Grigris, Of Good Report and The Children's Republic among highlights of Africa in Motion 2013
The film festival will also feature a pop-up strand screening films in site-specific locations
For its eighth edition, the Africa in Motion film festival has taken as its theme ‘Twende! Africa on the Move’. Translated as ‘let’s go!’, ‘twende’ is an apt word for an event that covers nine diverse strands, ranging from post-apartheid South Africa to sexual identity. Difficult Love combines both these themes, following internationally celebrated photographer Zanele Muholi in a personal exploration of the challenges facing black lesbians in South Africa. Meanwhile, The Children’s Republic stars Danny Glover in a surreal science-fiction drama that imagines a small state ruled by children in a futuristic postwar continent.
The festival takes place in several venues including the Glasgow Film Theatre, the CCA and Edinburgh’s Filmhouse. Coordinators also hope to reach untapped local communities with a new pop-up strand, named the AiM Nomad Cinema, which screens films in fitting surroundings – including a kids’ film in Edinburgh Zoo and a Hallowe’en horror evening in the city’s Banshee Labyrinth.
If you still can’t make up your mind what to see, Africa in Motion founder and curator Lizelle Bisschoff points cinema-goers towards the twin opening night films in Edinburgh and Glasgow: Grigris, directed by Cannes jury prize-winning Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, and Of Good Report, a controversial South African film about an English teacher’s affair with a pupil.
Africa in Motion Film Festival 2013, various venues, Thu 24 Oct–Sun 3 Nov.