A completely physical edition of the 44th edition of the Durban International Film Festival will return to Suncoast CineCentre after a three-year hiatus due to the National Lockdown. Presented by the University of KwaZulu Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, the festival will showcase 90 films from 54 countries from 20-30 July 2023.
The programme includes significant highlights, such as Banel and Adama, Omen and The Mother of All Lies, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, as well as Christian Petzold’s Afire, which won Berlinale’s Silver Bear. Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, A Thousand One and the second documentary ever to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, All the Beauty and Bloodshed, are some of the films that will premiere at the festival.
“We are thrilled to bring DIFF back to life this year, allowing audiences to come together to share in these incredibly special stories, feasting on some of the best African and world cinema ” said Andrea Voges, Festival Manager.
The festival programme celebrates What The Soil Remembers, a South African documentary that won the Ammodo Tiger Short Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in February – the film tells of the trauma of uprooted communities during Apartheid.
City of Ashes by Sheetal Magan presents a dystopian Johannesburg in the near future of 2035. And Malusi Bengu’s Vinyl on Bones explores music as a healing tool and the cost of this alchemy to the healer.
The restored South African film Mapantsula by Oliver Schmitz, which had its world premiere in February, in Berlinale’s classic section will make its African premiere in Durban during the festival. The original Mapantsula was the first anti-apartheid film that had its premiere screening at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival after the apartheid government had banned the film in South Africa. DIFF is pleased to present this restored and important film on the first Sunday of DIFF, 23 July at selected cinemas throughout South Africa.
The 6th edition of isiPhethu, a developmental programme that includes the isiZulu Scriptwriting Workshop, Industry Programme, and screenings in community centres will also take place during DIFF. The 2nd International Student Film Festival, the first of its kind on the continent, will showcase 30 student films from all over the world, at the KwaZulu-Natal Society for the Arts (KZNSA) free of charge.
Programme and Details
The 44th Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) will take place from 20 July to 30 July 2023. Widely regarded as one of the leading film festivals on the African continent, DIFF will showcase an impressive variety of shorts, features, documentaries, and student films. The programme is available on the revamped website: cca.ukzn.ac.za. This is where audiences can preview films that will premiere at Suncoast CineCentre. Tickets can be booked at cinecentre.co.za
The 44th Durban International Film Festival, presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu- Natal, is supported by the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa, the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, the Durban Film Office, the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Avalon Group.
To stay up to date, follow #DIFF2023 on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
