So the program for the 2012 Sydney Film Festival (SFF) is officially out! The Festival in its 59th year will have over 150 screenings across Sydney. I have been busy going over the program and constructing a potential viewing plan. As you can probably guess, African and Black centred films are high on my radar. On the African/Black/Diaspora front we have three features in contention.
Screening as part of the Official Competition is the magical surrealist film Today by French/Senegalese film maker Alain Gomis. Starring the poet-musician Saul Williams, the film follows the footsteps of a man waking up fully aware that it is his last 24 hours on Earth.
Also part of the Official Competition is Beasts of the Southern Wild which has been receiving rave and wild reviews since its premiere at Sundance. Faced with her father’s declining health and the dangers posed by an army of prehistoric creatures six year old Hushpuppy leaves her Bayou community in search of her mother.
La Pirogue screening also at Cannes this year is about a group of Senegalese men as they embark on a dangerous trip on a simple fishing boat to Europe to chase a better life.
Lack of Evidence almost escaped my attention. This experimental short by Korean film maker Hayoun Kwon is an animated documentary about Oscar, a Nigerian man applying for asylum in France after the ritualistic murder of his twin brother in Nigeria. The film which explores the issue of memory reconstruction is based on a true story (according to Oscar). This film is definitely on my ‘intrigue’ list.
The SFF continues its Sounds on Screen musical documentary programming with two films of interest. Under African Skies is proving to be incredibly successful also screening as part of the Human Rights and Arts Festival and the Brisbane Film Festival. This documentary follows American musician Paul Simon as he returns to South Africa 20 years after the release of his Graceland album to reunite with the artists who featured on the album.
Also part of the Sounds on Screen is the Robert Marley documentary simply titled Marley. There is no shortage of Marley documentaries out there but with extensive interviews with the Marley family and never before seen archival footage this film will be a must for any Marley fan.
From the UK, we have a part detective-part fictional documentary Dreams of a Life focusing on the real life story of Joyce Vincent, a Black British woman whose body was discovered in her apartment three years after she had passed away. The film which reconstructs Vincent’s life through interviews with family and friends seeks to answer the lonely death of a once vivacious young woman.
Finally, for the first time the Sydney Film Festival has introduced a new component in collaboration with Blackfella Films focusing on the best in Indigenous film around the world. While not African, I think supporting Indigenous cinema is incredibly vital and adds to the diversity of cinematic experience in Australia. I am definitely looking forward to the world premiere of Mabo based on the real life story of Indigenous activist Eddie Mabo who in the 1990s took to the Highest Court the declaration that Australia was ‘terra nullius’ which effectively declared the country as no-man’s land.
This year also marks the first year for South-African Nashen Moodley as the Director of the Sydney Film Festival. Moodley is juggling this impressive role while also being the Director for the Asia/Africa programming for the Dubai International Film Festival.
I will follow up all of the fun of the Sydney Film Festival with detailed reviews during the month of June, so watch this wonderful space.
La Pirogue
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Today
SOURCE: SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL
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