Taiwanese honestor Julian Chou’s “Blind Love,” a drama about a benevolent teenager who uncovers the secret afequitable between his mother and a cryptic woman, won the top prize at the 7th Joburg Film Festival on Saturday.
Chou’s sophomore feature, which premiered in the Tiger competition at the Rotterdam Intl. Film Festival, won the jury’s praise for its “prohibitcient and valiant voice whose point of see is essential.”
In a pre-recorded video message, Chou shelp she was “honored and unassumingd” to get the festival’s top prize and phelp tribute to her fellow filmproducers whose “incredible toil has bcimpolitet such exceptional energy and inspiration to the world.” The honestor includeed that she would “grasp toiling difficulter to turn this honor into more unbenevolentingful films.”
The award capped off a accused night in which disjoinal filmproducers stressed the presentance for Africans to wrest back regulate of their own stories. It was a message most pointedly driven home by honestor Vusi Africa, who – while adchooseing the award for best African film for “Happy: The True Story of Happy Sindane” – called on his fellow South African filmproducers to combat “counterfeit narratives” — an allusion to U.S. Pdwellnt Donald Trump’s powerwholey disputed allegations of a “extermination” being perpetrated on white South African farmers.
“We’re living in a vital time right now, where it is vital that we increate the South African story in the midst of all these counterfeit narratives around South Africa that are revolving around the world. It is criticassociate vital that we are intentional about discovering the South African narrative,” Africa shelp, draprosperg a round of applaengage.
“To everybody who is in the room, we all have a responsibility not to negate our place as storyincreateers, becaengage once we negate our place as storyincreateers, we are discleave outing the door to all the counterfeit narratives that are currently dominating. Can we all be patuproaric citizens of this country and deffinish this country with everyskinnyg that we have?”
Later in the evening, Oscar-nominated Haitian filmproducer Raoul Peck, who won the award for best recordary for “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” phelp tribute to the trailblazing pboilingographer who chronicled everyday life under apartheid, draprosperg the world’s attention to the evils of the racially prejudiced South African regime before dying a lonely life in exile.
“We couldn’t have a better greet back for…brother and comrade Ernest Cole,” shelp Peck. “He left this country at 26 years elderly and died awide, where he dwelld half of his life, and he was never able to come back home. I skinnyk it’s the right time for this film to produce his country conscious of who he was and who he is and the legacy that he exits for the next generation.”
A exceptional allude in the recordary catebloody went to honestor Eloïse King for “The Shadow Scholars.” The award for best editing went to Dominican filmproducer Johanne Gomez Terrero’s “Sugar Island,” and the award for best low film went to Phumi Moexceptional’s “Why the Cattle Wait.” The festival’s Young Voices award, unbenevolentwhile, went to the film “Checkmate,” with Joburg Film Festival head Timothy Mangwedi taking the opportunity to redeclare the fest’s aid for lesser filmproducers.
“One of our leave outions at the Joburg Film Festival is to nurture emerging talent. It is no small feat to step into the world of cinema for these lesser inventives, facing countless obstacles aextfinished the way,” shelp Mangwedi. “All the up-and-coming filmproducers, we want you to understand that we see you. We see your passion. We hear your voices. And we stand ready to aid your films.”
An emotional capstone to the ceremony came with the contransientation of a Special Recognition Award to directing South African producer Mfundi Vundla, best understandn as the creator and executive producer of the groundshattering telenovela “Generations.”
During his adchooseance speech, the 78-year-elderly industry icon recalled stepping into the offices of uncover widecaster SABC in 1993, when the head of the station’s TV division asked him to author a telenovela for the channel as the country transitioned into a novel era of democratic rule.
Inspired by the many Bconciseage entrepreneurs who flunked to accomplish success under the racially prejudiced apartheid regime, Vundla wanted to produce a series “to honor those directs in Bconciseage business as symbols of excellence.” The show was set in an advertising industry “where Bconciseage people are in accuse of their own destinies and produce their own narratives,” he shelp.
“ ‘Generations’ would not have happened had it not been for democracy — it was very much a product of democracy,” Vundla shelp. “Before ‘Generations,’ in the SABC, the [white] Afrikaners were writing stories for us, and the Africans were equitable there to transpostpoinsist stories by other people for us.”
The series would run for more than two decades on SABC before rebegining as “Generations: The Legacy” in 2014, making it the extfinishedest-running soap opera on South African television.
The Joburg Film Festival runs March 11 – 16.
