The countdown to the eagerly awaited 7th Joburg Film Festival has begun, as filmmakers and film enthusiasts prepare for a remarkable celebration of storytelling from March 11-16, 2025.

This year the festival promises an immersive cinematic experience boasting over 100 films slated to be showcased from around the globe.

Nhlanhla Ndaba, the festival curator, expressed his enthusiasm about the festival's growth and international recognition.

“We have had some amazing people come through and support us. It is very exciting also, because we have created a relationship with various distributors across the globe,” he said.

“There is a lot of interest internationally; people are beginning to recognize the Joburg Film Festival as a credible platform for them to showcase their work and for them to come and attend.”

Over the past seven years, the Joburg Film Festival has established itself as a vital hub for storytelling, focusing not only on international films but also on nurturing local talent.

“Part of the highlight for me this particular year is that we had a call-out in partnership with Showmax for filmmakers to submit their films. In total, eleven films were selected to be produced, and we are happy to be bringing seven of those for this year’s edition. This shows that we are not only getting established films but we are also building our directors and young directors.”

Ndaba underlined the importance of celebrating South African filmmakers: “For the longest time, I also being a filmmaker myself, for the longest time your work gets celebrated outside your country to gain recognition so that people in the country can take interest in your work. So we want to change this. We want to say this: if you have produced a film in South Africa, allow us an opportunity to be the first to screen it. Let’s celebrate you first and create the noise so that the rest of the world takes a look.”

Among the much-anticipated offerings is the documentary "Mxterminds", directed by Siphumeze Khundayi.

Khundayi reveals that this work aims to celebrate queer existence on the African continent.

“It is a film about celebrating queer existence on this continent. We are celebrating the things that queer people have done in different types of industries.”

She further emphasized the importance of sharing diverse narratives: “One of the reasons we wanted to do this documentary is that we wanted to showcase different types of narratives. We know exactly what the narrative is. We are being killed, homophobia; we are dying; the laws are against us, but it was so important for us to showcase that we are still surviving.”

This year's festival will host 28 African premieres, spanning both fiction and eye-opening non-fiction films, alongside 12 world premieres, including two essential South African features that promise to make waves. The excitement among the festival’s organisers is palpable as they also aim to shine a spotlight on emerging talent while ensuring established works are not overlooked. Moreover, JFF 2025 is doubling down on promising filmmakers by spotlighting student films from top institutions like AFDA, TUT, UCT, and WITS.

Saturday Star

anita.nkonki@inl.co.za

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The countdown to the 7th Joburg Film Festival begins, promising an immersive cinematic experience