The HER African Film Festival celebrates the artistic viewpoint of African women
|||BY HELEN HERIMBI
This weekend, Joburg film lovers will get to see our continent through Her eyes. The International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) in collaboration with Gender Links present the HER Africa Film Festival.
The festival, which is in partnership with the Gauteng Film Commission, will take place at the Bioscope Cinema in Maboneng Precinct on October 28 and 29. This initiative took into account the narratives that are helmed by filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora, who are women.
With 20 films produced as part of the Blingola/NFVF productions by women, the HER Africa Film Festival would be remiss to not screen some of them during the two-day fest. On Saturday, there will be QnAs with the directors from this initiative. Mmabatho Montsho (A Groom’s Price), Palesa Shongwe (uNomalanga and the Witch) and Reabetswe Moeti (Virgin Vegan) will be in attendance.
In addition to films, this festival will also screen other audio-visual material.
According to a press release: “This exhibition is a map of what concerns us, what affects us, what intrigues us and the constant evolution of what defines us as women. The female experience isn’t monolithic and neither is a woman’s approach to the filmmaking craft.”
As such, the medium will also not be restricted. Expect to see short films, music videos, documentaries, webseries, animated movies and feature films – all from women. The opening night film will be In The Morning by Nefertite Nguvu who is based in New York. The film follows a day in the lives of a group of friends who unpack life, love and other complex issues when faced with the relocation of a friend.
As Nguvu says: “My goal was to produce a film that not only moves viewers in both familiar and novel ways, but which also announces the emergence of the kind of cinema I think we all, deep down, long for; a cinema that reflects the breath, depth and multitudes of who we are.”
The HER Africa Film Festival is at the Bioscope Cinema in Maboneng Precinct on October 28 and 29. Tickets are at the door.