The fifth annual Africa Rising International Film Festival (ARIFF), which celebrates the past, present and future of African cinema, kicked off yesterday and ends on Sunday at The Zone in Rosebank.
The film festival opened with a thought-provoking Of Good Report by Jamil XT Qubeka, a banned film that lived to see its premiere.
The film was banned in 2013 on the night it was supposed to make its debut at the
34th Durban International Film Festival. It was canned for having a scene that constitutes “child pornography”.
Ayanda Sithebe, festival director, said Qubeka and Layla Swart of Yellowbone Entertainment have cemented their mark in the South African film and television industry, with award-winning films such as Knuckle City and their recent groundbreaking fantasy epic series Blood Psalms.
“It was a natural fit that ARIFF would want them to be a part of our film selection this year, to give them the premiere they never had. They are pioneers of the new age of filmmaking,” said Sithebe.
Akin Omotoso’s Rise will close the festival.
The film tells a story about how a family of Nigerian immigrants moved to Greece and the sons – Giannis, Thanasis, and Kostas rose to basketball fame. They are the first trio to have become NBA champions in league history.
For many years storytelling in South Africa was censored by the apartheid regime, and filmmakers of colour could not produce and showcase their films.
This year, ARIFF celebrates stories by paying homage to the past in the present for the future, and chose an array of films that are no younger than seven years. These films are be made up of an ode to South African classics, women calling the shots and black filmmaking pioneers.
“We aim to celebrate and look back at how far we’ve come in the last 28 years towards the freedom of African filmmaking,” Sithebe said.
“The #HereWeAre film selection intends to inspire a new generation of established and emerging filmmakers to tell their own stories in defiance of the challenges found on the road of storytelling, because a compelling story will eventually rise from the ashes, as those of this year’s ARIFF film screening selection,”
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