Cinema fans are in for a treat as ticket sales for the Joburg Film Festival go live online, giving them the chance to see a curated mix of the finest films and documentaries from across Africa and around the world, between 19 and 24 November – including a one-off screening of South Africa’s 2020 Academy Award contender, Knuckle City.
The six day celebration of African and International film runs at six venues across Johannesburg, with a hub in Sandton (Auto & General Theatre on the Square, a free outdoor area at Nelson Mandela Square and at Ster-Kinekor Sandton City). The other venues are Cinema Nouveau Rosebank; The Bioscope in Maboneng and Kings Theatre in Alexandra, which offers free screenings.
The festival opens with the South African premiere of locally-produced horror film, 8, at the Auto & General Theatre on the Square on 19 November. Twice-daily premieres at the same venue will add extra red carpet glamour and select screenings will be capped with Q&A sessions with the film’s stars, producers and directors.
The films in competition at the Joburg Film Festival include Papicha (Algeria); Rocks (UK); Letters of Hope (SA); Redemption (Mozambique); Bombay Rose (India); Flatland (SA); Farming (UK); Indigo (Morocco); Our Lady of the Nile (France) and Yardie (UK).
“We’re incredibly proud of the lineup of powerful films we’ve secured as part of the Festival,” says Joburg Film Festival Executive Director Timothy Mangwedi. “It also shows that films from the continent sit comfortably alongside films from elsewhere in the world – and we hope to inspire budding filmmakers to raise the standard of African cinema even higher”.
Speaking also on the festival, Group Executive: Corporate Affairs for Joburg Film Festival headline sponsors MultiChoice, Joe Heshu, says that the festival offers a valuable learning opportunity for aspiring filmmakers, like those who form part of the company’s MultiChoice Talent Factory South Africa intership programme. “We’ll be exposing our talented junior filmmakers to as much of the programme as possible – and offering them the unprecedented opportunity to meet and learn from many of the filmmakers too – and look forward to seeing how the experience inspires the next generation of African storytellers”.
For a full list of the 60 films which make up the Joburg Film Festival – and to book tickets – visit the Joburg Film Festival website.
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