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Industry Events

#EncountersDoc

Fri 24 June

11am – 1pm

Goethe-Institut. 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg

 

RSVP
Girls in Film x Encounters Presents Community Shapers: Documentary Shorts

Through the collaboration with Encounters, Girls in Film (GiF) wants to expand the festival space to emerging filmmakers starting their journey and discovering their storytelling voices. GiF curated a selection of micro-budget and experimental documentaries by promising independent filmmakers from Africa and the African Diaspora who showcase strong perspectives and stylistic distinctiveness.

Together, the films reflect how communities across the diaspora are shaped, whether it be through leaders and change-makers, social circumstances, unique individuals or transformative spaces. Through their resourcefulness, these filmmakers saw global lockdowns not as an obstacle to their craft, but as an opportunity to seek out stories closer to home.

This event includes a Directors Q&A and will be followed by a workshop with Girls in Film and Blackboard. 

Jabu Nadia Newman
Moderator

Director

Sat 25 June

11am – 1pm

Goethe-Institut. 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg

 

RSVP
DFA docSHARE: THE BRAVE ETHICS PANEL

In this inter-generational conversation between emerging and established filmmakers, we map approaches to ethics in South African documentary and explore a range of responses to some of the key ethical questions: “How do we create spaces of care and compassion while telling powerful stories?” and “How do we honour responsibility to participants?” Join the discussion to unpack the issues that lie at the heart of ethical practice in documentary filmmaking from the Global South.

Facilitated by filmmaker-academics Dr Julia Cain and Dr Alette Schoon.

 

Supported by the Documentary Filmmakers’ Association in partnership with the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University

Supported by Documentary Filmmakers’ Association
Lindiwe Matshikiza

Panellist

Director: One Take Grace

Alette Schoon
Co-Moderator

Senior Lecturer

Julia Cain (PhD)
Co-Moderator

Lecturer

Sat 25 June

2pm – 3:30pm

Goethe-Institut. 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg

 

RSVP
Izimbali Mental Health Campaign – Is it just me? Speak Out! A Mental Health Crisis Is Not A Stigma

The Covid-19 pandemic has unveiled a growing mental health crisis in the creative industries. The lockdown restrictions imposed by the government for the last two years have imposed unprecedented conditions for the industry. The already existing socio-economic conditions of the creative industries are a breeding ground for mental health challenges due to employment insecurity and irregular income, lack of personal and family benefits, competition for work opportunities and discriminatory practices. These issues give rise to a range of problems such as financial stress and pressure, anxiety and panic, depression, substance abuse and ensuing poor family relationships.

Join us for a wide ranging panel discussion with expert creatives from different sectors; to speak out on the mental health crisis, and the urgent action required from the industry.

This is the first of a series of panel discussions organised by the Independent Black Filmmakers Collective (IBFC) to create awareness and support the creative sector, culminating with the development of a mental health toolkit.

Supported by Independent Black Filmmakers Collective
Thabang Moleya

Panellist

Director

Rephethile Kgwale
Panellist

Mental Health Advocate

Motlatsi Mafatshe
Panellist

Actor & Musician

Kethiwe Ngcobo
Moderator

Producer

Sat 25 Jun

10am – 5pm

V&A Waterfront Makers Landing

 

 
Container Exhibition

Container is a collaboration between documentary filmmaker, Simon Wood, and visual artist and researcher, Dr Meghna Singh. The interactive work positions itself at the intersection of virtual reality and installation art, forming a hybrid of documented and constructed realities to make visible the invisibilised millions enabling our consumerist society. Discussing elements of hyperreal tactility and viscerality of constructed environments, the co-directors will consider tools to facilitate an emotional engagement with the human condition.

Meghna Singh
Director
Simon Wood
Director
Sun 26 Jun

10am – 5pm

V&A Waterfront Makers Landing

 

 
Container Exhibition

Container is a collaboration between documentary filmmaker, Simon Wood, and visual artist and researcher, Dr Meghna Singh. The interactive work positions itself at the intersection of virtual reality and installation art, forming a hybrid of documented and constructed realities to make visible the invisibilised millions enabling our consumerist society. Discussing elements of hyperreal tactility and viscerality of constructed environments, the co-directors will consider tools to facilitate an emotional engagement with the human condition.

Meghna Singh
Director
Simon Wood
Director
CT:  Sun 26 June

4:15pm – 5:15pm

Labia Theatre, 68 Orange St, Gardens, Cape Town

 

 
Reclaiming Memory: Celluloid, Restoration and Innovation in Documentary Storytelling – Three Minutes – A Lengthening

The discovery and use of archival material is a phenomenon which allows us to explore different aspects of the past, through artefacts, photographs, documents or film such as Three Minutes – A Lengthening. The material from the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre is used as evidence of the Holocaust and as a mark of respect for both victims and survivors. This panel discussion will explore historical aspects of the Holocaust and its contemporary consequences through the various modalities of telling the stories.

