The Noise of Cairo
Director Heiko Lange (2012)
This film looks at the explosion of creativity in the 18 days that shook the world in Egypt 2011 and led to the fall of the Mubarak regime. It gives us the perspective of dancers, street musicians, poets, graffiti artists and painters. It is clear: the revolution changed everything and created a space for expression that had long been repressed under Mubarak.The film shows the streets and squares filled with people painting on walls, singing on stages and in the middle of the street and using public spaces for dance and theatre. One artist explains, “The wall of censorship fell, musicians like Pamy Essam got groups of children to sing in a sing-along before being arrested by Mubarak’s brutal army.” Above all, the film shows the possibilities and contagious nature of those events in Egypt that turned into a true Festival of the Oppressed. Highly Recommended.
Marley
Director Kevin McDonald (2012)
There had Been many films on BoB Nesta Marley. Some good, others downright awful.This is the first detailed tribute to his life as an international reggae icon, charting his evolution from his beginnings amongst the urban poor of Trench Town, Jamaica, to his final weeks in a hospital in Germany.
It goes perhaps further than most previous films in trying to locate him in the context of post-colonial Jamaica, a society trying to cope with political turmoil and violence that was undergoing seismic political and economic shifts, as a new nation trying to come to grips with a new independence.
Throughout the movie, we see Marley attempting to keep aloof from the politics while grappling and asserting his own political and religious beliefs. It also shows how Marley’s own upbringing shaped his identity (Marley was a product of a mixed marriage; his rejection by his white father’s family is captured in the song Cornerstone “The Stone that the builder refused/Will always be the cornerstone”). Another part of the film deals with Marley’s global popularity and his passion for football.
One wished the film was more political and not merely dismissing him as a man of peace. One would want to examine his real if contradictory political ideas and deep yearning for revolutionary change. But maybe that’s for another film!
GET UP, STAND UP and go see this film! It might just change your life.
Breathe Again, by Kurt Orderson.
Director Kurt Orderson
In 1986, derrick orderson, a talented young swimmer from Bonteheuwel on the Cape Flats swam an amazing 25,81 seconds in the fifty metre freestyle, two seconds later the world record at the time yet was prevented from competing for his country.
This inspiring documentary film tells the story of an athlete and social activist committed to the anti apartheid sports movement SACOS and its slogan of “NO NORMAL SPORT IN AN ABNORMAL SOCIETY” as it successfully campaigned for racist White South Africa’s international isolation. It is both the story of personal sacrifice during a now almost forgotten era but shows how far we have come whilst highlighting the role of outstanding sports persons like Derrick Orderson and their struggle.
Marley and Breath Again were both premiering at the Encounters Film Festival.
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