Free special events programme at the European Film Festival in South Africa

Special events programme at the European Film Festival in South Africa

A programme of free special events and filmmaker engagements will augment the European Film Festival which kicks off its 2020 edition on 12 November with free online screenings of new European films.  

To enrich the viewer experience a number of pre-recorded Q&A sessions with the directors will be available immediately after the screening of certain films.   In addition, a series of live online discussions will keep the conversations flowing during the festival footprint. “We live in a new world of COVID protocols so the pre-recorded interviews and online engagements are a good way to maintain the connection to the filmmakers, hear about the filmmaking processes, and discuss topical issues,” explains Magdalene Reddy, co-director of the festival.

 Online Engagements

To synergise with the new documentary on Greta Thunberg, an online event called Climate Action South Africa – sharpening the spear will focus attention on the climate crisis in this country.  This 6pm discussion on 13 November will feature presentations from Earthlife Africa’s Ulrich Steenkamp on Energy Democracy, Groundwork’s Avena Jacklin on Environment Protection Urgencies, African Climate Alliance’s Ayakha Melithafa on the crucial role of Youth Activism, and the University of Western Cape’s Patrick Bond on the shift from Climate Action to Climate Justice and the ways forward for South Africa.

Using the film Sweat as a starting point the discussion Social Media and Me – who is winning? with director Magnus von Horn and clinical psychologist Dr.Khosi Jiyane will take a prescient look at the impact of social media on individuals and society, and how we manage our actual and virtual realities. Catch it on 16 Nov at 6pm

On Tuesday 17 November (6pm)  Griet Op De Beeck, Flemish author of the award-winning book Kom Hier Dat Ek Jou Kus joins Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevoerden, the directors of Becoming Mona, which is based on the book, to explore the process of Transforming Books to Film. Also participating in this discussion is Oscar-winning Stefan Ruzowitzky whose film Narcissus and Goldmund is an adaption of Hermann Hesse’s legendary novel of the same name.

The following evening (18 November at 6pm) Op De Beeck will discuss her book on the occasion of the launch of its translation into Afrikaans as Kom Hier Dat Ek Jou Soen.

Wednesday 18 November (6pm) also brings Films and Fake News- an unfortunate true story where filmmakers and investigative journalists discuss the use of film in spreading fake news and exposing fake news.  It features Johannes Naber, director of Curveball, and German journalist Holger Stark, in discussion with Diana Neille and Richard Poplak, directors of Influence which has been winning awards around South Africa since its premiere at Sundance earlier this year.

The festival film The 8th focuses on the campaign to repeal the 8th amendment which criminalised abortion in Ireland. Expanding on the issue of reproductive rights in South Africa is a webinar entitled Making the Right to Choice a Reality taking place on Thursday 19 November  (2pm) and featuring leaders of the Irish campaign in discussion with local specialists.

On Friday 20 November (6pm) is the discussion Filming Unspoken Histories – Sylvia Vollenhoven in conversation with Lucas Belvaux. Here the director of Home Front discusses the making of his film with a focus on the uncovering of toxic or buried histories and its impact on societies and individuals.  

Community Centre and school programmes

There will also be a regulated programme of physical events at selected community centres and schools where screenings of the films I am Greta and Sweat will be followed by mediated discussions on the film topics of climate action and social media.  Participating community centres include Isivivana Centre in Khayalitsha, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation Youth Activism programme,  and Windybrow Arts Centre in Johannesburg, Wushwini Arts Centre and the Wilderness Leadership School in Durban.  The Climate Action programme at Isivivana Centre will also include three short films and discussion with local ocean activists, Loyiso Dunga, Faine Loubser and Mogamet Shamier, whose work highlights the wonders of the Cape ocean and the Great African Sea Forest.

For more information about the various special events visit the Events page on www.eurofilmfest.

The European Film Festival 2020 is a partnership project of the Delegation of the European Union to South Africa and 12 other European embassies and cultural agencies in South Africa:  the Embassies of Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Wallonie-Bruxelles International, the French Institute in South Africa, the Goethe-Institut, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the British Council. The festival is organised in cooperation with CineEuropa and coordinated by Creative WorkZone.

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Snakes in the City - have a snake you need rescuing?

Call 063 234 6932 - Greater Durban Area - until 4 November 2020

There is nothing that motivates an adventurous spirit more than being in lockdown for months during the COVID19 pandemic, and passionate reptile-lovers and conservationists Simon and Siouxsie of National Geographic Wild’s globally popular reality series Snakes in the City, are no exception.

Back in South Africa, after returning home to the UK just before international borders closing earlier this year, this dynamic, adrenaline-loving couple hope to soon continue with the filming and are on standby to rescue, remove, or relocate snakes in and around Durban.

“We are loving being back as the Spring rains start to turn the KwaZulu-Natal countryside a gorgeous green, and the weather is warming up, bringing out the incredibly diverse range of snakes,” enthuses Siouxsie. “It was quite difficult for us, with our adrenaline-filled lifestyle, to bunker down for all these months, but we are very blessed to have got through it, and are over the moon about starting the filming process again.” 

“We look forward to meeting the many different people in and around Durban, many of whom, have a fear of snakes, and have no idea what to do when encountering them,” says Simon. “Filming our rescues, removals, and relocations, enables us to educate people about snakes, and that they are a vital part of the eco-system and, for the most part, are harmless. It truly heartens us when we manage to convince a person that killing a snake is not an option and that they are not as terrifying as they think.”

The series, which reaches a global audience, is produced by local production house Earth Touch, will be filmed using strict SA government COVID-19 guidelines and regulations. “We have developed a best practice and protocol plan that the whole crew and cast have been thoroughly briefed on, to make filming safe for the team, as well as the members of the public with whom they will come into contact whilst filings,” explains Graeme Duane, Creative Director: Earth Touch. 

Simon and Siouxsie are available to attend to a snake that needs to be rescued, removed or relocated, from properties of people living in the greater Durban area, including as far south as Illovo Beach, inland to Botha’s Hill, and north to Tongaat. There is no charge for a call out, and depending on the circumstances, the caller may (with permission of course) end up on the international reality TV series. 

The number to call is 063 234 6932.

A Wilderness Park for People to Connect to the Planet - a project of Green Corridors

It’s been a long tough road for many people, during the Covid-19 lockdown levels and now as people are beginning to move more freely, community spaces are looking forward to welcoming visitors who are eager to be outdoors once more to enjoy fresh air and recreation after many months of indoor isolation.

The Inanda Wilderness Park, in Durban, an initiative of Green Corridors, is one such inclusive public safe space that offers myriad appropriate activities and educational programmes to entice people to venture outside and enjoy being in nature.

Inspired by Kinderwildnis (“children’s parks”) in Durban’s sister city, Bremen in Germany, and under the management of Green Corridors, the Park offers an authentic natural experience for urban dwellers of all ages. Situated on Inanda Seminary’s environmentally restricted open space, which was previously home to criminal activities, and illegal dumping, it now boasts a thriving ecosystem with indigenous plants, insects, and birds. The area was cleared of alien plants, rubbish was removed, and a pond and open spaces were created; a jungle gym and an obstacle course were constructed and ablutions and a kitchen were built.

Last year, formal programmes for the elderly and learners were initiated, and slowly the team at the Park, with strict protocols in place will begin allowing small groups under supervision to start outdoor activities once more.  

Green Corridors in collaboration with the Occupational Therapy Department from UKZN Westville, has established regular visits to the site by final year students, and they are now utilising occupational therapy as the intervention to promote health and well-being with the elderly and school children. Six full-time site assistants maintain the park, and three youth mentors implement the programmes.

They are involved in promoting health, wellness, and community-based rehabilitation. An enthusiastic qualified Occupational Therapist (OT), Danielle Le Brasse, is employed as the site manager for this project to manage and plan therapeutic nature-based programmes. 

