Siki. Dutch director Niek Koppen, who will be a guest of the festival presents his hour-long work of 1992 about Louis M’Barick Fall, who in 1922 became the first African to win a world boxing title. The documentary recounts the life of Battling Siki, the intelligent “savage”, activist, dandy, husband and womeniser. Using unique film and video material, interviews and eyewitness accounts Koppen creates an authentic and moving portrait of this mythical personality.
Made in India. Exquisitely filmed, Patricia Plattner’s documentary about the women of Gujurat’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has a quiet lyricism that suits its subject matter perfectly. The camera is never intrusive as the narratives of very poor women’s lives unfold in their own words. The editing intertwines the stories, effectively conveying their strength as a group.
Waiting for Harvey. This hilarious documentary follows four hopefuls at the Cannes film festival. There’s a young US director on the cusp of the big time, a French director who’s had his first feature selected for competition, and a first-time British director trying to sell his film. Rounding out the quartet is a mini-cab driver who tries a variety of promotional tricks to get his script a producer.
Nat Nakasa: A Native of Nowhere. Meticulously researched, Lauren Groenewald’s documentary is an introduction to the “Drum decade”, as well as providing a sensitive analysis of the events that led to Nakasa’s tragic early death. Writers, photographers and editors of the period add their voices to those of Nakasa’s surviving family members to create a nuanced vision of his life and times.
Babyfathers. Kethiwe Ngcobo films the experiences of three teenagers attempting to come to terms with becoming fathers. The stories are edited together so as to contrast their thoughts and feelings, resulting in the creation of very personalised commentary on “big” issues such as contraception, sex education, and the babyfathers’ relationships with their own parents.
Rough Ride. This documentary enlivens a well-researched exploration of the history of the South African taxi industry with narratives of individual experience. A major highlight is the witty, personalised take on history supplied by four pioneers of the industry. Director Dumisani Phakathi also provides some unexpectedly haunting images of taxis moving through early Highveld mornings.
A Letter to My Cousin in China. With his first-person voiceover providing frank, open explanation and comment, Henion Han’s documentary explores exile, family history and the concept of home. It does so mainly via the low-fi medium of hand- held video. This, together with exceptionally fine editing, gives the film an astonishing, lyrical intimacy that makes it one of the festival’s must- sees.
A Wedding in the Family. This no-holds- barred look at two families’ preparations for a wedding is Secrets and Lies as documentary. The subjects’ completely English kind of general pessimism, coupled with a grim determination to keep aiming at happiness and fulfilment, is highlighted by Paul Watson’s tight, merciless framing and his focus on revealing details of personal space.
The Man Who Would Kill Kitchener. Fritz Duquesne was a professional spy and an obsessive Anglophobe. Franois Verster pieces together the life story of a South African whom history has unfortunately largely ignored. Duquesne the “ordinary” man was, according to one of this documentary’s interviewees (who are almost as interesting as Duquesne himself), both “a hero to all women” and responsible for Kitchener’s death.
My African Mother. Winner of the Avanti for best documentary, Cathy Winter combines interviews with old still photograph montages and Super 8 footage to explore the relationships between a generation of white South Africans and their black childhood “nannies”. The film exudes contemporary South Africans’ bittersweet awareness of the fact that their most personal histories are inextricably enmeshed with broader historical realities.
JG Strijdom is Very, Very Dead. Pule Diphare’s film also presents a highly personal, individualized view of the past and how it affects the present. During the course of what is edited into a single day on Pretoria’s Strijdom Square, Diphare interviews people who currently make their living there, creating a survey of contradictory opinions and feelings (including his own) about a place still so symbolically weighted with the horrors of apartheid.
The Fight. In Eddie Edwards’s accomplished film he creates real-life drama out of young boxer Andile Tshongolo’s preparations for, and experience of, his fight for the Western Cape Middleweight Boxing title. Superbly filmed and edited, this documentary is proof that dramatic tension is all in the details.