Monica Rorvik
Philip Todres

Moderator

Monica Rorvik
Heather Blumenthal

Panellist

Director 

Monica Rorvik
Sean O'Sullivan

Panellist

Filmmaker & Historian

Beyond Nostalgia: Reimagining Post-Apartheid Freedom (The Double Futures of Athlone)

In the aftermath of grand Apartheid’s forced removals, a form of cultural politics burgeoned around the cinemas of Athlone on the Cape Flats. Often targetted by pernicious strategies of petty Apartheid, the cinema, or bioscopes, nevertheless became spaces for reimagining community. Spaces such as the Kismet Cinema opened vistas of freedom and created a platform for building a non-racial future, inspired by film and music. How did we account for these cultural politics in the very midst of Apartheid’s dread? What was the significance of the bioscope in building community? And what future might we envisage for such cultural politics on the Cape Flats in the wake of Apartheid? This panel brings to the fore themes and ideas from Premesh Lalu’s documentary, The Double Futures of Athlone

 

In Partnership with the Centre for Humanities Research, UWC
Ella Blumenthal
Premesh Lalu
Panellist

Founding Director

Jordy Sank
Rashid Lombard

Panellist

Gabriella Blumberg
Sylvia Mndunyelwa

Panellist

Singer, Actress & Radio Personality

Heather Blumenthal
Dinga Sikwebu
Panellist
Heather Blumenthal
Jayson King
Panellist
A Case Study in Collaborative Documentary Filmmaking:

Among Us Women

A Case Study in Collaborative Documentary Filmmaking: Among Us Women Exploring the production process behind the making of the documentary film Among Us Women, this session delves into the collaborative nature of the project, the relationships developed within the community portrayed, and how the subtle intimacy of the film was achieved.

Jamila Wignot
Sarah Noa Bozenhardt

Panellist

Director: Among Us Women

George Faison
Daniel Abate Tilahun

Panellist

Director: Among Us Women

Gregory Maqoma
Sonja Kilbertus

Panellist

Producer: Among Us Women

Thobile Maphanga
Barbara Off
Moderator

Project manager DOK.network Africa

DFA docCHAT: DEEP DIVE INTO TACTICAL DISTRIBUTION & INDUSTRY TRENDS

“Good films stand out, but make sure you are passionate about your film and that you know how to position it.” – Mandisa Zitha, Encounters South African International Documentary Festival

Join us as we demystify the distribution and commissioning of documentaries. DFA board member, Khanyi Magubane, hosts Rachel Gordon, author of the hot-off-the-press book, The Documentary Distribution Toolkit, and Nicola van Niekerk, commissioning editor of the popular South African true crime series, Devilsdorp. Rachel’s experience and theories will act as a practical guide to reaching audiences and Nicola will invite us into the world of broadcast, mapping the ever-growing VOD landscape and current industry trends.

Presented by Encounters in association with the Documentary Filmmakers’ Association 

docCHAT is a bi-monthly webinar and virtual coffee date hosted by the Documentary Filmmakers’ Association 

Supported by Documentary Filmmakers’ Association
Khanyi Mgubane

Moderator

 

Rachel Gordon

Panellist

Author & Distribution Expert

 

Nicola van Niekerk

Panellist

Broadcast & Television Professional

 

CT: 30 June

1pm – 5pm

Bertha House, 67 –  69 Main Rd, Mowbray, Cape Town, 7700

 

RSVP
UCT Emerging Filmmaker Showcase

Join us for a special screening of UCT Honours and Masters films selected for Encounters this year. Filmmakers will be in attendance for a post-screening panel discussion and Q&A to talk about their work. This will be followed by a reception to celebrate these emerging filmmakers’ achievements.

Supported by University of Cape Town
Seducing Audiences: Understanding the Craft and Politics Behind the Male Gaze in Cinema

In Nina Menke’s meticulous documentary Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power, she puts into focus the history of cinema from 1896 – 2020, with a critical lens on the male gaze in film. Carefully deconstructing images, frame by frame, we learn about how women are represented on screen to beguile audiences. This all-female led panel will analyse our engagement with all-too-familiar sexualised portrayals of women and the progress of the #MeToo era in an attempt to challenge our perceptions and champion a revolutionised approach towards filmmaking.

Jabu Nadia Newman
Panellist

Director

Desiree Lewis
Moderator

Professor

 

Editing Across Borders

The COVID-19 pandemic and the recent rise of streamer-oriented documentary films have both had significant influence on post-production processes. Remote editing, often with extensive input from different international funding partners and often with an editor from a different country, has become a standard feature of international documentary production. Featuring two filmmaker-editor teams from the films Transactions (Director, Rumbi Katedza / Editor, Ronet Van Der Walt) and Girl, Taken (Directors, Simon Wood, Francois Verster / Editor, Bob Caldwell) that worked in this manner, this panel explores the practical challenges involved, as well as the impact of international market demands on storytelling style and content.

