by Thinus Ferreira
It was on a night late into November 2021 and during a crunch time for everyone to complete their annual workload before their holidays while her little puppy was howling next to her on the floor also to get attention and not understanding why she was still up as she had to stay up past 23:00 in a virtual meeting with eight key execs on festival objectives.
It was the moment that film producer and festival programme director Ricky Human realised that the Silwerskermfees is really a passion of hers to organise.
The 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival – an Afrikaans film festival nicknamed "Cannes in Cape Town" but not limited to just Afrikaans films and content – is bouncing back with a hybrid, real-world and virtual offering stretching over three days from today at Cape Town's The Bay Hotel.
"With the Silwerskermfees we have successfully built a local interest platform and network for local filmmakers to showcase their works,
gain exposure and build their own film careers to support our ethos to grow and
sustain the local film industry," says Ricky when I ask her why it's important for a film festival like the Silwerskermfees to exist.
She's adamant: "Our focus will always remain local with
international interest".
"The Silwerskermfees stimulates the industry with fresh ideas and a pipeline of continuous
content and gives producers and film talent – behind and in front of the camera – the opportunity to be recognised in the South African film industry and on
international platforms."
"In terms of the full-length premieres, the festival generates publicity
and a buzz around the films before the films' releases in cinema or on MultiChoice's DStv BoxOffice."
Many prolific and esteemed South African filmmakers have taken their
first steps into the industry with the Silwerskermfees' short film project.
"To mention two
examples out of many: Amy Jephta, whose most recent film Barakat was
this year's official South African entry for the Oscars, was a previous
Silwerskermfees short film winner with the 2017 short film Soldaat."
"After
winning the Best Short Film category in 2013 with the movie Toevlug, Christiaan
Olwagen also went on to create feature films such as Kanarie and Poppie
Nongena, which won several international awards."
"Then, some of the short films have also been adapted into feature films - as is the case with Beurtkrag and Vlugtig, which premieres at the
festival this year," Ricky says.
Covid-19's spoke in the film festival wheel
Instead of continuous operation and with planning ongoing for a next year's festival the moment a given year's festival is done, film festival organising globally ground to an immediate halt in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
kykNET had to stop the Silwerskermfees as well that is now taking its first gingerly steps back as a hybrid event.
"The most significant disruption during this pandemic was the 'stop/start' experienced by the productions during filming," Ricky Human says.
"We are fortunate to be able to
showcase such a great variety of local content. From an operational point of
view, we have such a dedicated and committed team that never lets their guard
down, and each stumbling block is negotiated and resolved amicably."
"Fortunately - and similar to many other film festivals - we were able to
host a very successful Silwerskermfees Webinar on a virtual
platform last year, and this year we are able to celebrate our 10th anniversary
festival as an exciting hybrid festival."
About how this year's Silwerskermfees will be different, she says "The real difference for our festival on the ground is our limited venue
capacities due to Covid protocols. Still, the level of excitement overall is
higher than ever before with such a long waiting period to celebrate the
festival returning.".
About what a film festival like the
Silwerskermfees, and other South African film festivals need more of, and the type of support required and that could be improved, she says "All local film festivals, including the Silwerskermfees, can only
grow when they are fully funded, and this always happens through several
sponsorship partners, government-supported film bodies and private sponsors".
"Looking forward, we would like to add more genres and opportunities for local
filmmakers to participate in the festival and grow local audience
participation."
Pushing boundaries
"For me, it's always about the programme and how to inspire our filmmakers
to showcase their works to others," says Ricky Human.
"In particular, we are proud to have
Academy Award-nominated and winning films from 2021 as part of the line-up: Barakat,
which has already scooped several awards and was South Africa's official
entry for the Academy Award; as well as Lakutshon Ilanga (When the sun sets), the
Student Academy Award winner and premiere at our festival."
"Then there is also the
Academy-nominated documentary front-runner for 2022, Writing with
Fire, which will be screened at the Silwerskermfees just three days before the
Oscar winners are announced!"
"How wonderful it is also to have our own Silwerskermfees awards night event the day before the Academy Awards will place in Los Angeles," says Ricky.
Some of this year's Silwerskermfees short films
are pushing boundaries and creating talkability. The number of short films in
Afrikaans is also much more than in previous years."
"Then, we're also incredibly proud to be able to allow film lovers from
across the country to enjoy all the films from anywhere in the country. This is
the first time we are doing this, and the interest has been overwhelming,
showing that there is an appetite for proudly South African films."
Ongoing quest to find new voices
While kykNET's Silwerskermfees is primarily
about celebrating Afrikaans film, it's not exclusively Afrikaans.
About why it's been important to not have a film festival ensconced around Afrikaans but to make it accessible to a broad, local multi-language community and film
industry in South Africa, Ricky Human says the festival was a kykNET initiative with a focus on diversifying talent and finding new voices from the Western Cape and grew from there.
"Through all the festival
initiatives over the years, it has organically grown to a multi-cultural, local
interest festival. Collaboration is a given, and the goal of the festival ultimately is to
sustain the local industry at large."
And her message for South Africa's film and TV industry about this year's 10th Silwerskermfees film festival?
"Don't shy away from telling authentic local stories as there is a
growing need for it - not only locally but also on international platforms."
