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Some things are hard to talk about
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March 18, 2010
Last night's opening film for The Cape Winelands Film Festival was very different to that of last year.
The film adaptation of the Athol Fugard play, Master Harold... And The Boys played to a local audience for the first time, at the Spier Auditorium near Stellenbosch and I was struck by the audience's response.
Last year there was an exuberant response to White Wedding, because it was that kind of movie; a comedy that thrived on audience participation.
Master Harold worked on a totally different level though, it felt like so many of the audience members slunk out of the auditorium as the credits rolled. It's not a bad movie, in fact it's the opposite. But what it does is hold up a very clear and cutting mirror to South African society which says this is what you were, and in some cases still very much are. And introspection on a societal level at the movies is not something we as an audience are very used to doing.
Based on Athol Fugard's work, the film highlights the moment when a young white South African boy in the 1950s realises some hard truths about the relationship between black and white people in the country.
Speaking at the festival opening, Cape Film Commission's Laurence Mitchell eloquently explained the role of film in providing a way for people to learn more about each other. This film perfectly fits that bill because it gives you an insight into two disparate ways apartheid shaped who we are as a people. Hard to talk about, but important to note.
The Cape Winelands Film Festival is now in its third year and still finding its feet in terms of theme, but in the absence of Sithengi, it's pretty much the only big film festival in Cape Town (and nationally, barring the amazing Durban International Film Festival) that provides a platform for local filmmakers to test their mettle.
In addition, it is also showcasing an amazing array of really good films which you'd never under normal circumstances get a chance to see. Such a bewildering array in fact that it could be hard to choose just what to watch from the 65 feature films, 36 documentaries and 55 short films.
What would be really interesting would be if they eventually settled on a theme or cause around which to choose films ... and I think Master Harold provides a clue.
For more information about the film festival check films-for-africa.co.za or call the Labia on 021-424-5927.
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