“I am passionate about making a difference in people’s lives,” enthuses Danielle. “I am passionate about physical and paediatric intervention and community-based rehabilitation as well as investigating how our South African history has shaped our township communities and the role I could play in improving quality of life. I love working here at the Wilderness Park as it provides me with the platform to put these passions to work and see positive results.” 

Pre-lockdown, the park had on average about 400 visitors per month comprising school groups, elderly groups, and individual sessions with people with impairments: physical disabilities, stroke victims, amputees, children with learning difficulties, and developmental delays. 

COVID stalled the programmes which will be getting back on track soon: there is a designated area for the elderly at the park, with seating made from donated pallets. The students and OT trained the youth mentors on how to work with the elderly, health-related precautions, and how to implement a dance exercise programme which runs every Wednesday at 10:00 with 15 elderly clients from the nearby old age home. 

Together with the regular elderly folk, risen wheelchair friendly garden beds were created from wooden pallets. These “clients” can join the exercise class or do some gardening. They are encouraged to take care of the garden, and all harvested vegetables are gifted to the old age home where they live. 

There is an ongoing early childhood development programme conducted with two creches within proximity to the Inanda Wilderness Park where the OTs and mentors work side by side with the teachers, as well as a body movement programme implemented with two near-by primary schools and one high school, run by the park’s sports coach and mentors. Coming out of this programme, teachers requested that the park form an athletics group - which was in the process of being developed before the lockdown began.

Once the schedule of park programmes is fully back on track, there are plans to expand the vegetable garden and food security learnings; mental health through nature programmes; gender-based violence support groups; art through nature; stress management, upcycling projects; environmental education; and relaxation therapy. 

 The park is a pilot project, and Green Corridors aims to expand this model to other areas around Durban alongside the many Green Spaces Projects already in existence.

Green Corridors welcomes volunteers to work within its many programmes which aim to connect people to their natural environment and in doing so thrive. To become involved email danielle@durbangreencorridor.co.za .

For more information go to www.greencorridors.co.za

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JOMBA! Goes Digital and Global ! 25 August - 6 September 2020

The Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal)

presents

22nd (DIGITAL) JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

25 August - 6 September 2020

South Africa’s benchmark dance festival, the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, presented by the Centre for Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal, celebrates its 22nd year with its first-ever digital edition, which will go online, and be available free to a global audience from 25 August to 6 September 2020.

“It is clear that we will not be able to deliver a festival in the same manner as previous years,” explains Artistic Director Dr Lliane Loots. “COVID-19 has shifted the arts world very significantly and in this fragile environment, dance - still defined as a full-contact ‘sport’ – remains separated from rehearsal spaces, from theatre venues, and various sites. The somatic, visceral body is absent right now we believe - as a holding block for future embodied work – that they can still offer dance-makers, dance-lovers, and audiences space to engage serious, beautiful, and important new dance making via a re-visioned JOMBA! 2020.”

This year’s JOMBA! is a carefully curated explosion of dance and conversions about dance-making, offering both a look back at some iconic dance works and dance makers, but it also significantly looks forward to exploring what dance can be in a digital space and a digital time. 

2020 JOMBA! offers 7 vibrant platforms for audiences to engage:

The JOMBA! Legacy (celebrating 21years of JOMBA!) programme features nine key dance-makers from all over the globe who have had a significant impact on making JOMBA! the premier contemporary dance festival in Africa. This is a rare opportunity to look back for a moment and to celebrate some of the world’s most iconic dance-makers who have shared their work on JOMBA! stages: From South Africa Gregory Maqoma and Musa Hlatshwayo are featured; dissenting and remarkable Robyn Orlin shares work she has made with Johannesburg- based Moving into Dance Mophatong; Africa’s two most illustrious voices Nigeria’s Adedayo Liadi and Senegal's Germaine Acogny who is often quoted as the ‘Mother of African contemporary dance’ shares an incredible and definitive solo work (“somewhere at the beginning”) danced at the age of 73. And the exquisite feminist artistry of India’s Anita Ratnam is featured in her challenging revision of Indian mythology. 

Long time JOMBA! guests, INTRODANS from The Netherlands, grace the festival with neo-classical work made before lockdown that never quite had a life on stage. In an on-going partnership with the US Consulate, two remarkable American dance companies that have had a huge impact on JOMBA! over the years are also featured; both hailing from Durban’s twin cities of Chicago and New Orleans. Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre from Chicago and Leslie Scott’s New Orleans BODYART Dance Company. 

The JOMBA! Digital Edge has provided grants to nine Durban dance-makers who continue to make waves on the local dance scene, to create short dance films that will premiere on the opening night of the festival, and will be available to view on the JOMBA! website for the duration of the festival.

The dance-makers were asked to work loosely around the theme of “Intimacies of Isolation” and there were interesting differences in modalities of filming, from cell phone to cameras. Feature choreographers are, Jabu Siphika, Kristi-Leigh Gresse, Leagan Peffer, Nomcebisi Moyikwa, Sandile Mkhize, Sifiso Kitsona Khumalo, Tegan Peacock, Tshediso Kabulu, and Zinhle Nzama

Continuing its partnership with the USA, JOMBA! has invited guest US-based curators Lauren Warnecke, Peter Chu, Rachel Miller, and Tara Aisha Willis to put together a collection of “Dance on Screen” films in an inspired and poetic one hour package of short dance films that explore the length and breadth of film dance in the USA. 

The Digital JOMBA! Fringe showcases 18 African-based dance-makers work from an open application process. JOMBA! will award prizes to the top three dance films in this section. 

Four globally significant dance-makers who have embraced digital dance making under lockdown will host a live conversation around their work and what it means to have made this shift in a programme called Conversations…Dance in a Digital Age. Featured choreographers/dancers are Vincent Mantsoe (South Africa/France), Jürg Koch (Switzerland), Themba Mbui (South Africa), and Ongiege Matthew (Kenya). Both Mbuli and Matthew will offer the world premiere of their new ‘lockdown’ dance works on this JOMBA! platform. 

Once again the JOMBA! blog and digital newspaper - JOMBA! KHULUMA - will involve the on-going support of dance writing and dance criticism through a series of closed webinars/seminars for graduate dance students. 

After years of photographing JOMBA, the fest photographer  Val Adamson will share her work in an exhibition - 21 Years of JOMBA! Through The Lens. This not only honours her extraordinary photographic eye, but it is also a moment of visually remembering the festival’s history through her evocative capturing of dance on stage with her Nikon cameras. 

Digital JOMBA! 2020 runs from 25 August to 6 September off the website, jomba.ukzn.ac.za. All platforms for 2020 are free of charge and a full programme is available via the website. 

For more information and updates on the programme visit Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance Company on the vFringe

DESERT FLOWERS

Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance Company on the vFringe

Available until the 31st July 2020 on www.nationalartsfestival.co.za

The Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance company has a special treat in store for lovers of dance and music around the world. We are very excited to join the vFringe programme of the National Arts Festival by presenting a never-before-seen recording of our 2018 performance “Desert Flowers”. Along with being able to watch a world-class performance we also offer the added incentive that by purchasing a ticket you will also help raise funds for our home province of KZN Dance Teachers who have (and will continue to have) their income affected by COVID-19.

“Desert Flowers”, choreographed by Linda Vargas, is a reworking of the much-acclaimed 2004 production of the same name for “Vida Flamenco” the 35 year anniversary celebrations of the Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance Company at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre in July 2018. Featuring special guests: Flatfoot Dance Company, Senta Duffield, Katherine Anderson and Kevin Ellis, it brings together a diverse range of dancers and musicians in a work that particularly locates Flamenco dancing and rhythm within the South African context.  With a compelling score arranged and composed by Demi Fernandez, it also features musicians Neil Gonsalves, Martin Sigamoney and Bryan Stone.

We had been thinking of a way during this global pandemic to help out our friends and colleagues who have had their income affected, and the vFringe of the National Arts Festival is a perfect platform to allow you to watch a recording of a production that we are very proud of and speaks to our current times and at the same contribute to a very worth cause.  Tickets cost only R25 and all proceeds will be distributed to teachers in need in the province.

