Cape Town – The who's who of the local film industry will descend on the Mother City for the seventh annual Silwerskerm Film Festival this week.
The festival will run from Wednesday, 23 until Saturday, 26 August at the Bay Hotel in Camps Bay.
On the program this year are 65 films – six feature films will have their premiere at the festival.
This year there will be 10 short films as well as 11 short-short films that are each 12 minutes long. (Read more here)
The critically acclaimed The Wound and Akim Omotoso's Vaya which opened the New York African Film Festival will also be screened.
Documentaries Strike A Rock and Winnie, which focuses on the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is also on the line-up.
Here are the six feature films that will premiere at the festival.
1. Wonderlus
This is the first full length feature for director Johan Cronje. A wedding ends in shambles and the next morning a group of friends and enemies have to piece together what happened the previous night. It stars Mila Guy, Edwin van der Walt, Beer Adriaanse, Simone Nortmann, Lynelle Kenned and Stiaan Smith.
Watch the trailer here:
2. Vuil Wasgoed
In 2014 the film won best short film at the Silwerskerm Festival. Written by Bouwer Bosch and Bennie Fourie the film follows two laundromat workers who discover a chopped off finger in a client's suit.
Watch the trailer here:
3. Liewe Kersfeesvader
Written and directed by Etienne Fourie (Die Windpomp, Dis Koue Kos, Skat), the film tells the story of a young beauty queen who is forced into adulthood when her dad takes on a new identity, that of Father Christmas.
Watch the trailer here:
4. Meerkat Maantuig
After her father’s sudden death, Gideonette de la Rey, a fearful young hypochondriac with an overactive imagination, descends into darkness as she realises that she’s the only one left with a cursed family name. With the help of her new friend Bhubesi and his make-shift moonship, she’ll have to find the inner strength to face her fears in order to break the curse.
Watch the trailer here:
5. Raaiselkind
Based on the novel by Annelie Botes, a nine year old autistic boy is found dead in the bath tub. His mother, Ingrid, who spent her life caring for him and loved him dearly, is being investigated for murder.
Watch the trailer here:
6. Vaselinetjie
The film tells the story of Helena ‘Vaselinetjie’ Bosman, a white girl raised by her loving coloured grandparents in a remote rural village in the Northern Cape, South Africa. However, upon learning that Vaselinetjie is not their biological grandchild, the welfare intervenes and decides to send Vaselinetjie to a state orphanage.
Watch the trailer here: