Bushveld Cinema, a welcome addition to this year’s Oppikoppi Festival, features a diverse line-up of music documentaries and provides a preview of movies that will show at the Viza Music Film Festival taking place in Johannesburg later this year.
One of the highlights of the festival is Punk in Africa, fresh from its debut at the Durban International Film Festival. Directed by Keith Jones and Deon Maas, the film takes a look at the history of the local punk scene, from the first multiracial punk bands that formed at the time of the Soweto uprising and the militant anti-apartheid hardcore and post-punk bands of the 1980s to the rise of celebratory African-inspired ska bands that sprang up from Cape Town to Maputo in the fresh democratic era of the 1990s.
The film focuses on punk in its truest form — music that is made in response to a status quo that needs to change — and should give festival-goers who are excited about pop punkers Sum41, which are headlining Oppikoppi, pause for thought.
For those who prefer to have their documentary viewing fit nicely alongside the bands making an appearance at the festival, there are two films that fit the bill. Francois van Coke may be appearing on stage only with his Kartel this year, but he features in Bellville Rock City with other members of his various bands.
The short film looks at the small, interconnected (some might say incestuous) and hyperproductive Bellville rock scene, which seems to have produced more than its fair share of young musicians in the past few years. Fokofpolisiekar, Springbok Nude Girls, Foto na Dans, aKING, Jax Panik, K.O.B.U.S!, Van Coke Kartel, New Holland, Ashtray Electric, Thieve, Lukraaketaar, Tatum and Die Heuwels Fantasties — all have their roots in “CY”.
Or, as Chris Roper wrote in his review when the film was released: “The work is a vainglorious, but essential mythologisation of the music scene in Bellville that produced the likes of Fokofpolisiekar, aKING and Van Coke Kartel. This is more than just a history, it’s also a tale of youthful suburban aspiration and a homage to a scene and period that speaks to a certain moment in the new South Africa.”
Francois van Coke also features in Fokofpolisiekar: Forgive Them for They Know Not What They Do. The film will be a reminder of that season, in 2003, when a young Afrikaans punk band, with a name that conservative Afrikaans newspapers were reluctant to print, embraced the taal while simultaneously attacking the staid symbols of its cultural heritage.
In fact, the often subversive nature of Afrikaans rock is a theme running throughout the films selected for the festival. Those unconvinced by the current breed of young Afrikaans bands may be interested in Voëlvry, the Movie, which explores the cultural climate that produced artists such as Koos Kombuis and Johannes Kerkorrel. The other highly recommended film on the festival is James Phillips: Famous for Not Being Famous (see Documentaries that rock the foundations), an insider’s view directed by the late musician’s long-term collaborator, Lloyd Ross.
Festival organiser Bill Botes says that although some visitors to Oppikoppi go for the party, there is still a focus on local music and “music is what the festival has always been about”.
He says the main criteria for selection was that the works “had to be great and also South African”.
Not all the movies are new releases and Botes says the older ones, like the James Phillips and Voëlvry documentaries, were selected for their historical significance because those people and movements were a huge part of why a festival like this even exists.
Botes says that he is organising an international festival of music documentaries, the Viza festival, due to take place in Johannesburg in October, to which he intends to recruit a substantial number of international works.
The plan is to “have a mini music documentary-making competition and to host workshops with some of the acclaimed directors attending. We’ve partnered with MusicFilmWeb.com, the world’s first (and foremost) music documentary hub, which has helped us secure some incredible titles across myriad genres.”
These include Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, Anvil: The Story of Anvil and Lloyd Ross’s documentary about Cape Malay choirs titled The Silver Fez.
The Mail & Guardian is a media partner of this year’s Bushveld Cinema and you can view trailers and read more information at mg.co.za/bushveldcinema
Click here for more from Oppikoppi and the Bushveld Cinema festival 