You can access “Desert Flowers” on the National Arts Festival’s vFringe (as well as the full curated programme) through their website https://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za – vFringe content will be available for the whole month of July. Users will need to register their details and then be able to purchase a ticket through their secure online platform.

“Desert Flowers” acknowledges the sponsorship of the Spanish Embassy of South Africa & The KwaZulu-Natal Performing Arts Trust in supporting the production of “Vida Flamenco” of which “Desert Flowers” was a part of.

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Issued by Wesley Maherry

on behalf of the Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance Company     

maherry@ukzn.ac.za

Artist Biographies:

LINDA VARGAS has performed for SABCTV, the Spanish Embassy in SA, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and been invited numerous times to perform as guest artist globally. She has choreographed various opera productions including, La Traviata and Carmen as well as her critically acclaimed “Desert Flowers” (2004). Recently Linda has explored the fusion of flamenco with Indian, African, Brazilian, Celtic, and Jazz musical genres and has presented numerous productions. She co-founded the international flamenco dance organization Alianza Flamenca in 1996 and is a member of its Board of Directors and Examiners. She facilitates corporate and educational workshops, performs, teaches and examines dance all over the world. Her qualifications include: Enrico Cecchetti Final Diploma: ISTD London (dance performance) and Licentiate Teachers: ISTD London Cecchetti Method (classical dance). She lectured at UKZN for over 8 years and currently lectures social cohesion and diversity at DUT. She is the founder and director of STAMP Dance and her educational workshops and performances at schools promote a better understanding of dance and culture.

DEMI FERNANDEZ is a Flamenco guitar maestro who was born in Brazil to Spanish Parents and spent many years living and performing in Flamenco Tablaos in Spain. He has also appeared as leading flamenco guitarist with numerous South African and international Spanish Dance Companies. He lectures music at UKZN and has composed musical scores for several SABC TV productions and also appeared in numerous productions including “Guitars for Africa” in Durban and at the National Arts Festival.

Dancing in a Digital Space - JOMBA 2020

Media Release

Dancing in a Digital Space

JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience Calls for Fringe Applications

For its 2020 Online Edition

In the wake of the COVID-19 global upheaval and its impact on live performance, the much-loved JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal, calls for Fringe Applications as it announces its move online for its 2020 edition in August/September.

“It is clear that we will not be able to deliver JOMBA! in the same manner as previous years,” says JOMBA’s Artistic Director Lliane Loots. “COVID-19 has shifted the arts world very significantly and we will remain one of the hardest hit sectors both now and even post COVID-19.  But as an artistic entity, which offers a time and space for artists to engage in serious and important new art and dance-making for audiences, we believe we must continue with our work and so have begun planning in an environment of fragile uncertainty for a re-visioned digital JOMBA! 2020. “

Loots goes on to explain, “The idea is to imagine JOMBA! to be a benchmark of what a dance festival could possibly be or become at this zeitgeist in our history. As we began to curate what will be a fascinating programme, we would like to reach out for digital submissions for the JOMBA! Fringe 2020.”

Professional, experimental and up-coming choreographers, dancers and dance companies are invited to apply for participation on the JOMBA! Digital Fringe platform.

As JOMBA! is a contemporary dance festival, works that are located within the broad spectrum of contemporary dance will be considered, and preference will be given to South African and African submissions. 

For the JOMBA! Digital Fringe, works that are specifically conceived, and created for film and for a  digital platfom, and that develop interesting dynamics between dance and screen/digital/film disciplines will be considered.

A panel of experts (local and international) will adjudicate the works presented as part of the JOMBA! Digital Fringe, and our “Pick-of-the-Fringe” works will be announced publically.   

Application forms which outline all the submission criteria can be requested via e-mail from jombafestival@gmail.com with the subject line “Request for 2020 JOMBA fringe application form .

Applications close at 4pm on Friday 10 July 2020.

Flatfoot dance Company presents - Seeing Red

Media Release

FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY presents BUSY SEEING RED

KZNSA GALLERY: 21 February 2020 @ 6.30pm

Durban’s Flatfoot Dance Company celebrates its 17th anniversary this year as one of South Africa’s leading contemporary dance companies with a new dance theatre work, Busy Seeing Red at the KZNSA Gallery on Friday 21 February.

With an international touring reputation for excellence and a host of national awards under its belt, Flatfoot’s arrival at this momentous 17th mark is a testament to a dedicated team of dancers and administrators.

In keeping with its reputation of creating and performing edgy, controversial, beautiful and intelligent dance, Flatfoot partners with the KZNSA Gallery to offer a site responsive dance work that ask the audience to engage all the different space of the gallery. In a fluid display of exquisite technical training, Flatfoot’s 7 resident dancers dive heart first into the inner politics of ‘seeing red’. Asking questions that are on all of our lips as South Africans, Busy Seeing Red, negotiates the personal politics of anger. From exploring remembrances of colonial race and current gender violence, this dance theatre work offers a surprisingly gentle embodied encounter with dance that will leave audiences breathless.

Embracing a collaborative creative process of making this performance, the three senior Flatfoot dancers (Sifiso Khumalo, Jabu Siphika and Zinhle Nzama) have jointly collaborated in the choreography with Artistic Director of Flatfoot, Lliane Loots. “As a dance maker I am increasingly interested in the power of multiple voices to tell stories and what better way than to encourage the profound dance voices of the senior Flatfoot dancers to bring their vison to this work”, says Loots. She continues, “it is and has been a remarkable journey making this collaborative dance work and seeing what we share and where we differ as South Africans – I remain deeply humbled by the power of our dance/art to allow dialogue – especially at a time in history when there is so much rage and anger”. 

Also featured in Busy Seeing Red is Flatfoot junior company dancer, Mthoko Mkhwanazi stepping into his first professional choreographic role in the company. “Seeing this young Flatfoot dancer in the role of choreographer in this work is a testament to not only his own talent and drive, but to the nurturing role that Flatfoot had played in offering this space to our up and coming practitioners”, says Loots.

Dancing in Busy Seeing Red are; Sifiso Khumalo, Jabu Siphika, Zinhle Nzama, Sbonga Ndlovu, Ndumiso Dube, Siseko Duba, and Mthoko Mkhwanazi. Lighting and sound design by Wesley Maherry and Clare Craighead.

The Busy Seeing Red  will be performed at the KZNSA Gallery is on Friday 21 February at 6.30pm. Tickets cost R60 and seating is limited. Tickets can be pre-booked via flatfootdancecompany@gmail.com or on a first come first serve at the KZNSA Gallery on the night. Door sales and Gallery open from 5.30pm. The KZNSA restaurant and coffee bar will be open for pre/post show meal and drinks.

This dance work will travel onto the Hexagon Theatre in PMB in early May 2020.

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Disconnecting to reconnect. A techno-savvy American communications expert learns to unplug and connect with nature in the South African Wilderness. (Copy)

Disconnecting to reconnect. A techno-savvy American communications expert learns to unplug and connect with nature in the South African Wilderness.

Interview with Bo Wood By Sharlene Versfeld 

“For as long as I can remember, I had never been truly disconnected from technology until going on a Wilderness trail in the Imfolozi Game Reserve, in South Africa last year,” muses Bo Wood, a Communications Director from South Carolina, USA. “To be honest, it took some getting used to. I thought the fruit I was carrying in my pocket was my mobile phone a number of times – that cannot be good, right?”  

