The National Film and Video Foundation hosts the South African pavilion at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) as part of global positioning initiatives will host the South African pavilion at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival being held from the 17th to the 28th of May 2017. The festival, which is internationally recognised as the premier film festival and marketing event, brings together filmmakers and key decision-makers from across the globe.
Cannes International Film Festival runs parallel to Marche du Film Market, a prestigious market identified as a significant platform to market local films and locations. The festival is not only a platform to market local films but also offers an opportunity for filmmakers to seek funding and distribution opportunities.
The South African pavilion will be home to all the South African filmmakers in attendance, of which seven were funded by the NFVF and through the Mc Café SAFTAs 11 sponsorship of the Best Actress/Actor in a feature film, the Best Actress winner for her performance in “Sink”, Shoki Mokgapa, is also attending the festival. The NFVF will host screenings of “She is King”, “Asinamali” and “Zulu Wedding”.
“The NFVF is excited to take the South African delegation to the Cannes film festival. The South African showcase is a display of our country’s offering to the world and is evidence of the potential we have as a country to be valuable contributors to the international film industry. The three films we will present are evidence of the diversity in our storytelling and we cannot wait to see how the films will be received.” says Zama Mkosi, CEO of the NFVF
The NFVF will host the following screenings:
She is King
Khanyisile is a talented Singer/Dancer/Actor who wants to be a star. She travels from her home in Nongoma to audition for a new musical to be staged at the Joburg Theatre based on the life of Zulu Queen Mkabayi ka Jama. After a couple of detours, she lands a role in the chorus and catches the eye of the best looking dancer in the show, charming soap star Luyanda. Will she be able to keep up with her more seasoned fellow performers, avoid the jealous machinations of the aging leading lady and survive the punishing rehearsal schedule to make it to opening night and shine like the star she is? “She is King” is a joyous celebration of Zulu culture in a glossy contemporary setting, showing off Joburg as the “Broadway of Africa”. Think “Smash” meets “Lion King”, in Joburg.
Venue: Palais B
Date: 17 May 2017
Time: 13h30
Asinamali
Asinamali inspired by Mbongeni Ngema’’s play tells the story of a black struggle activist, Comrade Washington, who returns to South Africa in the mid 1980s, at the height of the anti-apartheid struggle. His mission is to work with a group of black prisoners to create a musical play that recounts their experiences of the anti-apartheid rent-strikes in Lamontville Township a few years earlier. It turns out all the figures in the prison, men, women, and officials are connected to each other through, love affairs, violence, and the struggles for survival, during the political events of the 1980s. Together, Washington and the prisoners face the cruel wrath of the prison authorities as the project comes together. Some of the people in the prison have colluded with oppression, whilst other have resisted and been punished. Despite the constraints of prison-life and personal damage the offenders come together, tell their stories, sing, and dance.
Venue: Palais E
Date: 18 May 2017
Time: 12h00
Zulu Wedding
When LOU (30 years old) is told she’s been promised to the ZULU KING in marriage to repay an ancestral debt, she is forced to confront the tradition she’s been running away from since the death of her parents when she turned 15. TEXAS WALKER (Tex), her American fiancée, is the only man she has ever fallen in love with. She decides to confront the King and convince him he doesn’t want to marry her. But when she prevails upon handsome royal advisor ZULU to help her get into the Royal Compound, he proves to be a dangerously seductive charmer.
Venue: Palais B
Date: 21 May 2017
Time: 13h30