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Durban thrills with film fest

DURBANITES are being treated to a fine feast of films at the city's film festival.

The Durban International Film Festival opened on Thursday and runs until August 1. It has a long-standing love affair with French cinema and that is no different this year.

Eight French-language films have been selected for the festival's 31st edition, highlighting the consistent quality of French film.

One of the most popular films screened over the weekend was State of Violence.

The film deals with former struggle hero Bobedi, who has just become the chief executive of a large mining company. After celebrating with his wife Joy and friends, he and Joy become victims of violence and Joy is murdered.

Bobedi now has a choice to make - whether to continue the never-ending cycle of violence by exacting revenge, or take the path of peace.

Another fascinating account of one man and his family's courage in the face of injustice is portrayed in Mugabe and the white farmer.

It deals with a white farmer, Michael Campbell, one of the few hundred white farmers left in Zimbabwe since the country's President Robert Mugabe started his aggressive land reform programme.

Since then the country has been in virtual chaos.

Campbell took the unprecedented step of challenging Mugabe in an international court, accusing him and his government of racial discrimination and of violating basic human rights.

Edmund Mhlongo of the Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre in KwaMashu, one of the screening venues for the film festival, said that the response from the community to all the films has been amazing.

"Every screening is always packed, especially by the youth," he said.

"Through this festival we want to encourage the youth to get involved in film-making and gain knowledge through films to tell our stories."

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