The official opening of the film festival, will be held at the University of Botswana's Faculty of Business Studies auditorium, on Thursday. The festival will be officially opened by the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, and for the first time the opening film will be screened at the university, and the rest of the films will be screened at the AV Centre at Maruapula School. The opening will be co-hosted by The Department of Environmental Science, the British Council, British High Commission and DITSHWANELO.
The opening film is titled The Age Of Stupid, a new documentary-drama-animation hybrid from director Franny Armstrong and Oscar-winning Producer John Battsek. Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlewaite stars as the founder of The Global Archive in the devastated world of 2055. The archive is located in the (now melted) Arctic, preserving all of humanity's achievements in the hope that the planet, ravaged by runaway climate change, might one day be habitable again. He watches 'archive' footage from 2008 and asks: Why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?
Other themes covered in this year's film festival include Zimbabwe, Children and Youth in South Africa, the Indigenous Peoples of Kenya, Poverty and Development in Kenya, the life experiences of the Palestinian people, The International Criminal Court, the Criminal Justice system in the USA and an imprisoned political activist and former Black Panther member, Female Genital Cutting in Mali, Rape as a weapon of war in the DRC, Gay and Lesbian rights and the Church and the aftermath of apartheid-remembering not to forget.
Several of the films have been nominated or selected for international film awards. These include SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival, The London Film Festival Grierson Award, The BAFTA Awards, The Sundance Documentary Fund, The Fledgling Fund Award for Socially Conscious Documentaries, Fulbright Grant in the Creative and Performing Arts, The Dubai International Film Festival Audience Award and Oscar Academy Documentary award.
Speakers for the discussions after the films include The Attorney General, Dr Athalia Molokomme, a representative from the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), a representative of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals (LeGaBiBo) and South Africa director, Mark Kaplan, who has been a recipient of numerous international awards for documentaries and series.
The film festival is part of DITSHWANELO's awaireness-raising and education about human rights.
"Our promotion of human rights is aimed at contributing to the development of a human rights culture in Botswana. We believe that knowledge of ones' rights and responsibilities is an essential ingredient for the attainment of a sustainable 'educated, informed, moral and tolerant Nation' by 2016," a statement from DITSHWANELO explained.
This year's film festival is sponsored by Maru a Pula School, The University of Botswana, British High Commission, British Council, EED, Riverwalk Shopping Complex Mall, Yarona fm, Flemming Assets Management Botswana, Khan Charitable Trust, MultiChoice Botswana, Shell Oil Botswana, and several individuals.
