A record 22 fiction feature films and documentaries projects in development from around Africa have been selected for the 8th edition of the Durban FilmMart (DFM) which takes place in Durban, South Africa from July 14 to 17, 2017.
A joint program of the eThekwini Municipality’s film industry development unit, the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival (
DIFF), the DFM aims to showcase and increase awareness of African cinema through stimulating film production on the continent by encouraging collaborations amongst African filmmakers.
The projects this year have been selected from across Africa, including Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Benin, DRC, Namibia, Somalia, Mozambique and South Africa.
“We are more than delighted with this year’s submissions and selection of projects,” says Toni Monty, Head of the DFO. “We have a range of countries represented as well as an interesting selection of topics and themes, which we are sure will engage and pique the interest of the visiting experts and peers. With 12 feature films and 10 documentaries, this promises to be a bumper edition and we look forward to welcoming and engaging with the film-makers on these projects in the hope that the DFM will act as a facilitator and catalyst for the further development of these films.”
“Ultimately the proof is when we see the projects come to life and get produced, distributed and screened,” Monty goes on to say. “Many of the projects selected from the DFM go on to be granted further opportunities to develop at other markets and incubators around the world. We have seen them doing well at festivals or picking up good distribution deals for cinema release. In the past we have seen many of these projects come to life and premiere at the Durban International Film Festival – a wonderful testimony to the value of the Durban FilmMart.”
The DFM provides a platform for African filmmakers, industry professionals, broadcasters and potential financiers, to come connect, network and engage in important conversations around projects. Over the years it has become an important networking space for film-makers and a solid springboard for new thinking and collaboration between African and other international film-makers.
The selected fiction and documentary film-makers will attend the DFM and will be meeting one-on-one with possible co-producers and financiers in the Finance Forum. They will also pitch their work to a panel of commissioning editors from local and international funders and financiers, and meet and network with a wide range of industry experts and possible collaborators during the four-day event.
Fiction
An African Tale (Kenya) – produced by Shirleen Wangar and directed by Gilbert Lukalia
Border (Benin) – produced by Idrissou Mora Kpai and directed by Arouna Sacca Mora Kpai
Borderlines (South Africa) – produced Kim Williams and Paul Egan and directed by Meg Rickards
Dabulaphu (Short Cut) (South Africa) – produced Kethiwe Ngcobo and David Max Brown and directed by Norman Maake
Matigari (Congo) – produced by Dilima Luzuko, Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda, Fidelis Duker, Cathy Muigai and directed by Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda
Miles from Nowhere (South Africa) – produced by Bongiwe Selane and directed by Samantha Nel
Rainbows Don’t Last Long (Egypt) – produced by Halina Dyrschka and directed by Mayye Zayed
Richard was Here (South Africa) – produced by Akona Matyila and Jack Chiang and directed by Akona Matyila
The Girl from Wereldend (Namibia) – produced by Dylan Voogt and directed by Jana Brückner
The Lotus (South Africa) – produced by Bonita Sithebe and directed by Philani Sithebe
The Sovereign (South Africa) – produced by Gary King, Cait Pansegrouw and Elias Ribeiro and directed by Wim Steytler
The Woods (South Africa) – produced and directed by Kofi Zwane
Documentaries
As I Want (Zay Mana Aiyza) (Egypt) – produced by Karim El Hakim and directed by Samaher Alqadi
Behind Closed Doors (Morocco) – produced by Cyriac Auriol, Hind Saih, Karoline Henkel and directed by Yakhout Elhabibi
Better Sundays (Kenya) – produced by Kelvin Kimathi and directed by Lydia Matata
Desterrados (Mozambique) – produced by Fabio Ribeiro and directed by Yara Costa
Encore (
working title) (South Africa) – produced by Liesel Priem, Jolynn Minnaar and directed by Jessie Zinn and Jethro Westraad
Lobola, A Bride’s True Price (South Africa) – produced by Sarah Basyouny and directed by Sihle Hlophe
Rajada Dalka (Nation’s Hope) (Somalia) – produced by Andy Jones, Cynthia Kane, and Lyric R Cabraland directed by Hana Mire
Softie (Kenya) – produced by Matrid Nyagah and Linda Ogeda and directed by Soko Sam
Working Womxn (South Africa) – produced by Tiny Mungwe and directed by Shanelle Jewnarain
Y Revolution (South Africa) – produced and directed by Suzanne du Toit
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The South African film The Wound (Inxeba) has won the Best Film Award in the International New Talent Competition, at the 2017 Taipei Film Festival ahead of its African premiere at the Durban International Film Festival on July 14.
The film, the first feature from writer-director John Trengove, stars musician and novelist Nakhane Touré as Xolani, a lonely factory worker who joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), a defiant initiate from the city, discovers his mentor’s secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel.