Bo who was sent to experience the African Wilderness through the Wilderness Leadership School in Durban, works for Black Knight International, the international company representing the legendary conservationist Dr Ian Player and celebrated SA golfer Gary Player brands. Dr Player was instrumental in ensuring the Imfolozi Wilderness in KZN (amongst many others wilderness initiatives) was set aside as a place for nature to exist without human interference, and he established the globally renowned Wilderness Leadership School that offers trails into the wilderness so that people can be reminded of its value to the human spirit. “When I first started working for Black Knight International, I quickly learned the organization was not just all about Gary Player. Several different entities fill the company’s umbrella, including all the intellectual property of Dr Ian Player. The Wilderness Leadership School is very much a part of Dr Player’s legacy. I went on trail to get a first-hand experience of what he left behind and to understand how we can help going forward,” explains Bo.   The Foundation has started formally archiving Dr Player’s legacy, to ensure there is a consolidated bank for future generations to access. Bo elaborates, “We are thinking big. We want to build on the legacy of one of the world’s most influential environmentalists so his legacy will extend through time and impact our global society years from now. Ambitious, we know.”  

“Going into the Wilderness in Imfolozi is quite daunting,” says Bo. “For five days, you are right there walking in a “Big Five” reserve with elephants, leopards, lions, rhino and buffalo. You sleep under the stars and keep watch alone at night. You carry in all your equipment and food, collect wood, make the fire, clean pots and plates and cutlery with sand, dig a hole to go to bathroom, and wash off in a river. No soap allowed. The idea is for us as humans to connect with nature, as we would have thousands of years ago. To become tuned in to the sounds and sights. To truly have time to think about what we have done to the planet.”   “No doubt I was out of my comfort zone, being from America. But it was more a feeling of excitement. Invigorating. On the other side of the “boundary” – as our guide called it –  escaping and disconnecting from the normal hustle and bustle of everyday life gave me a certain tranquility I had never experienced,” he says.  

Bo says that the trail helped him to recharge. “Even though I was exhausted from the physical burdens of being on trail, my mind came back excited,” he enthuses. “I have come to realize how connected the world is even without our modern technology we rely so heavily on for unnecessary convenience.”   While walking, Bo and fellow trailists came across the carcass of a poached rhino. “Our guides on trail explained how the entire ecosystem is affected if a rhino becomes a victim of poaching. Seeing that carcass lying there really hit that message home for me.”   

Night watch on one’s own for one to two hours, is always a little intimidating for first-timers, but Bo loved it. “I thrived under the responsibility of watching over our group. Some people had done the trail before, but I did not know what to expect. So, for me, developing the right routine was crucial - checking that no dangerous animals were in the proximity of the camp and tending to the fire. But I felt it also was important to take many moments during the watch to give gratitude to mother nature.”   And mother nature delivered for Bo. “There are no tents on trail. You sleep on a flat platform of rock and it was surprisingly easy and comfortable in a way,” he laughs. “Although it does make you more thankful for a mattress and clean sheets.

We named the one camp “Pride Rock” (like in the Lion King) overlooking a river. One afternoon, all of us huddled in the water under the rock’s shade to escape the blistering sun. Mindful that we were in shallow enough water not to be eaten by a crocodile. An elephant appeared out of the bush for a quick afternoon drink. This majestic creature put on a show. He strutted along the bank as we watched in reverence. A moment in time I will never, ever forget.”

The quiet yet driven 31-year-old, says that he was truly humbled and grateful for the experience. “At the end of the trail, as we exited the wilderness, I realized exactly why the Foundation wanted me to do this. It truly is a life-changing experience for the human spirit. By having this experience, I believe that I can now truly play an important part in keeping Dr Player’s legacy alive.”

ends

Note:

As director of communications travels to South Africa to lead the communication efforts for the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player for Black Knight International. His most recent visit was for the November 2019 event as well as the Gary Player Invitational charity golf tournament at Sun City which raised money for the Gary Player Foundation. He went on the Wilderness trail in November 2018.

The Wilderness Leadership School offers 4 night, 5 day trails with experienced guides for individuals and groups (as well as corporates) in various areas aimed at reconnecting humans to nature. For more information contact 031-462 8642 or email info@wildernessleadershipschool.co.za. For more information about Wilderness Trails go to https://www.wildernesstrails.org.za/

(Sharlene Versfeld is a Durban-based nature guide and communications consultant)

Results of Durban North Regional Ashton International College: Sunday 8 March

SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge

Durban North Regional

Ashton International College: Sunday 8 March

Reclaiming the title, Our Lady of Fatima were victorious for the fourth time in the Durban North Regional of the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge at Ashton International College on Sunday 8 March.

In a scorcher of a game, Fatima met Crawford La Lucia in the regional final, their second meeting of the day. In the previous encounter the result went Crawford’s way with a 1 nil victory but in the main game of the day, Fatima dug deep and after a tough encounter were triumphant.

In a fast, flowing game, Crawford La Lucia managed to open their account with a sterling charge in from Laiken Brisset with just over 5 minutes left to play. Brisset wasted no time as she entered the top of the circle and quickly rocketed in her attempt that flew past the keeper. Fatima didn’t let the late score get to them, and pushed hard at the Crawford defence. Their perseverance paid off as Emma Loftstedt found some space in a last gasp surge with just over 90 seconds left of play. She skilfully chipped the ball in, levelling the score at 1 all.

As the time ran out, 3 players from each side lined up for the deciding penalty shoot out. First to go was the 2019 defending champs, Crawford La Lucia – Alison Beck set off. Charging down Beck’s attempt was the young keeper Hannah Donkin, who deflected the ball out of reach. Fatima’s Caitlin Cotterell made a dash goal-wards, steering right and slotting in her shot neatly. In the second round, both Teneal Moriarty from Crawford and Paige Horn from Fatima veered right as they got into the circle and knocked in their strokes. The scoreboard was now 3-2 to Fatima. Brisset set off for the final round, weaving in both directions as she charged towards the goals but Donkin paid attention to the fancy footwork and stifled Brisset’s chance to keep Crawford in the game.

In the bronze medal game, Danville Park Girls’ High met the surprise dynamite package from Curro Mount Richmore. In their first appearance at the Durban North Regional, Curro held strong as Danville pounded down to the Curro goals with five Danville penalty corners being defended by the newcomers. With only a handful of minutes left, a shock shot hit the post and landed in free space in the circle. An alert Tayla Jansen pounced on the opportunity and netted her teams first and only goal, earning a third for Danville.

In the first semi-final, Crawford La Lucia took on Curro Mount Richmore and dominated the game, winning the game 4 nil. In the second semi-final, Danville – who had topped the pool log took on Fatima. Fatima managed to edge ahead with a run down the left, running along the baseline and finding the back of the box in the only goal in their semi. Both teams played superbly with some fierce duels mid-field seeing loads of long passes, plenty of turn-overs and not a lot of chances on either end of the field.

Umpire of the Day went to Danville Park High School’s Christy Gilmour.

Fatima is the third team to have a run at the Grand Finals in the tenth year of the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge. In their three previous Grand Finals appearances, they have earned a respectable fifth place in 2011, 2017 and 2018. They join newcomers Hoërskool Pionier from the Northern KZN Regional and the only team with a 100% record at the epic conclusion of this tournament, Durban Girls’ College will be representing the Durban Central Regional. Next weekend two teams will earn their spots representing the Pietermaritzburg Central and Northern Regionals.

For more info like the tournament’s Facebook page or follow on Instagram.

ENDS

SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge Durban Central Regional Durban Girls’ College: Saturday 7 March

Time for a spot of hockey, the 101st overall tournament in the tenth year of the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge heads to 031 for the Durban Central Regional, hosted by Durban Girls’ College.

Eight teams will take to College’s astro. Split into two pools, Durban Girls College will face Durban Girls’ High School, Inanda Seminary and Ridge Park in Pool A. While Pool B sees St Henry’s School, Maris Stella, the INK team and Port Natal School battle it out.

The duration of the matches will be 20 minutes, with no half time. A win in the pool games will see a team awarded 4 points, a draw with goals 2 points, a goalless draw only 1 point and a loss equating to no points.

A total of 12 pool games will be played, followed by the two semi-finals. Teams who finished fourth in the pool games will then face each other to reveal seventh and eighth places. Third place in the pool games will challenge each other for the positions of fifth and sixth places. In the penultimate game, the losers of both semi-finals will then take to the turf, with the winner earning third spot. And finishing the day off will be the main regional title game featuring the two winners from the semi-finals.

