Cape Winelands Film Festival

The 2010 Cape Winelands Film Festival (CWFF) are proud to present an unparallel window on quality films from around the globe. The rich selection of world cinema includes features, documentaries and shorts, all which have won over 300 international awards.

Judged by the international response the CWFF short film competition has also developed into the most important film festival platform in South Africa for quality productions from around the world. Movie lovers, film students and lecturers should not miss the outstanding short films in the competition this year, especially the magnificent selection from Canada, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and France.

The festival remains an important forum for South African cinema, Five South African features will compete with films from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe in the feature film competition. The opening night film, Master Harold and the Boys, an adaptation of a play by Athol Fugard, will have its world premiere in the open air amphitheatre at Spier estate in the Cape Winelands district near Stellenbosch. "We are grateful for Spier Films and Spier Wines in particular Annebelle Schreuders and producer Zaheer Goodman-Bhyat for making these screenings in the beautiful Cape Winelands possible, as well as the open air screening of Sea Point Days at Sea Point."

Other South African films in competition include the multi award-winning Shirley Adams, as well as four new local features: Darrell Roodt's Jakhalsdans, Minky Schlesinger's sensitive drama uGugu and Andile, Darfur, a hard-hitting drama about the violence in Sudan and Oliver Rodger's first film I now Pronounce you Black and White.

Apart from selected screenings in the Cape Winelands district and Sea Point, the 2010 edition will once again feature screenings in the historic independent art cinema of the Labia Theatre and CityVarsity Cinema in the city centre of Cape Town.

The festival includes a strong focus on the environment. An international and local documentary programme has been carefully selected to raise consciousness regarding global warming and the impact on the environment. Highlights include Iceman: The Lewis Gordon Pugh Story, Uranium Road and the brilliant Shelter in Place. Don't miss the uplifting success stories regarding environmental conservation such as Gorillas: A Journey for Survival, The Return of the Musk Ox and Nature of life.

One of the highlights of the CWFF is the first ever South African focus on the rich film cultures from the Baltic States (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia). Official entries from Estonia and Lithuania for the 2010 Oscar competition are among the Baltic selection.

Once again eastern European and Russian productions are also part of the line-up.

The organisers of the CWFF are honoured to pay tribute to the great British filmmaker Terence Davies with screenings of his most famous films: The Long Day Closes, The House of Mirth, The Terence Davies Trilogy, Of Times and the City, as well as Distant Voices, Still Lives. Davies will be present at the screening of Of Time and the City, which was premiered out of competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival to great acclaim.

The CWFF will also pay tribute to the French master of cinema, Alain Resnais, who received a Life time achievement award at the 2009 Cannes film festival. The focus includes classics such as Hiroshima Mon amour, My American Uncle (starring Gerard Depardieu) as well as recent films by this great filmmaker. A selection of contemporary French films, such as The Prophet, complements the Resnais tribute.

Soccer is the theme of several documentaries and shorts: Streetball, Black Star: An African Football Odyssey, Mapi Liberia, Africa10, Soccerman as well as Over the Fence.

For more information about the Cape Winelands Film Festival visit Film for Africa website