Nollywood’s Poor Showing At Durban Film Fest

WHEN the 36th edition of Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) opens on Thursday, festival goers and industry representatives from across Africa and beyond will only get to see two Nigerian feature films—Michel Bello’s Flower Girl and Ayo Makun’s 30 Days in Atlanta and five short films – Aissa’s Story, The Dutiful Wife, Henna, Once and Timothy.

For a continental festival that will screen over 100 films and for an industry that produces well over 1000 films yearly and reputed to be the second largest in the world, two feature films and five shorts on the slate of a festival that is unarguably one of the continent’s biggest film events mocks and diminishes whatever rating and reputation the industry enjoy. What is worse the films are not in official selection but as sidekicks to give festivalgoer’s a feel of movies made in Nollywood.

Observers had expected that the partnership between DIFF and Nigeria-based Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) would have translated to a far more robust showcasing of the best of Nigerian films at the DIFF. The DIFF and AFRIFF had earlier this year entered into a mutually benefiting relationship that would, among other things, facilitate showcasing possibilities of the best offerings from the two festivals. But at the moment it seems that only the partnership between DIFF and Afrinolly has yielded fruits as four films—The Dutiful Wife, Henna, Once, Timothy, out of the five short films from Nigeria would be screened at the DIFF in the Cinema4Change project of Afrinolly.

However, there are indications that the team from AFRIFF plans to host a Nigerian day during the 10-day festival. It will culminate in a big party and networking session. Observers, however, expect that the AFRIFF team must extract a commitment from the organisers of DIFF to explore the culture of Nigeria cinema through a selection of a range of feature, documentaries and short films. This year’s DIFF presents screenings at venues around Durban and its surrounding districts. The films in competition include Sara Blecher’s Ayanda, Hicham Ayouch’s Fevers, Donald Mugisha’s The Boda Boda Thieves, Raja Amari’s Tunisian Spring and the Mauritius film by David Constantin Sugercane Shadows.

Also this year, there will be a special focus on Brazilian and Tunisian films and the hosting of a number of industry development initiatives such as Talent Durban and the Durban Filmmart. In addition the festival programme includes a wide range of seminars, workshops and public discussion forums aimed at both professional and aspiring filmmakers as well as those with a love for cinema and the filmmaking process.

Ayanda, the new feature by South African director Sara Blecher and starring Nigeria’s OC Ukeje along with top South African actors, will open the well-attended festival on Thursday. Ayanda is a coming-of-age story of a 21 year old Afro-hipster, who embarks on a journey of self-discovery when she is thrown into a world of greasy overalls, gender stereotypes and abandoned vintage cars once loved, in need of a young woman’s re-inventive touch to bring them back into life again.

The closing night film is Roger Allers The Prophet, an animated film and an adaptation of Kahlil Gibran’s book of the same title. DIFF 2015 will culminate in an award night on July 25 where awards will be presented to the best feature film of the festival, the best South African feature, best cinematography, best screenplay, best actress, best actor and production merit award. There will also be awards for the best documentary film, best South African documentary, best South African short film and audience choice award. Additional awards include Amnesty International Durban human rights award for the film that best reflects human rights issues and the Arterial Network’s Artwatch Africa award, which is presented to an African film that meaningfully engages with the issues of freedom of expression.