The Wound which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and later opened Berlinale Panorama went on to win a string of awards.
At Cinema Jove, the Valencia International Film Festival, The Wound was awarded the Luna de Valencia for Best Feature Film, as well as the Best Actor Award for Nakhane Touré.
At one of the world’s longest-running film festivals, the Sydney Film Festival, The Wound won the Audience Award for Best Feature.
At the 41st Frameline, San Francisco’s international film festival, held from 15 to 25 June and where 147 films were screened, The Wound won the First Feature Award.
Shortly before that, it was awarded the prize for Best Feature Film at the 32nd Lovers Film Festival, an LGBTQI festival held in Turin, Italy.
In April, the film received the Jury Prize for Best Narrative at the 19th annual Sarasota Film Festival in Florida, in the US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubSlj-G4P6I
SUMMER 1993[/caption]
The ten films 
Footnotes[/caption]
The French musical comedy Footnotes directed by Paul Calori and Kostia Testut will open in New York on Friday, July 14th at the Village East Cinema with a national release to follow.
Inspired by the films of Jacques Demy and Stanley Donen,Footnotes is a whimsical and original musical comedy about Julie, a young woman struggling to make ends meet in France’s radically changing economy. Living out of a backpack, Julie spends her days jumping from job to job until she’s finally offered a temporary stockroom position at a women’s luxury shoe factory. After making friends with the boss’s spunky receptionist Sophie and the ever-charming factory truck driver Samy, Julie thinks the hard times are behind her. But Julie’s dreams of stability collapse when management threatens to close down the factory. As her intrepid group of female colleagues get together to go on strike, Samy and the other truck drivers decide to side with the company’s scheming CEO. Julie must choose whether to keep a low profile (and a shot at permanent employment) or to resist and fight back on the picket line.
Footnotes stars Pauline Etienne, Olivier Chantreau, François Morel, Loïc Corbery and Julie Victor; and was an Official Selection of 
After Love[/caption]
The French film, 
False Confession[/caption]
False Confessions, a film directed by Luc Bondy, starring Academy Award nominee Isabelle Huppert (Elle), and Louis Garrel (Mon Roi) will open in New York on July 14 at Lincoln Plaza Cinema and at Angelika Film Centerand; at the Laemmle Royal in LA on July 21. A national release will follow.
Luc Bondy’s final feature film as director draws talent from both stage and screen to bring Marivaux’s play into 21st century Paris. Bondy staged the play and directed the movie at the same time, using the same actors for both productions.
Isabelle Huppert commands the screen as Araminte, the wealthy widow who unwittingly hires the smitten Dorante (Garrel) as her accountant. Secrets and lies accumulate as Dorante and his accomplice, Araminte’s manservant Dubois (Yves Jacques), manipulate not only the good-hearted Araminte, but also her friend and confidante, Marton (Manon Combes). Dorante, by turns pitiable and proficient, but always deferential to his social better, walks a fine line in his quest to arouse an equal desire in the object of his affections. Bulle Ogier delivers a memorable turn as Araminte’s mother, who suspects the young man’s intentions, but wants to push her daughter into the arms of an aged, hard-up Count (Jean-Pierre Malo). Filmed in part on-site at the Théâtre de l’Odéon, the film blurs the distinction between stage and screen, offering a new turn on this classic take on the psychology of love.
After Luc Bondy’s death in 2015, his wife Marie-Louise Bischofberger contributed to the completion ofFalse Confessions to achieve her late husband’s vision for the film.
Paulina[/caption]
Santiago Mitre’s award winning film 
Sameblod – Sami Blood by Amanda Kernell[/caption]
Following premieres at 
Loveless[/caption]
The Russian language film Loveless directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev which is set to premiere In Competition at the 2017 
Tatara Samurai[/caption]
Following a successful film festival circuit, Eleven Arts will release Yoshinari Nishikori’s award-winning period action-drama Tatara Samurai in the U.S. The film is set to be released in theaters on June 2nd.
Tatara Samurai is the latest feature from visionary director Yoshinari Nishikori, whose films, Konshin and Railways were box office smashes in their native Japan. His latest historic epic stars Sho Aoyagi (Yakuza Apocalypse), pop star Naoki Kobayashi, Akira (Legend Of The Fist), Tomoko Tabata, and Anna Ishii.
Gosuke (Aoyagi), a young villager in Sengoku Period Japan, is trained to be a blacksmith, but forced to become a warrior. After joining the Oda Army to protect his hometown of Tatara, he begins to question whether swords are a viable defense against the new technology of firearms – but soon discovers that his skill as a blacksmith might very well be the most powerful weapon he has to protect his home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxnmlU5FAMM