 4.15pm
CT Sat 21 / 4pm Wed 25 / 8.15pm Tue 2 / 6.45pm

My Brazil – A Journey of Faith, Strength and Struggle Brazil 2006 70min subtitled
Dir: Daniela Broitman

Rio De Janeiro is one of the most beautiful places in the world, yet behind its exotic façade, the upheaval in the favelas is threatening to destroy the communities and jeopardise Brazil’s hard won economic gains.
In Brazil 34% of the population lives below the poverty line. This statistic, accompanied by severe lack of government services, rampant criminal violence, official corruption, racism, and other kinds of discrimination translates into widespread malcontent from a disillusioned, disenfranchised population. As the urban violence rages, local community leaders put their lives on the line to combat social, gender and racial discrimination, and improve living conditions. Asking why they are willing to make such personal sacrifices, Broitman follows three courageous people as they attend the Fifth World Social Forum.

Courtesy of ABPI TV (Brazilian Independent TV Producers Association

Jhb Fri 13 / 6.45pm Thu 19 / 9.15pm
CT Sat 28 / 4pm Sat 4 / 8.15pm

The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema UK / Australia / Netherlands 2006 152mins
Dir: Sophia Fiennes

You will never see cinema in the same way again after the eccentric Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst, Slavoj Zizek, launches you on this unexpected and utterly exhilarating roller coaster ride of the greatest movies ever made.
Expounding on the hidden language of cinema – especially his exciting and overlapping ideas on fantasy, superego, the id, sexuality, subjectivity, desire, materiality, reality, and cinematic form – Zizek tackles David Lynch, Hitchcock, Bergman, Chaplin, Michael Haneke, the Matrix, Fight Club, and Disney in the same breath. Literally placing himself on the set within each film’s illustrative scene, the philosopher weaves his passionate thought and energy into a rich, intellectual tapestry of hidden meanings. By revealing the subtext of film and what it says about ourselves, Zizek’s entertaining ideas reminds us of why we love films.

Courtesy of the Director and the British Council

Jhb Fri 13 / 7.15pm Mon 16 / 6.45pm
CT Fri 27 / 6.45pm Mon 30 / 6.45pm Sun 5 / 6pm

Please Vote for Me China 2006 55min subtitled
Dir: Weijun Chen

Democratic values and political manoeuvring are explored at their most base level in this charming and surprisingly poignant slice of Chinese life seen through the attitudes and actions of its children. In Wuhan, central China, a class of eight-year-old children, educated according to communist principles, are given their first lesson in democracy when they must vote for a Class Monitor. With the advice and support of their doting parents, the three candidates (two boys and one girl) innocently embark on their campaign by canvassing friends, buying popularity, bribing supporters, vilifying their opponents and broadcasting their election promises. With much thinner skins and less subtlety than their western adult counterparts, though these ‘politicians’ feel each slight keenly, they are also brutally honest.

Courtesy of STEPS International

Jhb Sat 14 / 4.30pm Sat 22 / 6.45pm
CT Sat 21 / 2.30pm Fri 27 / 9pm Sat 4 / 4.30pm

Primo Levi’s Journey Italy 2006 93min subtitled
Dir: Davide Ferrario

A chemist and the author of several famous classics, Primo Levi was a fascinating man. In this equally intriguing and individual road movie, eighty years after Primo Levi made his seminal eight-month journey from Auschwitz through Poland, the Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and back through Western Europe to his home in Turin, two fellow Italians make the same journey across the same natural, but a very different political landscape. Levi’s travels were at the beginning of the USSR’s dominance in the region, while his contemporary followers have recorded its decaying vestiges. Accompanied by Levi’s famous writing, the entire sensitive and sobering journey is interspersed with perfect moments of true humanity, showing that the people both journeys encounter are achingly similar as they face an uncertain future after a treacherous past.

Jhb Sat 14 / 6.30pm Wed 18 / 6.45
CT Fri 20 / 6.30pm Sun 22 / 8.45pm

Promised Paradise The Netherlands 2006 52min subtitled
Dir: Leonard Retel Helmrich

For the past few years, terrorist bombs, planted by Muslim fundamentalists, have rocked Indonesia. The resulting confusion, fear and respect (in some factions of the populous) has entered the nation’s psyche and become a source of inspiration for many Indonesian artists. One such artist, the quirky, troubadour, traditional puppeteer and Muslim, Agus, seeks answers to the mayhem. Whilst singing his odes to sacrifice and immorality in a high-pitched Islamic-style verse, Agus leaves his curious, silent friend Endang alone in Jakarta and travels to Bali to interview Imam Samudra, one of the unrepentant Bali Bombers currently on death row. Armed with his captivating humour, Agus’ quest casts a personal perspective on the present mood of intolerance and chaos in Indonesian society that is a result from strained East/West relations across Asia post 9/11.
Awards: Golden Dhow, Zanzibar International film Festival 2006

Jhb Fri 13 / 8.30pm Sun 22 / 6.30pm
CT Fri 20 / 6.45pm Thu 26 / 6.45pm Sat 28 / 6.45pm

The Red Card Iran 2006 74min subtitled
Dir: Mahnaz Afzali

The mingling of murder, sport, adultery, celebrity, sex and drugs is almost an every day occurrence in our society, But in Iran, where many of these issues are taboo, an unprecedented media circus surrounded the salacious trail of Shahla Jahed. In 2002, Jahed was accused of killing Laleh Saharkhizan, the wife of her lover and soccer hero, Nasser Mohammed Khani. As a woman, Jahed is allowed very little say in her defence, and yet, in this trail, Jahed recites love poems, defiantly castigates and even openly flirts with the judge, and desperately protests her innocence.
Using a lively mix of archive sports footage, newspaper headlines, TV talk show discussions, scenes from the court, police video confessions and Jahed’s home video of their stolen romantic moments, this fascinating documentary presents unexpected facets of Iranian life.

