Filmfest: Khayelitsha features in Gary Hustwit's <em>Urbanized</em>
It now also hosts a two-week film festival, two spectacular nights of musical revelry featuring stellar line-ups of local and international acts, a 'pitch to fix the world', a live simulcast of the conference across three cities and an array of social events.
Designers on Screen
As part of the preamble to the week of creative exchange that is Design Indaba 2012, the filmfest has once again been whetting Cape Town audiences' appetites with a sterling selection of design premieres.
Held at Cape Town's oldest indie cinema, the Labia on Orange, two inspiring design films are screened each night of the film festival at just R30 a ticket, offering moviegoers an accessible, inexpensive taste of the Design Indaba experience.
Among 17 other films is the much-anticipated final instalment in the Gary Hustwit design trilogy, Urbanized. Other films in the lineup document great creative leaders such as cinematographer Jack Cardiff, architect Sir Norman Foster, furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld, singer-songwriter Harry Belafonte, fashion photographer Bill Cunningham and graphic designer Marian Bantjes. The festival closes with the African premiere of the latest film by Werner Herzog, The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, in a 3D screening at the V&A Waterfront Nu Metro cinema on the final day of Design Indaba.
Design Indaba FilmFest runs from February 19 to March 4. Tickets are available from Computicket and at the Labia on Orange, 68 Orange Street, Cape Town.
For more information on the film line-up go to designindaba.com/filmfest
Search for the perfect pitch
On February 29 from 6.30pm until 11pm Design Indaba teams up with United States-based collaborative brand COMMON to present a unique, inspiring event called COMMON Pitch: South Africa.
COMMON Pitch is essentially a competition for start-ups whose mission it is to help to make the world a better place. After a rigorous entry process for this inaugural South African edition, the top 10 candidates from around the world have been selected. These aspirant social entrepreneurs will present their pitches for change at a premier event at the Cape Town City Hall as part of Design Indaba.
For R150 a ticket, members of the public will witness proponents of the world's brightest innovation ideas competing live on stage for a grand prize of R200 000. Incorporating live critiques from a panel of highly respected judges, the winner will be announced on the night.
After the event, the winner will use the prize money to implement their idea for social change, supported by the mentorship of experienced entrepreneurs.
The event itself is also a social affair, proudly sponsored by Woolworths and MTN. Attendees will be able to buy from the best independent producers at a top-notch artisan food market and enjoy a live music set by Coda, the Cape Town fourpiece ensemble that combines electric strings with Afro-jazz sax and melodious vocals.
Tickets are available at the Design Indaba Conference registration desk at the CTICC on the day of the event, from 9am until 4pm. The entry fee includes hearty finger food and a welcome glass ofwine to fuel the party spirit. Prepare to cheer for your favourite entrepreneur.
Pump up the volume
This year's annual official Design Indaba party, to be held at the Cape Town City Hall on March 1, will bring together some of South Africa's favourite local acts, including Tumi and the Volume, a Jozi hip-hop act comprising MC and poet Tumi Molekane, bassist Dave Bergman and 340ml members Tiago Paulo and Paulo Chibanga; renowned KwaZulu-Natal-born "indietronica" artist Felix Laband; and Mr Sakitumi and the Grrrl, the husband-and-wife multimedia, multi-instrumental extravaganza comprising live stage performer and producer Sean ou Tim – of Max Normal and Lark fame – and his VJ collaborator, Inka Kendzia.
Other artists in the line-up are deep-house act C.9ine, indie DJ Tommy Gun, dance DJ collective Digital Rockit, techno artist Floyd Lavine and deep- electronic DJ Lady M.
Tickets are R100 and and young designers simulcast delegates have complimentary access to the Design Indaba party
The sounds of Sónar
For the first time in 2012, Design Indaba is pleased to welcome the Barcelona-based Sónar music festival to Cape Town. In a one-night "lite" version of the festival, held in association with MTN, A Taste of Sónar will take over Cape Town City Hall on March 2 from 7pm until 4am.
The Sónar music festival has grown to be one of the highlights on the European music festival calendar. Known officially as a festival for advanced music and multimedia art, Sónar's reputation is based largely on its prominence on the electronic music scene.
A Taste of Sónar, which is open to the public at R250 a ticket, features an exceptional blend of iconic, international music pioneers. Modeselektor, a key figure on the contemporary global electronic scene, will be performing, as well as world-class tastemakers Brodinski and avant-garde audiovisual experimenters Byetone.
The homegrown heroes offer a similar outlook, with Fletcher adding the history, BLK JKS bringing the global reputation, Das Kapital flying the pioneer flag sky high and Killer Robot being the local embodiment of the headspace and ethos of Sónar. Red Bull Music Academy will also be making sonic waves on a second dance floor, featuring an equally electrifying line-up.
SónarCinema will add to the audio-visual mix, screening films that illuminate the interplay between motion graphics and sound.
The programme includes Finisterrae, Colour Projections, PressPause- Play and SYGNOK and the War for Radical Computer Music.
Tickets are available through Computicket and on site at the Cape Town City Hall. Access to the event is not included with Design Indaba conference or young designers simulcast tickets
Young designers simulcast
In an endeavour to extend the Design Indaba experience beyond Cape Town's borders, Design Indaba's young designers simulcast has set up three venues to screen a live broadcast of the conference.
Launched as an affordable option for young designers and professionals to access the conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the young designers simulcast is now also being held at the University of Johannesburg's Arts Centre in Johannesburg and, for the first time, at the Suncoast Conference Centre in Durban. The Cape Town young designers simulcast is open only to under-25s until the main conference sells out and costs R1 370 for them and R1 560 for those over 25. Johannesburg and Durban tickets allow delegates of all ages. The entry fee for the Cape Town simulcast are also gives access to the Design Indaba expo, filmfest and the official party. Johannesburg and Durban simulcast tickets are R950 each or R1 600 for a set of two.
The young designers simulcast runs simultaneously to the Design Indaba conference, from February 29 until March 2. Bookings can be made through Computicket