“While WOS cannot claim every achievement by women (in SA), many of them are to its credit.”
Former minister of Arts and Culture Dr. Palo Jordan
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Short Films
ATROPHY (THE FEAR OF FADING)Dir. Palesa Shongwe Picture, poetry, voice and music are woven together into a contemplative short film about the lingering memory of youth, the loss of spontaneity and the quiet fear of growing up.
JIVA MAJIVANEDir. Patience Chabalala /Tshepo Mohlala Jiva Majivane is about a tavern in a rural village in Limpopo that uses under aged children to dance and entertain the patrons in exchange for money and alcohol. The girls call themselves Jika Majika. This film explores the influence on the children and the village, and the ensuing lack of focus on their school work and plans for the future, also teenage pregnancies and high rate of HIV/AIDS in the village.
LI XI’s SALON
Developed and supported by the International Film Festival Rotterdam for their programme Raiding Africa, filmmaker Mthiyane goes to Songzhuang to reverse the current China-in-Africa trend – and see the East for herself. It begins in a beauty salon where her black hair is greeted with laughter and bemusement. But she befriends the owner, a part-time painter and an unlikely bond grows between the two women. The intimate little film underlines the universality of experience as much as the cultural differences, from worries about self-expression to how to prepare a hearty meal, and highlights the benefits of getting out of a comfort zone to learn more about yourself.
MADE IN CHINA
Made in China is a documentary that infuses the diversity of cultures in South Africa, in this case particularly the Afro Chinese community with their different cultural upbringing and backgrounds.
PHILIA
A young, South African woman dreams of studying art in the Paris, but her dreams are shattered when she discovers that she has been caught up in a home affairs scam. She discovers that she has been fraudulently married to a Congolese man she has never met. She decides to find and confront the man who had altered her identity. She sets a trap for him, but finds that she has underestimated her quarry.
THE SCRIBBLE A STORY SERIES: CRICKET and THE DAY I WORE MY HIJABDir: Mary Wells Two short films from Jamaica that show boys in a positive light. * Courtesy of the Jamaican High Commission in Pretoria and Jamaica Promotions Corporation in Kingston
SOUTHERN CROSSDir. Carmen Sangion A story of a young woman, Carissa, who works at a chicken processing plant. On the evening when the future of the plant is being decided by the board, Carissa goes to Rosie‟s dance club, where during the course of the night, given the topic of the moment, considers a number of possible futures. One future is to remain with the plant and take whatever is dished out; the other is to spread her wings. The ultimate choice she makes is to decide her future before the future is decided for her, thus taking control of her destiny, empowering herself.
SUSPENSE (TAHARUKI)
In the violence and chaos of post-election Kenya in 2007/2008, a man and a woman from opposed ethnic groups work together to save vulnerable children from a cartel engaged in human trafficking. When things go wrong they must face impossible choices as they strive to complete their mission.
THE DELIVERANCE OF COMFORTDir. Zina Saro Wiwa A short satirical fable about a 'child witch' called Comfort. It is a critical and densely-layered response to the belief in child witches in some parts of Nigeria and Africa.
THE STORY TELLER: KAHÄ•NIKÄ•R (THE STORYTELLER)
Based on a myth from Southern India, this film is a poignant narrative of the relationship between Nirmala and her grandfather who struggles to recall the details of her favourite story. Nirmala confidently takes up her grandfather‟s role of storyteller in the hope that by telling the
THE TAILORED SUIT
The Tailored Suit tells the story of Matilda, a young woman who grows up in rural South Africa in the 1940s. She dreams of moving to the city, a place of liberation and emancipation, for the “Modern African Miss”. She discovers a path to the city through a marriage that turns oppressive. Infidelity, a suit and a party change the course of the marriage, propelling Matilda onto a journey of self-discovery. |
Film Festival 2011 |
Dir. Omelga Mthiyane
Dir: Mumtaaz Mahomed Peerbhay 
Dir. Zamo Mkhwanazi
Dir. Ekwa Msangi-Omari
Dir. Nandita Jain
Dir. Kitso Lelliot