Courtesy of Sheherazad Media International

Jhb Tue 17 / 6.45pm Sat 21 / 8.45pm
CT Sat 28 / 4.15pm Wed 1 / 8.30pm Sat 4 / 6.30pm

Screamers USA 2006 91min
Dir: Carla Garapedian

In 1915 the Turks obliterated an estimated 1.5 million Armenians. Because the perpetrators were strategically important, and it was in the midst of the First World War, the world turned its blind eye to the atrocity. Ninety-three years later the Turks deny it ever took place, and the only people keeping the truth alive are a heavy metal rock band, System of a Down. Unexpected harbingers of remembrance they may be, but lead singer Serj Tankian and his band mates are 2nd generation Americans of Armenian descent, and for his grandfather, now 98, the memories of barely escaping the genocide still haunt him. Passionate, angry, and through an unlikely medium, this documentary is not only fascinating historically, it gives us a timely reminder that the world has not yet learned its lesson.

Courtesy of B Wooding Media

Jhb Fri 13 / 10.30pm Wed 18 / 9.30pm
CT Fri 20 / 10.45pm Fri 27 / 10.15pm Sat 4 / 6pm

Sweet Memories Garden Centre Sweden / South Africa 2006 54min with subtitles
Dir: Simon Klose

The brothers live in their mother’s Soweto house, at the cross roads of Zola, Emndeni and Naledi. Choreographer Twish has just returned from jail for possession of a firearm, and Pule was a immigration officer, but he hastily resigned to avoid a corruption scandal. Whilst polishing up their prize possession, a Mazda 626 (‘for driving from six to six’), the brothers dream about changing their lives and bringing a little beauty to the township by opening Soweto’s first garden centre. This captivating film’s style (camera and edit) suits their quirky energy, and follows the brothers as they seek advice from the plant industry’s players, convert their mother’s front garden into a showcase and open for business with roses, palm-trees, citrus trees, fresh herbs and splendid purple bougainvilleas.

Courtesy of the Director

Jhb Sat 14 / 6.15pm Fri 20 / 10pm
CT Thu 26 / 6.30pm Sun 29 / 8pm Sat 4 / 2pm

Taxi to the Darkside USA / Afghanistan / Iraq 2006 100min
Dir: Alex Gibney

In 2002, Dilawar, a rural Afghani farmer took his newly acquired taxi and drove to town to pick up his first fare. He never returned. Erroneously captured when the US entered Afghanistan, he was tortured and killed at the notorious Bagram Prison.
From Bagram, via Abu Ghraib and onto Guantanamo Bay this hard-hitting, chilling film explores the deliberately ambiguous rules that governed interrogations post 9/11. It also looks at the tactics that knowingly flaunt the Geneva Convention and the founding statues of the American constitution, and abuses that were specifically employed to exact as high a psychological toll from the prisoner as possible. Through re-enactments and interviews with detainees, journalists, legal experts, politicians and soldiers, this excellent documentary investigates the torture practices endorsed by the United States government and used by mild-mannered, softly-spoken soldiers.
Awards: Best Documentary Award, Tribeca 2007

Courtesy of STEPS International

Jhb Tue 17 / 6.30pm Sat 21 / 8pm
CT Thu 26 / 8.15pm Tue 31 / 8.45pm Sun 5 / 8.30pm

Thomas Sankara: The Upright ManFrance 2006 52min subtitled
Dir: Robin Shuffield

In 1984, aged thirty-four, the good-looking, uniform-clad Thomas Sankara became the President of the tiny country Upper Volta. His first act was to change the country’s name to Burkina Faso, meaning ‘the land of upright people’. Sankara’s charisma, hands on leadership, and forthright approach revitalised his country. He fought corruption and the power of the chiefs, refused to be dependent on the West, improved education, encouraged a self-sufficient agriculture sector and raised the status of women. But his revolutionary ideas disturbed the old colonial master, traditional leaders and the powerful middle class. Through archive footage and interviews with colleagues, friends, statesmen and ordinary Burkinabe we get a measure of this outstanding leader, and are introduced to his innovative ideas, devastating humour, character, personal morality and self-sacrifice.

Courtesy of Zorn Production International

Jhb Sun 15 / 8.45pm Sun 22 / 8pm
CT Fri 20 / 10.30pm Tue 31 / 6.30pm Fri 3 / 8.30pm

We are Together Thina Simunye UK 2006 83min
Dir: Paul Taylor

Slindile Moya has an astonishing voice. On the surface, there doesn’t seem much to sing about; life is difficult, the Moyas are AIDS orphans, and the three youngest live at the Agape Orphanage during the week where they sing in the choir, and with their elder sister and brother on the weekends. The loving ties of family are the threads of songs taught them by their mother. Then tragedy strikes a double blow, first brother Sifiso dies, then the orphanage burns down, Slindile and the choir put aside their pain and, to create awareness of the orphanage’s plight, they raise their voices, finally, in concert with Paul Simon. Documenting three years of Slindile’s singing, this earnest yet uplifting film charmingly portrays the power of children and music to overcome almost insurmountable adversity.
Awards: Audience Award - IDFA 2006, Amnesty International Film Festival 2007. Audience and Special Jury prize, Tribeca 2007.
Courtesy of Rise Films. Encounters has made a donation of R10,000 to the Agape Orphanage in lieu of screening fees. To donate visit www.wearetogether.org

Jhb Tue 17 / 6.30pm Fri 20 / 6.30pm
CT Wed 25 / 6.30pm Tue 31 / 8.30pm