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"REwind" + "Mmitlwa" + "Gangster Project"

Documentary, 2009 / original: language, 48’

Video Performance, 2010 / 25'21''

Docudrama, 2011 / 55'; original language: English, Afrikaans

27 Jun 2013 - 22:00

Anfiteatro ao Ar Livre

Admission 3 €

Rewind, by Liza Key (South Africa)

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was an extraordinary moment in our collective histories, a struggle to forgive, where 21 000 victims told their stories and 7 000 perpetrators confessed their crimes. To mark its tenth anniversary, South African composer Philip Miller used ‘shards’ from recorded testimonies - fragments of exhalations, intonations, moans, murmurs, gasps – to compose “Rewind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape and Testimony”. This is the engrossing and, at times, harrowing story behind this exceptional and unusual artwork. Between excerpts of the Market Theatre performance, directed and designed by Gerhard Marx, Miller (composer of “Yizo Yizo”, “Heartlines”, “Kentridge’s 9 Drawings for Projection” and “Noyce’s Catch a Fire”) tells the story of the cantata’s development, and the recordings that inspired him are placed in a visual context using interviews with some of those who testified, and public broadcast and secret service archive footage.

REwind
© "REwind", Liza Key

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Mmitlwa, by Lerato Shadi (South Africa)

“Mmitlwa” is a performance shot for video, where I wrap myself in masking tape, till my whole body is covered save the hand that’s been doing the wrapping. Then I proceed to free myself with the same self hand that has been doing the binding.

lerato shadi

© "Mmitlwa", Lerato Shadi

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Gangster Project, by Teboho Edkins (Germany)

As the title indicates, Teboho Edkins first dreamt of a ‘gangster film’. In Cape Town, no need for actors, says the apprentice filmmaker, they’re a dime a dozen, you should just need a good casting. And here he is accompanied by his sound engineer looking for their actors. From meetings in remote areas on the outskirts of the city, with a disturbing reputation, in nocturnal car rides in red-light districts, the filmmaker imitates Hollywood legends in order to try to enlist them. But little by little the images disintegrate. Stories of some in prison, others who remember a murdered friend. Fear, mourning, boredom and petty dealings are a distant cry from the expected flamboyant figures. Behind the myths, everyday realities turn out to be trivial. What to do? To link together the two will be the daring response: mixing acted scenes with documentary shots, without it being too obvious, since here posturing is acceptable. In the end, no ’film’, just assembled moments, in project form, that must be left as is, with no dramatic conclusion. A bitter after-taste remains: the harshness of survival in a hostile environment where everything comes at a heavy price and indifferent death is on the prowl in all its crude banality.

gangster film                                © "Gangster film", Teboho Edkins