Only one school has been crowned the regional champion in all nine of this area’s tournaments and is the only team in the history of this tournament to have a 100% record at the Grand Finals. Nine times winners, Durban Girls’ College will be keen to continue their outright dominance in this region in the hopes of notching up their tenth overall title.

This will be the second regional this year, with the tournament having travelled to Vryheid last weekend (29 February). The first team to earn a spot at the Grand Finals is Hoërskool Pionier.

The next regional, the Durban North Regional, takes place at the recently launched astro at Ashton International in Ballito the day after the Durban Central Regional, on Sunday 8 March.

For more info, like the tournament’s Facebook page or follow on Instagram.

ENDS

SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge 2020 Dates Announcement

SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge

2020 Dates Announcement

Leaping into its tenth year, and notching up a momentous milestone, the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge’s first tournament of the year significantly tips off its 100th overall tournament.

The first date in this jam-packed, action-filled hockey calendar that travels to ten regions in KwaZulu Natal takes place on the added bonus day this leap year, on Saturday 29 February. Host for this year’s Northern KZN Regional are Pioneer High School. 

The first of four regionals in March heads back to Durban for the Durban Central Regional where Durban Girls’ College will host teams at their astro on Saturday 7 March. The following day, Sunday 8 March, the tournament moves to Ashton International College in Ballito for the Durban North Regional. Ashton welcomes the tournament onto their recently unveiled international-spec astro turf. The fourth and fifth tournaments travels to Hilton where both the Pietermaritzburg Central and Pietermaritzburg North Regionals will take place at St Anne’s College on Saturday 14 March. 

After a short two week break, Kingsway High School will host the Durban South Regional at 3 Schools Trust on Sunday 5 April. Staying south, the tournament hits the road travelling to Matatiele for the Southern KZN Regional where King Edward High School will host teams on Saturday 18 April.

In May, schools from the timber-rich areas gather for the uMvoti, uThukela and uMzinyathi Regional on the astro at Wembley College in Greytown on Saturday 9 May. Back-to-back action takes the tournament to Curro Hillcrest on Sunday 10 May for the Highway Regional. Concluding the regionals, the tenth tournament takes place on the familiar turf at Grantleigh School that hosts teams for the Northern KZN Coastal Regional on Saturday 16 May.

Max Oliva, Managing Director of SPAR KZN said, “SPAR KZN is delighted with the success of this tournament that began in KwaZulu Natal in 2011 quickly became a highlight on the sports calendar; and has since been introduced to a number of our neighbouring provinces.”

“With the upcoming milestone of the 100 overall tournaments next month, we look forward to watching the action unfold and its success in the future. With 2020 being a big year for sports, with the Olympics taking place in Tokyo – we are delighted that our South African hockey teams will feature as well and look forward to seeing how many ladies donning the green and gold in Japan have been a part of our humble journey.”

Mid-July, the top team from each region will represent their school and their regional at the Grand Finals which takes place at St Mary’s D.S.G.. The two day final starts on Saturday 18 July with the pool games and then the cross pool and medal games on Sunday 19 July. 

For more info like the tournament’s Facebook page or follow on Instagram. 

ENDS

FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY presents BUSY SEEING RED KZNSA GALLERY 21 Feb 2020

Media Release

FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY presents BUSY SEEING RED

KZNSA GALLERY: 21 February 2020 @ 6.30pm

Durban’s Flatfoot Dance Company celebrates its 17th anniversary this year as one of South Africa’s leading contemporary dance companies with a new dance theatre work, Busy Seeing Red at the KZNSA Gallery on Friday 21 February.

With an international touring reputation for excellence and a host of national awards under its belt, Flatfoot’s arrival at this momentous 17th mark is a testament to a dedicated team of dancers and administrators.

In keeping with its reputation of creating and performing edgy, controversial, beautiful and intelligent dance, Flatfoot partners with the KZNSA Gallery to offer a site responsive dance work that ask the audience to engage all the different space of the gallery. In a fluid display of exquisite technical training, Flatfoot’s 7 resident dancers dive heart first into the inner politics of ‘seeing red’. Asking questions that are on all of our lips as South Africans, Busy Seeing Red, negotiates the personal politics of anger. From exploring remembrances of colonial race and current gender violence, this dance theatre work offers a surprisingly gentle embodied encounter with dance that will leave audiences breathless.

Embracing a collaborative creative process of making this performance, the three senior Flatfoot dancers (Sifiso Khumalo, Jabu Siphika and Zinhle Nzama) have jointly collaborated in the choreography with Artistic Director of Flatfoot, Lliane Loots. “As a dance maker I am increasingly interested in the power of multiple voices to tell stories and what better way than to encourage the profound dance voices of the senior Flatfoot dancers to bring their vison to this work”, says Loots. She continues, “it is and has been a remarkable journey making this collaborative dance work and seeing what we share and where we differ as South Africans – I remain deeply humbled by the power of our dance/art to allow dialogue – especially at a time in history when there is so much rage and anger”. 

Also featured in Busy Seeing Red is Flatfoot junior company dancer, Mthoko Mkhwanazi stepping into his first professional choreographic role in the company. “Seeing this young Flatfoot dancer in the role of choreographer in this work is a testament to not only his own talent and drive, but to the nurturing role that Flatfoot had played in offering this space to our up and coming practitioners”, says Loots.

Dancing in Busy Seeing Red are; Sifiso Khumalo, Jabu Siphika, Zinhle Nzama, Sbonga Ndlovu, Ndumiso Dube, Siseko Duba, and Mthoko Mkhwanazi. Lighting and sound design by Wesley Maherry and Clare Craighead.

The Busy Seeing Red  will be performed at the KZNSA Gallery is on Friday 21 February at 6.30pm. Tickets cost R60 and seating is limited. Tickets can be pre-booked via flatfootdancecompany@gmail.com or on a first come first serve at the KZNSA Gallery on the night. Door sales and Gallery open from 5.30pm. The KZNSA restaurant and coffee bar will be open for pre/post show meal and drinks.

This dance work will travel onto the Hexagon Theatre in PMB in early May 2020.

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Kingsley Holgate Foundation Expedition Team - Rides High on Sky in New Expedition of Mountain Passes Southern Africa

RIDING HIGH ON SKY

What better place to kick off 2020 and a bright new decade, than from the 3,262m Tlaeeng Summit in Lesotho one of the highest driveable road passes in Africa, all part of a challenging high altitude Land Rover and mountain bike Riding High on Sky Expedition by the Kingsley Holgate Foundation (KHF) Team to tackle 100 of Southern Africa’s highest and toughest mountain passes in just 30 days.

‘It’s another tough challenge for our specially kitted-out Land Rover Discoverys but mountain passes are not new to them,’ explains veteran expedition leader Ross Holgate, who heads up the Foundation. “These are the same Land Rovers that, on a recent Cape Town to Kathmandu expedition, not only completed the high Caucuses mountain passes between Georgia and Russia but also the ancient high-altitude Silk Routes across Armenia and Iran, the famed Khyber Pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Karakoram route to China, said to be one of the highest paved roads in the world.”

As in all their journeys of Discovery, this new Holgate Land Rover odyssey, which began on 2 January 2020, is also linked to humanitarian and conservation work along the way.

One of the colourful expedition members is ‘seven summiteer’ (meaning he’s climbed  the highest peaks in each of the world’s seven continents) “Shova” Mike Nixon, one of the ‘Last Lions' and Land Rover team member of the famed Absa Cape Epic, who will use this journey as high altitude training for the 2020 mountain bike event.

Kingsley Holgate explains that apart from the high passes of the Kingdom of Lesotho and the Eastern Cape (passes with colourful names like Ben Mac Dhui, Ongeluks Nek, Ramatselitso and Baster Voetslaan), the Riding High on Sky expedition will also pay tribute to Thomas Bain, by following in the footsteps of one of South Africa’s greatest road engineers who, starting in 1848, built famous mountain passes with names like Swartberg, Baviaans, Prince Alfred, Bains Kloof and the ‘Seven Passes' road.

