The 40th Annual Durban International Film Festival

The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) kicked off last week Thursday, the 18th of July and will run until Sunday, 28 July. This will be the 40th DIFF and the 10th Durban FilmMart, the film industry development programme, hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts.
The event commenced last week with the film ‘Knuckle City’, directed by Jahmil X.T Qubeka, produced and edited by award-winning Layla Swart of Yellowbone Entertainment, together with Mzansi Magic. Described as “gritty” and “raw” by the Festival Manager, Chipo Zhou, it is an exploration of the psychology of a fighter from the Mdantsane township of South Africa.
Where is it all going down?
The hub of the two events take place in the Elangeni and Maharani Hotels along the Durban beachfront, where actors, producers, directors, investors, financiers, broadcasters, content editors, scriptwriters, academics and all other film-lovers gather. This is an opportunity for the film-industry delegates and guests to network, unpack the latest film trends, learn of new funding policies, investigate and resolve challenges and, above all, be inspired.
What to expect:
This year’s riveting and diverse programme features 212 films, comprising of documentaries, feature films and short films, at 15 locations around Durban. Since taking over from Roz Sarkin in 1997, Zhou has made it a goal to make the DIFF a uniquely African Festival and, in an effort to progress African cinema and expand audiences, 94 of the films shown hail from Africa.
“The range of films this year reflect a changing, fast-paced world, where issues of identity and belonging, land and immigration, love and pain – find a way to surface and hold a mirror to the world, to either gaze at, engage with or react to,” says Zhou.
For more information and to download the latest screening programme, visit: http://ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za/
Sources:
Durban Film Festival. (2019). Home – Durban Film Festival. [online] Available at: http://ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za/ [Accessed 22 Jul. 2019].
Facebook.com. (2019). Durban International Film Festival. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/DurbanInternationalFilmFestival/ [Accessed 22 Jul. 2019].
Facebook.com. (2019). The 40th Durban International Film Festival. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/events/428640221055654/?active_tab=about [Accessed 22 Jul. 2019].