The Tri Continental Film Festival is coming to select Ster-Kinekor and Cinema Nouveau theatres this September

The Tri Continental Film Festival (TCFF) is South Africa’s only dedicated human rights film event and consists of film that promotes democratisation, deepens understanding, and affords those marginalised a substantive voice, proving to be more vital than ever in our rapidly changing world.

TCFF has played a significant role in creating a sustainable and continually growing audience for social justice cinema over the past nine years, through film selection that is nuanced, relevant, informative and well-balanced, and promise to continue this tradition in 2011, with a programme that reflects global currents of change and action.

The selection of films presented this year is the result of rigorous curation of over 500 entries. These works speak directly to the pressing concerns of our world and the power of documentary and fiction to relay these concerns in a compelling and powerful manner.

TCFF is also pleased to present two retrospectives; the outstanding career of Peter Wintonick and a finely crafted selection from documentary icon Werner Herzog is presented in conjunction with the Goethe-Institute Johannesburg.

“We are proud to present a crop of excellent films which speak directly to this issue and will continue to do so in the coming years so we can play our own small part in building a movement to halt the forward march towards the end of humanity as we know it,” says Rehad Desai, the
Festival Director.

The TCFF 2011 categories and titles are:
The opening night film TAC- Taking HAART, directed by Jack Lewis who will be in attendance at the Rosebank Cinema Nouveau. Between 1999 and 2010, over two million people in South Africa died of AIDS. This was despite the existence of Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment, known as HAART.

During these years, government sponsored AIDS denialism combined with the high price of these life saving drugs, ensured that poor people could not get the treatment they needed. TAC – Taking HAART provides a fly on the wall view of how outrage ignited a movement that united people across ethnicity and class.

Climate Change
The devastating effects of climate change are becoming more evident than ever before, but thousands of businesses and civilians continue to shamelessly exploit the earth, exhausting its precious resources. These films bring to light some of the effects climate change is having on our planet and our people. There Was Once an Island, H2oil, The Pipe, Into Eternity, The Age of Stupid and Green.

Art, Music and Love
Africa is renowned for its many diverse cultures. Music and art in its many shapes forms part of everyday life on this colourful continent, and love, as always, is a universal language. The Films in this category are: Once Upon a Day: Brenda Fassie; Bariga Boy; Zwelidumile; Difficult Love; Mama Goema; and Voices from the Cape.

Werner Herzog Retrospective
A finely crafted selection from documentary icon Werner Herzog is presented in conjunction with The Goethe-Institut Johannesburg.
These include: Land of Silence and Darkness; The Dark Glow of the Mountains and The Wild Blue Yonder.

Peter Wintonick Retrospective
The outstanding career of Peter Wintonick is explored in a series of outstanding films presented by the filmmaker.
Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News; Pilgrimage; and Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media.

Africa then and now
Our continent has undergone some radical changes, particularly in terms of the political landscape and the economy with often devastating effects.

These films highlight the reality daily life of millions of Africans and include: Robert Mugabe, What Happened?; Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children; The Axe and the Tree; Africa Shafted – Under One Roof; Forerunners (African Premiere); Imam and I; Manenburg; King Naki; Monica Wangu Wamwere, Unbroken Spirit; Barefoot in Ethiopia; Kamenge Northern Quarters; Congo in Four Acts; My Heart of Darkness; The Sacrifice (Yoole) and Other Europe.

The TCFF Festival Selection includes:
The Amnesty BBC Film; Go Bama – Between Hope and Dreams; The Interrupters; Prosecutor; The Green Wave; Blood Calls You; I Was Worth 50 Sheep and The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan and Hunger.

The TCFF Feature Films are:
My Father’s Son and The Last Flight of the Flamingo and Precious

Standing up for Change
These revolutionary films include: BANANAS! and Eyes Wide Open

Egyptian Shorts
Real-life on the ground frightened footage of an uprising in progress.

Short Fiction
These powerful short films are only between 9 and 25 minutes long, but portray powerful messages. They include: Short Memory; Stay With Me; Protect the Nation; The Tailored Suit; Umshato/ The Wedding and White.

This year, TCFF has the privilege to present to you more than 25 directors from our country and the wider continent, available for media interviews:

The Tri Continental Film Festival will be screened at the following Ster-Kinekor venues:

• Cinema Nouveau Rosebank 9 to 18 September 2011
• Ster-Kinekor Maponya Mall 9 to 14 September 2011
• Cinema Nouveau V&A Waterfront 16 to 23 September 2011
• Cinema Nouveau Brooklyn Mall 22 to 28 September 2011

For more information on the Tri Continental Film Festival please visit: www.sterkinekor.com

Tickets to the festival cost R37 each at Cinema Nouveau, and R25 at Ster-Kinekor Junction, and are available online www.sterkinekor.com or through your cell phone www.sterkinekor.mobi, Ticketline 082 16789 (value added service rates apply), at the self-service terminals (SSTs) or Box Offices.