Abdoul Aziz Cisse
Rumbi Katedza

Panellist: 

Filmmaker & Writer, Director: Transactions

Francois Verster

Panellist

Director: Girl, Taken

Simon Wood

Panellist

Director: Girl, Taken

Monica Rorvik
Bob Caldwell

Panellist 

Editor: Girl, Taken

Monica Rorvik
Sam Soko

Moderator

Director & Producer

Fri 1 July

3pm – 5pm

Bertha House, 67 –  69 Main Rd, Mowbray, Cape Town, 7700

 

RSVP
Girls in Film x Encounters Presents Community Shapers: Documentary Shorts

Through the collaboration with Encounters, Girls in Film (GiF) wants to expand the festival space to emerging filmmakers starting their journey and discovering their storytelling voices. GiF curated a selection of micro-budget and experimental documentaries by promising independent filmmakers from Africa and the African Diaspora who showcase strong perspectives and stylistic distinctiveness.

Together, the films reflect how communities across the diaspora are shaped, whether it be through leaders and change-makers, social circumstances, unique individuals or transformative spaces. Through their resourcefulness, these filmmakers saw global lockdowns not as an obstacle to their craft, but as an opportunity to seek out stories closer to home.

This event includes a Directors Q&A and will be followed by a workshop with Girls in Film and Blackboard.

Jabu Nadia Newman

Moderator

Director

Sat 2 July

10am – 1pm

Bertha House, 67 –  69 Main Rd, Mowbray, Cape Town, 7700

 

RSVP
DFA docSHARE: LEGAL TANGO

Legal Tango is a conversation between a multi-award winning group of filmmakers about the common and unexpected legal challenges that arose during their filmmaking processes. The session is hosted by Shameela Seedat, filmmaker, lawyer and DFA board member, whose film, AFRICAN MOOT, is screening at the festival. Panelists include Richard Gregory, whose film THE RADICAL, about ‘the world’s first openly gay Imam’ (Muhsin Hendricks), required the negotiation of various sensitive character and community relationships, Rumbi Katedza whose film TRANSACTIONS, featuring a Zimbabwean family scattered across the globe, involved production in multiple continents, and Thandi Davids and Laura Colucci from Storyscope Media, proactive producers behind an array of hard-hitting documentaries, including WHISPERING TRUTH TO POWER, INFLUENCE, GHOSTS OF GADAFFI, HER STORY AND SENZO: MURDER OF SOCCER STAR, who have often had to face complex legal and ethical issues related to fearless storytelling in a complex world.

Supported by Documentary Filmmakers’ Association
Rumbi Katedza

Panellist:

Director: TRANSACTION

Richard Gregory

Panellist

Director: THE RADICAL

Thandi Davids

Panellist

Producer

Laura Colucci

Panellist

Producer & Media Lawyer

Shameela Seedat

Moderator

Director: AFRICAN MOOT

CT:  Sat 2 July

Post-Screening Panel

Labia Theatre, 68 Orange St, Gardens, Cape Town

 

 
Life’s Maxims: Reinventing Educational Systems through Classical Philosophy

Bringing expertise together by clinical psychologists, education experts and mental health activists, this panel will consider the film Young Plato in the context of South African youth education and development. The Belfast-set film documents headmaster Kevin McArevey’s attempt to place philosophy at the centre of his school in a community historically plagued by Northern Ireland’s ‘The Troubles’. With the aim of diffusing violence and improving the well-being of South African school students, the panellists will welcome new perspectives in empowering the young minds of South Africa.

 

Jamila Wignot
Scott Sloan

Panellist

Founder & Director

George Faison
Mandy Sanger

Panellist

Head of Education

Gregory Maqoma
Dr Stella Mokitimi

Panellist

Mental Health Co-ordinator 

Thobile Maphanga
Mark de la Rey

Moderator

Clinical Psychologist

 

Sun 3 July

Post-Screening Panel

The Bioscope Independent Theatre, 44 Stanley Ave, Milpark, Joburg

 
 
Echoes of the Past: Intergenerational Narratives (Three Minutes – A Lengthening)

Some people grow up surrounded by family memories and mementos that tell the story of the generations that came before them and inform their place within that family tree. But what do you do when the past is not fully known to you? Or when intrinsic parts of your history are missing? Join our diverse panellists, Tali Nates, Mduduzi Ntuli and Luc Albinski, as they share their stories of uncovering their ancestors’ pasts and understanding their identities in South Africa and beyond.

Jessica Beshir
Mduduzi Ntuli

Panellist

Tali Nates

Moderator

Founder & Director