by Thinus Ferreira
kykNET's 10th Silwerskermfees bouncing back as a hybrid film festival in Camps Bay this year between 23 and 26 March will cost R190 for four days, offering a collection of feature films and short films influenced by Covid, loadshedding and including vampires on the Cape Flats, off-beat love stories and South Africa's first Afrikaans eco-horror movie.
Taking place at The Bay Hotel in Cape Town and accessible online through the Silwerskermfees website at https://silwerskermfees.co.za, the film festival's registration fee of R190 will give participants access to four days of film premieres, with the revenue that will go towards the Tribuo fund supporting South African artists in financial need because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 10th Silwerskermfees include 9 feature films in contention for various Silwerskermfees awards, as well as 17 short films produced with kykNET's support for this year's Silwerskermfees film festival.
Besides the feature films and short films, people attending the film festival physically or virtually, will also be able to attend and listen in on various industry talks, question-and-answer sessions with producers, and interviews with on-screen talent.
While the feature films in this year's competition are exclusively ones making their world of South African debut at the film festival, this year's Silwerskermfees line-up also includes feature films that were funded by kykNET and M-Net that already premiered on MultiChoice's DStv BoxOffice because 2021's Silwerskermfees had to be postponed last year due to Covid-19.
These three films are Kaalgat Karel, Klein Karoo 2 and Barakat that was South Africa's official film entry for the Oscars this year. These three films will respectively be screened on 3, 10 and 17 March before the 10th Silwerskermfees starts on its official film festival website.
The 10th Silwerskermfees has a feature film line-up that will be screened between 23 and 26 March that includes Beurkrag (23 March, 17:30), Indemnity (23 March, 20:00), Down So Long (24 March, 17:30), Stiekyt (24 March, 20:00), Vlugtig (25 March, 17:30), as well as Gaia (25 March, 20:00).
The 10th Silwerskermfees is Beurtkrag's world premiere, starring Ivan Botha and DonnaLee Roberts who teamed up with director Jozua Malherbe to develop a feature-length script from the 2015 Silwerskermfees short film.
Indemnity is Travis Taute's tense action film starring Gail Mabalane and Hlomla Dandala, with Jarrid Geduld playing a firefighter who flees after he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of his wife.
Down So Long is an experimental satirical comedy-drama revolving around Joseph Mabena living with his wife and extended family in a full house in the informal settlement of Hangberg, with Angie Mills directing and Damir Rodonic producing.
In Stiekyt, Etienne Fourie, a former Silwerskermfees winner, is in the director's chair for this thriller produced by Homebrew Films.
Vlugtig is another reworking of a former Silwerskermfees short film, with the same director, Marinus Gubitz. Several of the cast reprise their roles, adding Jane de Wet.
Gaia, the first eco-horror film in Afrikaans, is also on show at the 2022 Silwerskermfees after its premiere at the South by South West film festival.
Short film diversity
The subject matter of the short film category at the 10th Silwerskermfees is diverse and range from science fiction and superheroes battling tik, to Cape Flats vampires, pregnancy stories and figurative and real-world family journeys.
Barber is set in a macabre barbershop on the Cape Flats where the owner and his daughter are planning on taking revenge.
It stars Irshaad Ally of Suidooster in the role of a client, and he's also starring in Verstikking as a wealthy businessman intent on taking revenge in a weird way after a robbery in an underground parking area.
For the first time ever the Silwerskermfees features a post-apocalyptic science fiction film in Afrikaaps. Murderous machines are hunting the last humans in the Cape in the boundary-pushing My Beskermer.
In the action short film Nagvoël, a superhero tackles tik addicts in the hope of becoming a member of the South African Superheroes League.
Twintig Tone is an off-beat romance story set inside a physical closet, while Net ons revolves around two centuries-old vampires on the Cape Flats. The concept in Die Horries is that there are secret agents with the singular mission of making you go crazy after a late night's partying. But what happens when a Horrie develops feelings for a Horrie-colleague?
Vrywater set within a fantasy realm tells the story of a cult of seawater worshippers with their unique set of rituals, hoping for a long-awaited prophecy to be fulfilled. It however depends on a rebellious chosen one more intent on following her heart than a prophecy.
In Bergie an official tasked with removing homeless people are confronted with the suffering of others, in Die Groensone a son and his elderly dad are forced to live together during the Covid lockdown period in a flat, and in Leemtes en leegheid a widow in her 70s struggle to come to terms with the death of her husband.
In Aan/Af an ordinary guy finds himself in the flat of his elderly German neighbour and discovers that everything in her place is definitely not what it appears to be.
Family relationships are the subject matter of Bennie Bingo, Bittersoet and Sporadies Nomadies - with stories ranging from a lost son whose transformation causes chaos at the family's annual bingo tournament, a grandfather with Alzheimer's who suddenly remembers something while attending the Christmas lunch where the mother already has a problem with her son's gay romance, and a struggling rocker dad who's estranged matric daughter joins him for a road trip.
Pregnancy is the theme of the short films Katvis and Skyn. In Katvis a couple makes an unusual decision and in Skyn a struggling waitress ends up with a bun in the oven after a drunken night with a stranger in her bed.
