Durban FilmMart Alumni Projects to be Screened at DIFF

Vanessa Obioha

Five alumni projects of Durban FilmMart (DFM) have been selected to screen at this year’s Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). The films participated as official projects at the (DFM) – Africa’s premier Film Finance and Co-Production market.

“It is very heartening to witness more and more film projects that have participated in Durban FilmMart processes being showcased at festivals and cinema circuits across the world, thus fulfilling the central purpose of DFM, to facilitate getting films made, African films in particular,” says Magdalene Reddy, acting General Manager of the Durban FilmMart Institute.

“The DIFF has always been primarily a place for fresh voices to be discovered,” added Chipo Zhou, Festival Manager and curator of DIFF 2021. “We are pleased that initiatives have come full circle from the DFM to the film festival. We enjoy our collaboration with DFM and look forward to reaping the benefits of the current projects in the future.”

The films include four new documentaries and a film. ‘Murder in Paris’, a political crime-thriller, directed by Enver Samuels, traces the motives for the assassination of anti-Apartheid activist Dulcie September. In ‘As I Want’, directed by an emerging voice in Arabic documentary filmmaking Samaher Alqadi, picks up her camera as a form of protection and begins documenting the growing women’s rebellion, not knowing where the story will lead her. ‘The Colonel’s Stray Dogs’ profiles political activist Ashur Shamis, who lives with a million-dollar bounty on his head after a lifetime in Muammar Gadaffi’s crosshairs.

The film is directed by Ashur’s son, Khalid Shamis. ‘Zinder’, directed by Aicha Macky, is a town in the impoverished lepers’ area of Kara-Kara, Niger, where a culture of gang violence now reigns.

‘Five Tiger’ is a short film from South Africa directed by Nomawonga Khumalo and features a God-fearing woman who finds herself in a transactional relationship as she tries to support her sick husband and daughter.

The 42nd Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) will be held from July 22 to August 1.