I have just finished reading Summertime by JM Coetzee, which I found extraordinary. I find what he is doing fascinating, creating this alternate idea of himself as seen from the perspective of observers. I think it is incredibly brave. Immediately before Summertime I read Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year. I am not sure if it works completely, but I found the structure of it really daring. So I am very much rediscovering Coetzee at the moment.
To an extent, everyone must identify with Coetzee — he is just so brutally honest. What he does goes well beyond self-deprecation, I think. And what I find fascinating is the artist baring his deepest, darkest fears. For my all-time best read, though, I go back to Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children every few years and I still find it compelling.
I get my literature in bookshops and off the internet, although I buy less and less in South Africa now because I seem to get better deals elsewhere.
If I travel to India I get about 30 to 40 books there because they are so cheap. I got Summertime in hardcover in India before it was released here.
I travel to loads of places. I go to India sometimes on holiday and sometimes for work. I travel extensively to festivals to see new films, to select for the Durban International Film festival or for the Dubai International Film Festival. At most I spend three to four months away in the course of a year. I enjoy India a lot. I find it fascinating. I went to New Delhi for the first time in December and I found it surprisingly hip — the restaurants and the clubs are great. There’s great shopping and it is a very cultural city.
Otherwise I don’t travel around generally. I will usually go to one or two places — this year, for instance I will go to Kerala and Delhi.
I watch close to 1 000 films a year, so in the selection process for the Durban festival alone I have probably seen about 500 films.
It is hard to pick one great movie from this year’s festival but we are all very excited about Khalo Matabane’s movie State of Violence, which is the opening film. We have had a long relationship with Matabane as a festival and we are happy to be presenting the world premiere of his first feature.
The film functions very effectively as a revenge thriller. It is really exciting but at the same time it makes these subtle comments about our society and the economic divisions that are here. It looks at our violent society and criticises it subtly, without hammering or being pedantic.
To name an all-time favourite filmmaker is difficult but the films I go back to often are those by Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman and Satyajit Ray.
What they did in the 1950s and 1960s is being mimicked now. Their influence is vast and at this year’s festival we are doing a Bergman spotlight. More contemporary filmmakers I am fond of include Takeshi Kitano — and he is not so subtle.
Essentially, my favourite music is indie, or what used to be called alternative. Morrisey and The Smiths still dominate my listening after all these years. I listen to Rufus Wainwright, the harpist Joanna Newsom, The National, Arcade Fire, The XX and PJ Harvey, with whom I have had a long listening relationship.
I am also listening to lots of Qawwali music [Islamic devotional chants] at the moment. I’m finding it extremely calming at a stressful time.
My favourite place in Durban has got to be Café 1999. I eat there fairly often. It is a great restaurant and they have been doing exciting food for a long time now. It’s near my office, and near my apartment, so it is very convenient.
On a Saturday night I will probably go out for drinks to Bean Bag Bohemia, which still goes after all these years and is still a reliable place to hang out.
Durban is cool, but it helps that I get to go to other cities in the course of a year. I go to Berlin every year, and sometimes I get to go to Tokyo or New York. Durban is great, but one has to go to other places, too.
Nashen Moodley is the manager and programmer of the Durban International Film Festival, which runs until August 1. He is also the director, Asia and Africa, for the Dubai International Film Festival. He spoke to Matthew Krouse