Trevor Steele-Taylor
THE 17th Durban International Film Festival, which=20 opens its doors this Sunday, celebrates both the=20 centenary of world film and the anniversary of a=20 democratic South Africa. In line with the declining=20 state of local cinema, however, it is the international=20 arena which is better represented.
Opening with Antonia Bird’s much praised Priest, the=20 festival includes a selection of exotic and mainstream=20 films, ranging from the popular British thriller=20 Shallow Grave, by Danny Boyle, to the hard-core=20 existentialism of Michael Haneke’s 71 Fragments of a=20 Chronology of Chance.
Highlights will vary according to taste, but films=20 which stand out for this viewer are:
* Crumb, a truly amazing documentary about the lives=20 of underground cartoonist Robert Crumb and his=20 eccentric family (see story below). The art of the=20 documentary is a tenuous one, and Crumb succeeds=20
* The Bandit Queen, a riveting reconstruction of the=20 exploits of India’s female bandit, Phoolan Devi. It so=20 incensed the Indian government that the film was banned=20 and its director, Shakhar Kapur, placed under virtual=20 house arrest. Kapur structures his film like a western,=20 and is greatly aided by a superb performance from Seema=20
* Chungking Express, a fine example of new Hong Kong=20 cinema. Fast-paced and fresh, director Wong Kar-Wai’s=20 style has been compared to that of the young Jean-Luc=20 Godard. The film stars Hong Kong heart-throb Tony=20 Leung, of The Lover and Bullet in the Head.
* Immaculate Conception, by Pakistani director Jamil=20 Dehlavi. This is a fascinating tale of an American=20 woman who seeks the help of eunuchs in a fertility=20 shrine in Karachi to overcome her childlessness. With=20 not a wasted frame, Dehlavi has constructed a work of=20 art which, despite its two-hour running time, passes in=20 the twinkling of an eye and leaves the audience wanting=20
* Tales of Hoffmann, a 1951 production by the great=20 British director Michael Powell, screened in a new=20 print. Starring Moria Shearer and Robert Helpmann, the=20 film brings a ballet to seductive cinematic life.=20
American independent films range from Lodge Kerrigan’s=20 Clean Shaven, via Quentin Tarantino associate Robert=20 Avary’s psychopathically violent Killing Zoe, to Wayne=20 Wang’s oddity, Smoke.=20
The rest of the world is well represented with entries=20 from Iran (Ebrahim Mokhtari’s Zinat), China (Zhang=20 Yimou’s controversial To Live) and Mali (Cheick Oumar=20 Sissoko’s Fespaco winner, Guimba). Unaccountably,=20 Youssef Chahine’s Egyptian The Emigrant is credited to=20 Al Mohager in the festival booking kit and to the=20 Iranian Ebrahim Forouzesh in the festival brochure.=20 Based loosely on the life of Joseph, the film landed=20 Chahine with censorship problems in his native land.=20 Although seen as a landmark piece of filmmaking by=20 some, others have found it overly lush, in the manner=20 of a French mini-series, and distressingly tedious.
The only local products on show are M-Net’s New=20 Directions, films by young scriptwriters and directors;=20 William Kentridge and Doris Bloom’s three-minute=20 animated feature, Memory and Geography; and In Darkest=20 Hollywood, a history of South African cinema from 1948.
The Durban International Film Festival runs at the=20 Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre from July 9 to August 4