The team plan to end their 3000Km mountain pass journey in the north west of the country on a pass aptly named, ‘The Road to Hell', followed by the 7 rugged passes of the Richtersveldt.

For more information follow the team on Facebook.

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Winners of the CLiP STOMP Awards Announced – South Africa

Media Release

Winners of the CLiP STOMP Awards Announced – South Africa

The winners of the inaugural the Commonwealth Litter Programme (CLIP) STOMP Awards were announced at the CLIP Innovation Conference: “STEM the tide of plastic waste in Africa” hosted by the Sustainable Seas Trust in Cape Town on 5 December 2019.

From the 63 entries five winners were selected in five categories: Technology or Technical Design, Product, Adult Inspire through Creativity and Youth Inspire through Creativity, and Special Recognition for Action.

The winning entries were as follows:

The Technology or Technical Design Award went to The Mermaid Tear Catcher, submitted by Clare Swithenbank-Bowman from the KwaZulu-Natal, North Coast A recycled plastic “frisbee” that essentially is used to sieve out nurdles and other small plastics from the sand and facilitates people getting involved in citizen science projects. The judges said that the entry was a “fun, creative community solution to removing plastic waste that could be easily replicated anywhere in the world.”

Finalists in this category were Wildtrust – Pyrolysis Machine from Hilton in KwaZulu-Natal and Games Tangibl, submitted by Jean Greyling from Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape.

The Product Award went to Patch Bamboo Plasters submitted by Dr Milliea Anis. Judges said that it was “an unique, practical and tested product that has been courageously trialed in South Africa, and importantly replaces plastic products that most overlook without thinking twice.”

Finalist in this category also included The Big Scoop SA submitted by Alexis Wellman from Cape Town, Beeswax Wrap submitted by Mica Da Silva from Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal and The Mutea EcoPod submitted by Liam Bulgen from Cape Town , Western Cape.

Luke Rudman’s The 12 Plastic Monsters, a performance art work that uses plastic waste to convey the horror of plastic pollution, won the Adult Inspire through Creativity Category. Judges said that they loved the entry as it was brilliantly creative and driven by a passion for the oceans, citing it as inspiring and unique.

Finalists in this category were The Well Worn Theatre Company submitted by Kyla Davis from Johannesburg  and The SuperScientists Project by Codemakers NPO, submitted by Justin Yarrow from Berea in Durban, KwaZulu Natal. 

The Youth Inspire through Creativity was won by The Oceano Reddentes NPC submitted by twelve year old Jade Bothma from the Western Cape, who started the non-profit that is “Saving the sea one piece of plastic at a time” through education, awareness, and research.”

Finalists in this category were The Future Kids submitted by Rocco Da Silva from the Western Cape and Norman Klutsky Eco-Warrior of the High Seas - Eden College submitted by Jean Van Elden, Berea, Durban KwaZulu-Natal

The Special Recognition Award for Action went to Singakwenza, submitted by Julie Hay from KwaZulu-Natal. Singakwenza, which means ‘we can do it’ in isiZulu, provides low cost, high impact health and early education through empowerment programmes to economically-disadvantaged communities, particularly in rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal.  Much of what they do involves recycling of plastic waste. This entry impressed the judges in terms of showing tangible impacts on both waste and social upliftment.

Finalists in this category were Captain Fanplastic, submitted by Nwabisa Joba from the Western Cape and The Ethekwini Conservancies Forum, submitted by Paolo Candoti from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal 

‘Most of these finalists and some other entrants that very much impressed the judges, attended our CLIP Conference, and were able to present their projects to delegates working and researching in the marine pollution sector,” said Kyle Briggs, Contest Lead from the UK's Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) which leads the CLIP Programme. “It was a really exciting two days of knowledge-sharing and looking at practical solutions to the marine pollution problem which we hope will help contestants develop their ideas further. These creative ideas from the STOMP Awards form part of CLIP’s efforts in finding creative solutions to plastic waste. It sends a clear message that plastic pollution is not only confined to scientists or policy-makers, and that anyone can innovate. Together people from all walks of life can find tangible solutions that have real impact. Congratulations to all the winners, finalists and everyone who entered with a  commitment to find solutions to the plastic pollution challenge!.”

For more information about the awards go to www.stompawards.co.za. 

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IDFA Bertha Funded BUDDHA IN AFRICA to show in Best of Fests line-up at International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam

MEDIA RELEASE

IDFA Bertha Funded BUDDHA IN AFRICA

to show in Best of Fests line-up at International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam

Buddha in Africa, an award-winning South African documentary that follows the intimate story of a Malawian teenager growing up in a Chinese Buddhist orphanage in Africa, will be shown as part of the Best of the Fests programme at the prestigious International Documentary festival of Amsterdam in November.

The documentary, directed by first-time filmmaker, Nicole Schafer, has been many years in the making and received development, production and post-production support from the IDFA Bertha Fund.

“It is very meaningful to finally be showing the film at IDFA, a festival and fund that have believed in and supported this film since its inception,” says Schafer. “In 2011 the film was pitched at the Durban FilmMart in South Africa and received the “IDFA Most Promising Documentary Award”. This was very much the springboard that got the film off the ground in the first place. But being my first film, it took much longer than expected to raise all the finance and to follow the story, which is set in Malawi.”

The film had its World premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in April 2019, and has since shown at numerous festivals around the world where it has scooped several awards since including “Best Documentary” in the International Panorama ‘A Window onto the Future’, section of the Visioni dal Mondo International Documentary Festival in Milan (Italy), the Grand Prix award for the NHK Japan Prize for Educational Media, First Prize from the Youth jury for the Chicago Children’s Festival (USA) , and in South Africa an Audience Choice Award at Encounters Documentary Festival, “Best Documentary” at the Knysna Film Festival,  and “Best South African Documentary” at the Durban International Film Festival, which has automatically qualified it for consideration for an Oscar nomination.

In the next two weeks the film will show at the AFRIFF festival in Nigeria, in Bristol, Oslo, the Festival Enfances dans le monde in Paris and the Verzio Human Rights Festival in Budapest.

Screenings at IDFA are:

Thurs 21st  Nov  (7pm)   Rialto Bovenzaal

Fri 22nd   Nov (14:45) Munt 13

Sun 24th Nov  (13:00) Tuschinski 6

Tue 26th  Nov (16:30) Munt 12

Fri 29th Nov (10:00) Brakke Grond Rode Zaal

Ticket Bookings:

https://www.idfa.nl/nl/film/dcb6d526-fbc2-465f-a0ba-1e0fbd4d8838/buddha-in-africa

Finalists Announced in CLiP's STOMP Awards – South Africa

Finalists in the Commonwealth Litter Programme (CLIP) STOMP Awards have been announced.

The STOMP (Stamp Out Marine Plastic Pollution) Awards made a call out in October for South Africans to enter ideas and solutions that could reduce, or eliminate plastic pollution, which ultimately ends up in the ocean destroying habitats, and endangering marine species.

Over 60 entries in five categories were submitted: Technology or Technical Design in which judges were looking for new and innovative design and or technologies to reduce or manage plastic pollution and encourage circular economy thinking; Product Development which were innovative allowing consumers to reduce their plastic waste; Adult Inspire through Creativity and Youth Inspire for any kind of creative art made to inspire people into creating a better place and a Special Recognition Award for Action that recognizes work done to implement cleanups, or projects the mitigate waste, reduce plastic, change behaviours or create awareness on a community level.

The finalists are listed in no particular order:

Technology or Technical Design

Wildtrust – Pyrolysis Machine from Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal

The Mermaid Tear Catcher submitted by Clare Swithenbank-Bowman from the KwaZulu-Natal, North Coast.

