2009 GOLD LION FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

SWAZILAND

STUDENT AND YOUTH FILMS 2009
Wednesday, October 14
VENUE: Waterford Kamhlamba College
TIME: 7 pm

Deadspiel (8m, Canada) Director: Jay Molloy
Can a Zombie curling team play by the rules?
Maputo (5m, Mozambique) Director: Samito Espïnosa
Percussion of the drums and heart on the beach.
First Love (11m, Mexico) Director: Paz Garcias.
Two teens discover the sea and find unlikely companionship.
Can't Hold Me Down (5m, United Kingdom) Director: Michael Collin Dyslexic musician raps out a song of protest and identity.
Midas' Son (16m, U S A) Director: Annetta Marion
Swimmer of biracial parents reconciles with them and himself on trip home.
Miss Directed (7m, Canada) Director: by Jim Hyslop
Girl gets a personal director and a sense of self worth.
The Eyes of Beauty (27m, U S A) Director: Liviu Sabadus
A girl’s subconscious appears in a mirror to guide her love life.

NIGHT OF FRENCH FILMS
Thursday, October 15
VENUE: THEATRE CLUB OF MBABANE
TIME: 8 pm

Déjà vu (12m, Cameroon) Director: Isaac Ditima
Documentary seeks to know why identical conflicts repeat themselves in Africa.
Nous Aussi Avons Marche Sur La Lune (16m, Belgium, Congo) Director: Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda
African magic comes alive in 1969 when American astronauts land on moon.
La Glaciere Rouge (18m, Canada) Director: Michel Jr Tremblay
Intrigue and suspense in this unusual crime caper.
Premiere (7m, France) Director: Julie Mai
Dancer’s fantasy takes her from stage into another reality
Hold On (15m, France) Director: Damien Roussineau
Samaritan saves another’s life and a his girlfriend’s love.

LESOTHO

ANIMATION 2009
Wednesday, October 28
VENUE: MASERU SUN CINEMA
TIME: 8 pm

Sebastian’s Voodoo (4m, USA) Director: Joaquin Baldwin
Reprise of 2008 Best Animated Film Award winner.
Skylight (5m, Canada) Director: David Baas
Holes in the atmosphere fry penguins in this clever spoof.
Steve's Perfect Vacation (3m, Canada) Director: Anandh Ramesh
Traveler finds the limitations of her perfectionism.
Mars to Africa (5m, Zimbabwe) Director: Patrick Ncube
Aliens search the veld for a very peculiar spacecraft fuel.
LoopLoop (5m, Canada) Director: Patrick Bergeron
Memories loop upon itself in this amazing visualization.
A Long-distance Call (12m, Canada, China) Director: Joe Chang
Even in a traditional and beautiful Chinese setting, girl longs for the sound of family.
Eatliz (4m, Israel) Director: Guy Ben Shetrit
Punk rock girl pursues adventure.
Sirens (6m, U S A) Director: Benjamin Radford
Mythological beasts tantalize modern boy.
Malaise (5m, Canada) Director: David Akselrod
Teen angst and ennui given retro 70s look.
Reach (4m Australia) Director: Luke Randall
Life is about striving, not attainment.

AMERICA NIGHT LESOTHO
Thursday, October 22
VENUE: MASERU SUN CINEMA
TIME: 6 pm

Calling My Children (36m, U S A) Director: David Binder
True story of tough guy father reconnecting with his tough guy sons through the tragic death of his wife, their mother
The Curse of Micah Rood (35m, U S A) Director: Alec Asten
Dramatic recreation of a16th century folk tale or factual if magical warning?
Bongfen (25m, U S A) Director Petra Sunjo
A Cameroon girl brought to Los Angeles to wed an unknown man is surprised by what she finds.

DOCUMENTARIES 2009
Thursday October 22
VENUE: MASERU SUN CINEMA
TIME: 8 pm

A Time Comes Doc (19m, United Kingdom) Director: Nick Broomfield Environmentalists pull a daring stunt to draw attention to polluter.
Bottling the Ancestors (8m, Swaziland) Director: Sipho Kunene
The village’s sacred pool faces commercialization.
Sayed, Soccer Talent (28m, Netherlands) Director: Hans Groenendijk
Unusually young and unusually skillful, a Kuwati boy becomes a hit in Europe.
Elegy for the Elswick Envoy (24m, United Kingdom) Director: Nancy Willis
Courageous about life and sentimental about her special car, a woman shows how to disregard personal limitations.
Welcome to My Paradise (22m, South Africa, U S A) Director: Rhonda Klevansky
Impoverished artists makes a literal impression in the sands of Durban.
The Moving Town (11m, Italy) Director: Alberto Nacci
Italian Futurism revisited in this salute to the beauty of the industrial and technological environment.

