With its home on the Southbank at the British Film Institute’s National Film Theatre, but showing films across the capital, the BFI London Film Festival came to a close last week. The festival exhibits the best of British and international cinema and is not only one of the longest-running festivals, now in its 55th year, but the largest film festival in the country. Boasting a multitude of celebrity guests and a truly extraordinary range of films, I feel fortunate to live only an hour away and able experience this every year. On a bright, autumn Sunday afternoon, I made my way south through the city to the Ritzy cinema in Brixton to see a sell-out performance of a South African film called OTELO BURNING.
It is impossible to adequately describe the extent of the films shown at the festival, but to name just a few appearances such as George Clooney, Jude Law, David Cronenberg and Alexander Payne says it all. And that’s not mentioning the UK premieres of new films from Roman Polanski, Richard Linklater, Todd Solondz and…Madonna.
However, despite the red carpets and flashing lights, the festival is also home to a growing market of African films in the United Kingdom, which I am about to experience. In fact the festival, along with our own Cambridge Film Festival fits into what could be termed ‘African Festival Season’ in the country.
Last month in Cambridge BLACK BUTTERFLIES (South Africa), BLOOD IN THE MOBILE (Democratic Republic of the Congo), STREET KIDS UNITED (South Africa) and MY LONG DISTANCE FRIEND (Zimbabwe) displayed a very strong commencement to the season. Now in October, The London Film Festival is offering ASMAA (Egypt), BEAUTY and OTELO BURNING. The two latter films are currently in competition to determine South Africa’s submission to the Academy Awards this year, by a frustrating twist of fate, were both showing at similar times on the afternoon that I attended the festival.
“OTELO BURNING proves to be a noteworthy and powerful addition to the season as a whole”
Indeed, OTELO BURNING proves to be a noteworthy and powerful addition to the season as a whole. Set in the Durban township of Lamontville, three friends counteract the struggles of their lives with the freedom of surfing. Using true events from the final years of the Apartheid regime in South Africa as a foundation, but structuring the story around Shakespeare’s Othello, it is also shot much like a documentary, roughening the edges around a visually stunning film.
The relationship between the friends is ultimately the driving force of the film, portrayed with stunning performances by people from the actual township and area. Significantly, the story is set around the time of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in the late-eighties, early-nineties. The film however, in a rather genius stroke, turns away from the politics of the time, rather letting it seep inherently into the material, but focusing on the human experience of what freedom means – and the responsibility that comes with it.
Director Sara Blecher attended the screening, following the film with a lively and comprehensive Q&A, answering some largely difficult questions about the state of South Africa at that time – during which she worked as a journalist. Importantly, and as good Q&As should, this coloured-in any informational gaps lingering in the audience and essentially added to the impact of the film, revealing the truth behind the production. It also exposed a truly overwhelming response from the audience, many of whom were obviously South Africans who had been touched by the events depicted in the film.
As I exited the Ritzy, and tried to make my way north despite a closed Victoria Line, I couldn’t help but wonder about BEAUTY, the rival to this extraordinary film’s Oscar glory; and marvel at the strength of the films to emerge from South Africa, and indeed Africa as a whole this year. This is a very exciting start to the season, and I don’t have long to wait to see more.
Beyond this, there comes a wave of dedicated African film festivals that traverse the country, showing how the African continent is currently going through an exciting era of high quality film production and an ever-increasing output that is being welcomed by the outside world. In Bristol, the Afrika Eye festival took place from the 28 – 30th October; in Edinburgh the Africa in Motion (AiM) festival runs from 2nd – 6th November; the big daddy of ‘Africa Festival Season’ is the Royal African Society’s Film Africa festival in London from 3rd – 13th November and finally rounding out the season, we return to Cambridge for the longest-running of the African film festivals in the country, the Cambridge African Film Festival from 6th – 10th November.