Games Tangibl submitted by Jean Greyling from Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape

Product Development

The Big Scoop SA submitted by Alexis Wellman from the Helderberg, Western Cape

Beeswax Wrap submitted by Mica Da Silva from Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal

Patch Bamboo Plasters submitted by Dr Milliea Anis  from Johannesburg, Gauteng

The Mutea EcoPod submitted by Liam Bulgen from Cape Town , Western Cape

Adult Inspire through Creativity

12 Plastic Monsters  submitted by Luke Rudman from the Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape

The Well Worn Theatre Company submitted by Kyla Davis from Johannesburg, Gauteng

The SuperScientists Project by CodeMakers NPO, submitted by Justin Yarrow from Durban, KwaZulu Natal.

Youth Inspire through Creativity

The Future Kids submitted by Rocco Da Silva from the Somerset West, Western Cape

Norman Klutsky Eco-Warrior of the High Seas - Eden College submitted by Jean Van Elden, Durban KwaZulu-Natal

The Oceano Reddentes NPC submitted by Jade Bothma from Western Cape

Special Recognition Award for Action

Captain Fanplastic submitted by Nwabisa Joba from the Cape Town, Western Cape

The Ethekwini Conservancies Forum submitted by Paolo Candoti from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal

Singakwenza submitted by Julie Hay from Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal

Some of the finalists (as well as some of the entries that did not make it into the finals but impressed the judges) will be in attendance to present their entries at the "CLIP Innovation Conference: STEM the tide of plastic waste in Africa" in Cape Town on 4 and 5 December 2019. Winners in each category will be announced at Conference on December 5.

The Conference, which will be attended by scientists, environmentalists, conservationists, and policy-makers, is co-hosted with the Sustainable Seas Trust, will be looking at STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) solutions to the marine litter problem in South Africa.

"We were pleased with the number and quality of entries submitted for these inaugural awards," says STOMP Project Manager Duncan Pritchard, of Green Corridors, the NPO tasked with managing the awards in South Africa. "The entries were fairly diverse with some truly innovative ideas being showcased. It certainly demonstrates that South African's are thinking about the plastic challenges we face, and are looking at what could be the next world-changing innovation to solve the crisis. That is extremely positive for us going forward."

Commenting on the judging process, Fiona Preston-Whyte, CLiP Country Lead from the UK's Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) which leads the CLIP programme says, "As scientists we were looking for innovative, sustainable solutions which contribute to reducing or preferably eliminating plastic as a waste. The entries are high quality and creative and speak of the innovative spirit of South Africans.”

To view the finalists go to https://www.stompawards.co.za/index.php/vote

-ends

Note to editors:

CLIP is led by the United Kingdom through the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), funded by the UK's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and has partnered with Green Corridors, a Durban based non-profit organisation to roll out the awards programme in South Africa.

Les Misérables Filmmakers in South Africa for European Film Festival

Media Events

Les Misérables Filmmakers in South Africa for European Film Festival

Cannes Jury Prize-winning French film, Les Misérables by celebrated director Ladj Ly, will open the 6th European Film Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa on 29 November. The festival, which is hosted at Sterkinekor Cinema Nouveau Theatres in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town until December 8, features 12 award-winning films from Europe.

Three visiting filmmakers from Les Misérables, will be in the country, courtesy of VideoVision, to introduce their film and participate in filmmaker workshops in Johannesburg and Cape Town during the festival.

Producer Toufik Ayadi and actors Didier Zonga and Almamy Kanoute are in the country to promote their film, which was recently selected as France's entry to the Academy Awards in 2020. Ayadi, Zonga, and Kanoute will also be in attendance at its first screenings in Pretoria and Cape Town while the workshops provide an additional opportunity for in-depth discussion and exchange. Targeting young filmmakers, in particular, the workshop sessions will interrogate the making of the film and engage local filmmakers about filmmaking processes in general.

Both workshops are free but producers, actors and interested parties are advised to pre-register to book their participation. The workshop in Johannesburg takes place at the Rosebank Sterkinekor Cinema Nouveau on 30 November from 10 am to 1pm. Bookings can be made via Vuyiswa Tshangela at 011 7179237 or vuyiswa.tshangela@wits.ac.za. The Cape Town workshop takes place at the Cape Investor Centre on 2 December at 1pm to 3pm. Bookings for the Cape Town workshop can be made via 0785004488 or info@creativeworkzone.co.za.

The European Film Festival runs from 29 November to 8 December at Cinema Nouveau theatres in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town - for more about the festival films, including trailers, visit www.eurofilmfest.co.za

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European Film Festival for Cape Town, Joburg and Pretoria

Media Release

EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL FOR CAPE TOWN, JOHANNESBURG & PRETORIA

Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town are in for a ten-day feast of award-winning films as the European Film Festival celebrates its 6th edition in South Africa. The festival will be held simultaneously at Cinema Nouveau theatres in the three cities from 29 November to 8 December.  The carefully curated festival is packed with Oscar-nominated and multi-award-winning films from twelve countries including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.  

The Films

Opening the festival is the French film Les Misérables, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 and then picked up Best International Feature Film at the Durban International Film Festival in July. Inspired by the Paris riots of 2005, witnessed first-hand by director Ladj Ly, the film revolves around three members of an anti-crime brigade who are overrun while trying to make an arrest.  It has been selected as the French entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020. 

Representing Austria, Styx depicts the transformation of a woman sailor when she becomes the only person to come to the aid of a group of refugees shipwrecked on the high seas. Olly Richards (Time Out) says of the film: ‘A vital, highly intelligent movie that is both a first-class thriller and a biting commentary on our current world.’

The highly awarded Girl, from Flanders Belgium, tells the story of 15-year-old Lara who dreams of becoming a ballerina. Lara however was born into the body of a boy, she is undergoing treatment in preparation for gender reassignment surgery and the film illustrates some of the tough challenges she must face, both physically and psychologically, as a dancer, and as a person in transition.

System Crasher is Germany’s choice for next year’s Oscars. This intense journey witnesses the untamed high-energy antics of nine-year old Benni as she swings from sweetness to aggressive wild-child, causing danger and despair to all around her, including the social welfare services trying to help her.

Set against a housing crisis in Dublin, the Irish film Rosie is a riveting account of a remarkable woman trying to protect her loved ones and maintain their dignity when they lose their home. It examines how even in times of crises, the love and strength of a family can endure.

Women are the heroes, villains and victims in The Vice of Hope, a social drama about poverty, African immigration, human trafficking and the surrogacy business in towns around Naples (Italy). But change is coming, at least for the protagonist, Maria, who finds a link to her past, and her future.

My Extraordinary Summer With Tess is a sensitive Dutch coming-of-age drama for all age groups.  It follows a young boy and a girl on their paths of self-discovery as they cross the threshold from childhood to adolescence, and into the realization of the importance of family.

Cold War is a passionate love story between a music director and a singer whose meeting in the ruins of post-war Poland continues across Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris. A tale of a couple separated by politics, character flaws and unfortunate twists of fate, Pawel Pawlikowski’s sumptuous black and white masterpiece of auteur cinema won Best Director prize at Cannes before earning three Oscar nominations at the Academy Awards in 2019, with five European Film Awards before that.

The outrageously wacky Diamantino is perhaps best expressed by Cath Clark in her review in The Guardian (UK):  ‘If Cristiano Ronaldo fell asleep after gorging on year-old camembert, his dreams could not match the bizarre bonkersness of this enjoyably throwaway romantic sci-fi satire from Portugal about a megastar footballer who falls victim of a government cloning plot.’

Praised as his best work in years, Oscar-winner Pedro Almodóvar’s 21st film Pain and Glory won two awards at Cannes 2019. Starring Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, this semi-autobiographical narrative tells of a series of re-encounters experienced by a film director in physical decline, and his need to recover meaning and hope. Pain and Glory is Spain’s entry for next year’s Academy Awards.

