The Future of Female Filmmakers: Bold Voices and New Frontiers at Durban FilmMart 2025
At this year’s Durban FilmMart, the panel “The Future of Female Filmmakers: Trends and Opportunities” brought together dynamic voices shaping the next chapter of African cinema: moderator Noluthando Mnguni, and panelists Avuzwa Ntshongwana and Natalie Paneng. Going into the session, many expected a conversation centered on the opportunities available to women in the film industry; […]
My Father’s Shadow – A Conversation with Funmbi Ogunbanwo
Historic Firsts and Telling African Stories Globally At this year’s Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), the African premiere of My Father’s Shadow marked a poignant moment—not just for the film, but for African cinema as a whole. Produced by Funmbi Ogunbanwo, the semi-autobiographical film set during Nigeria’s 1993 election crisis has already etched its name […]
Being You – A conversation with Minenhle Luthuli
Director and filmmaker Minenhle Luthuli had her short film, Being You, premiered at 2025 DIFF, a film that deals with real and hard topics in a manner that is relatable and warm, reminding us that we are bigger than the sum of our problems. And that we can be kinder to the person we were […]
A Conversation with producer of God’s Work Sithabile Mkhize
Sithabile Mkhize: Sithabile Mkhize is the producer of the film, God’s Work, and is an iconic figure in Durban, South Africa. She has been involved in multiple influential Durban-based films, such as Dreams of Gomorrah. This is a conversation about what the trajectory of film might look like in Durban and what the trajectory looks […]
A Humorous Look at Elderly Living | The Home review
By: Tshi Malatji The Home is an old-age home in Cape Town. But this film is not as simple as that. Some of the characters refer to the Home as “just like any village” given the various communities present. There are clubs for bowls, knitting, gossip and art. One character states, “this place is like […]
Patriarchy’s Cruelty and a Girl’s Resistance | Nawi Review
By: Tshi Malatji Nawi: Dear Future Me is a haunting film about the devastating effects of child brides in Kenya’s arid and drought-stricken Turkana region, where water is scarce and harmful cultural practices, which have been outlawed, are still practiced. The main character, Nawi, is a fierce 13-year-old girl raised under strict traditional gender roles […]
Narrating Nigeria’s Fleeting Futility | My Father’s Shadow Review
By: Tshi Malatji Folarin is the nonattendant father to two boys, Aki and Remi, who have developed different personalities and boyhood as a response to Fola’s absence. My Father’s Shadow is a film that spotlights their off-chance one-day voyage from a Nigerian village (where Folarin’s wife and children live) to Lagos so that Folarin can […]
The Funny Side of Beauty | Lucky Fish Review
By: Tshi Malatji Lucky Fish is a Milquetoast comedy set in Phoenix, Durban about Sanjay and Samantha Pillay, a pair of siblings who have a lofty goal to organise a beauty contest for their family business, Pillay Pilchards. These two characters have different motivations and skills for the task. Sam brings most of the moral […]
Ancestral Visions of the Future: Lemohang Mosese’s sacred docufiction
By Tshi Malatji Ancestral Visions of the Future is a meditative and deeply poetic work that transcends conventional storytelling, blending autobiography, ethnography, documentary and myth into a singular cinematic experience. Lemohang Mosese crafts a film that is as much about memory and displacement as it is about the act of seeing—of truly witnessing a people, […]
When the Body Becomes Scripture: Inside Danse Macabre
By Alice Johnson In Danse Macabre, the body becomes scripture. Drawing on Carl Jung’s analytical psychology, Yoruba cosmology, and fragments of global performance history, the film is a visual experiment and calls to be witnessed by all. It is a hybrid of poetry, dance, archival sound, and ritual, this is cinema as séance, unfolding less […]