Swedish documentary Push is an important film for the activists. It follows Leilani Farha, the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, as she travels the globe, trying to understand who’s being pushed out of the city and why. Commenting on how global finance is fuelling the housing crisis and making cities unaffordable to live in she notes: ‘There’s a huge difference between housing as a commodity and gold as a commodity. Gold is not a human right, housing is.’

The United Kingdom participant in this year’s festival is Official Secrets, directed by South Africa’s most celebrated director Gavin Hood, who won an Oscar with Tsotsi  in 2005. Based on true events, Official Secrets tells the gripping story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), a British intelligence specialist who leaks a memo in which the United States enlists Britain’s help in collecting compromising information on United Nations Security Council members in order to blackmail them into voting in favor of an invasion of Iraq. Following its presentation during the festival the film will go on public release from 13 December.

Festival director and curator Peter Rorvik points out that “a central thread within all the films is the search for a sense of self and meaning in a world where things often fall apart around us, where systems break down, where that search becomes an imperative lifeline.”

The newly arrived European Union Ambassador to South Africa, Dr Riina Kionka, expressed her support for the festival, saying, “The European Film Festival is a showcase of recent award-winning films and provides a snapshot of issues and themes that inspire European filmmakers and audiences. As the many topical stories show, lived experiences in Europe are not that dissimilar from life in South Africa … or elsewhere, for that matter. Film is a cornerstone of our European cultural and creative industries and the rich diversity of European cinematic approaches on show will be a delight to critics and publics alike. Don’t miss out on this smorgasbord of great entertainment!”

See http://www.eurofilmfest.co.za/ for detailed synopses, trailers and links to the screening schedule and ticket bookings.

The European Film Festival 2019 is a partnership project of the European Union’s Delegation to South Africa and twelve European Member State cultural agencies or embassies based in the country. They are: the General Representation of the Government of Flanders, the French Institute in South Africa, the Goethe-Institut, the Italian Cultural Institute, the British Council, and the Embassies of Austria, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. The project is organised in cooperation with Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau and Cineuropa and is coordinated by Creative WorkZone

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World Youth Wildlife Summit 2019

 CONSERVATION ‘BIG GUNS’ AND CELEBRITIES SET TO WOW DELEGATES AT WORLD YOUTH WILDLIFE SUMMIT

South Africa’s celebrity adventurers and explorers Sibusiso Vilane and Kingsley Holgate will join the conservation sector’s ‘Big Guns’ at the 2019 World Youth Wildlife Summit this coming weekend near the Kruger National Park, which will also commemorate the 10th international World Rhino Day on Sunday 22 September.

200 youth delegates, teachers and community leaders from 16 countries will descend on the Southern African Wildlife College, for an intensive four-day programme led by 30 of Southern Africa’s most experienced conservationists who are giving freely of their time to share their knowledge and skills. 

International delegates include students from the African Leadership University in Rwanda, community youth from the Serengeti region of Tanzania, San delegates from Namibia, representatives from eSwatini and Mozambique, a pupil from Eton College in England, as well as Taiwanese, Bangladeshi, Greek, Norwegian and Vietnamese delegates.  Students from the Tshwane University of Technology and youth from rural communities bordering Kruger National Park and game reserves in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape will also attend. 

Sibusiso Vilane started out as a game ranger before becoming one of South Africa’s most celebrated adventurers, best known for being the first African to summit Mt Everest and reach both the South and North Poles.  Yet conservation and working with young people remain close to his heart. “I feel very strongly that young people should be engaged and involved in conservation and understand the poaching crisis and global wildlife crime issue, because it is their heritage that is being lost,” he explained. “I believe that they do not want to inherit an environment that is so polluted and has no wildlife.  They are the future custodians of this heritage and therefore they must take the lead.”

Humanitarian explorer and Land Rover Ambassador Kingsley Holgate, widely known as ‘the most travelled man in Africa’, says that on all his expeditions, conservation and working with the youth are key elements.  Currently on a Zambezi-Congo expedition east-to-west across Africa, Holgate will return briefly to South Africa to attend the World Youth Wildlife Summit.  Speaking by telephone, he said, “I’ve seen the decimation of Africa’s wildlife first-hand.  It is unacceptable that a rhino is still slaughtered every 9 hours and 20 000 elephants still fall to poachers’ guns every year. So wherever possible on our journeys though Africa, we provide humanitarian support to field rangers and people living on the borders of wildlife parks, to help build good relations between conservation agencies and their community neighbours. 

“Empowering young people about the escalating wildlife poaching crisis through our Rhino and Elephant Art conservation education programme is also very close to my heart,” he continued. “This year’s World Youth Wildlife Summit is absolutely and critically needed at this time, when, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, more than one million species on Earth are facing extinction.”

Vilane and Holgate will be joining conservation leaders that include globally respected South African wildlife vets Dr William Fowlds and Dr Johan Marais; Maria Diekmann, an African Pangolin specialist from Namibia; Ivan Carter from Zimbabwe, well-known for his wildlife TV series, Carter’s W.A.R;  and Bupe Banda, female head of Zambia’s National Community Resources Board.  Don English, head of the Kruger National Park’s Intensive Protection Zone section and the acclaimed all-women Black Mambas anti-poaching unit will also interact with the delegates, along with 23-year-old  Nadav Ossendryver, founder of the award-winning ‘Kruger Sightings’ YouTube channel and recently nominated as one of Africa’s future leaders on the Forbes Africa ‘30 Under 30’ list.

Other high-profile guests who will attend the Summit include David Young, Chargé d’Affaires for the US Embassy in South Africa and senior executives of SANParks.  John Scanlon, former Secretary-General of CITES and now Special Envoy for the African Parks group will join the Summit by video-link, as will Bonne de Bod and Susan Scott, producers of the internationally acclaimed South African wildlife documentary, STROOP – journey into the rhino war, which will be broadcast on DSTV on World Rhino Day, Sunday 22 September.

“This is going to be an authentic African-led Summit for youth leaders, which will delve deeply into the causes of wildlife poaching and the illegal international wildlife trade that costs the world over US$20 billion each year,” said Summit Director, Francois du Toit from Project Rhino.  “It will also discuss other critical issues that are contributing to the decimation of our iconic ‘Big 5’ species like the rhino, elephant and lion; for example, human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss and the need for communities to benefit from the wildlife economy.

“It is high time that Africa’s – and the world’s – wildlife is recognized as more valuable alive than dead,” he continued.  “According to the latest study by the World Travel & Tourism Council, global wildlife tourism generates five times more revenue than the illegal wildlife trade.  In Africa, 3.6 million people are employed in the wildlife economy, which creates 40% more full-time jobs than the same investment in agriculture.  It has twice the job creation power of the automotive, telecommunications and financial industries and provides more job opportunities for women compared to other sectors. 

“Our overriding aim is to provide the youth delegates with the knowledge and tools they need to become influencers and wildlife ambassadors in their home countries and communities, and take the lead in speaking out on behalf of endangered species and habitats that are in serious threat of extinction in their lifetime.”

ENDS

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Newsworthy elements:

[if !supportLists]·        [endif]200 national and international delegates attending the 2019 World Youth Wildlife Summit in South Africa 21-24 Sept

[if !supportLists]·        [endif]South African celebrity explorers: Sibusiso Vilane and Kingsley Holgate

[if !supportLists]·        [endif]World Rhino Day, Sunday 22 September 2019

[if !supportLists]·        [endif]Rhino poaching and international wildlife crime

[if !supportLists]·        [endif]Kruger National Park

[if !supportLists]·        [endif]Southern Africa Wildlife College

[if !supportLists]·        [endif]SANParks

[if !supportLists]·        [endif]US Embassy in South Africa

[if !supportLists]·        [endif]Broadcast of STROOP – journey into the rhino war – internationally-acclaimed South African wildlife documentary

FOR FURTHER DETAILS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Sheelagh Antrobus, World Youth Wildlife Summit 2019 media relations

On-site Email: sheelaghantrobus1@gmail.com

Tel: +27 82 4327466 (Whats Ap is best)