SWAZILAND

MAGICAL DRAMAS 2009
Wednesday October 28
Venue: House on Fire, Malkerns
Time: 8 pm

Prelude (12m, Italy, Japan, Turkey, United Kingdom) Director: Patrick Dickinson

Magic box reveals a boy’s fate

A golpe de tacon (20m, Spain) Director: Amanda Castro García

In 1963 women oppose Franco; including wife of resistance fighter

True Beauty This Night 10m, U S A) Director: Peter Besson
Love-struck holdup man impresses girl.
Land Gewinnen (20m, Germany) Director: Marc Brummund
Immigrant father risks deportation to educate his son.
Broken Road (14m, Australia) Director: Brodie Rocca
Father on holiday with two daughters is tested by emergency.
Nous Aussi Avons Marche Sur La Lune (16m, Belgium, Congo) Director: Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda
African magic comes alive in 1969 when astronauts land on moon.
Tatang (17m, Philippines) Director: Jean Paolo (Nico) Hernandez
Grandfather and granddaughter exist by stealing, but survive on love.

AMERICA NIGHT SWAZILAND
Thursday October 29
Venue: House on Fire, Malkerns
Time: 8 pm

The Mattress Hustle (20m, U S A) Director: Susan Watson Turner
Sex isn’t enough for two people who find they truly lust for commitment.
Junkyard (6m, U S A) Director: Michael Skvarla
Brother of abused sister first saves then guides her.
Open Air (12m, U S A) Director: Shira-Lee Shalit
A kind elderly woman, a young mother, and war’s tragedy
Arithmetic Lesson (15m, U S A) Director: Wenhwa Ts'ao
A girl abused by scheming housekeeper finds the wit to fight back
The 8TH Samurai (29m, U S A) Director: Justin Ambrosino
Actor finds honour and redemption in his craft.

DIRECTOR’S CHOICE NIGHT
Friday October 30
Venue: Mbabane Theatre Club
Time: 8 pm

Renouncing Angelica (20m, U S A) Director: Temi Ojo
The painful loss of a lover, the shock of betrayal.
Tequila (15m, Russian Federation) Vladimir Dashevskiy
Life on the edge takes its toll even on psychopaths.
Basket Bronx (14m, Spain) Director: Martin Rosete
Inspired by magical girl coach, boy learns its less about winning and more about confidence.
Type O (11m, Canada) Director: Brianna Brown
Blood is thicker than fear and prejudice.
In Deep (14m, U S A) Director: Teddy Thoren
A waiter’s magical friends educate him on the environment.
97.4 (20m, Italy) Director: Alessandro de Cristofaro
An egocentric actor’s final role is to confront himself.

SOUTH AFRICA

CASTERBRIDGE FRIDAY AT THE FESTIVAL
Friday October 30
Venue: Casterbridge Cinema, White River
Time: 8 pm
Swayambhu Sen Foresees his End (19m, India) Director: Debashish Medhekar
Magical Bollywood treatment of man’s preparation for the final curtain.
Voor Een Dubbeltje... (9m, Netherlands) Director: Eric Wobma
Don’t be to quick to judge a seemingly mad street person.
Five Six or Seven (12m, Namibia) Director: Wessels M
Desert Odyssey undertaken by a shaman and his small boy assistant.
Ba Ne Jek Kemal (25m, Sudan, U S A) Director: Sean Fahey
Learning to read is just the start of life’s accomplishments.
The Obolus (20m, U S A) Director: Mathias Roer
Boy accepts the unimaginable consequences of a car accident.

CLOSING NIGHT AT CASTERBRIDGE
Saturday October 31
Venue: Casterbridge Cinema, White River
Time: 8 pm

Playground (12m, United Kingdom) Director: Avril Evans
Boy confronts death and responsibility.
Flawless (10m, United Kingdom) Director: Stanislava Buevich
“Perfect” woman loses her poise when life introduces.
Badewanne zum Glück (25m, Germany) Director: Nadine Keil
Fantasy adventure as couple connect by visiting sites of their past embarrassments.
Project Ion (11m, U S A) Director: Dawn Westlake
Reality and love put to the test. 
On Homeostasis (9m, U S A) Director: Matt Boman
Breaking out of routine may mean an encounter with the unreal.
Siyabonga (14m, South Africa) Director: Comfort Ndaba. 
Musician’s serenades prove irresistible to man and beast.
Michael Saints (11m, U S A) Director: Katie Mahalic
Boy enlists the sacred to save his mother.
Hutton Was A Butterfly (10m, New Zealand) Hamish Parkinson
Life’s final moments made vivid in a pre-death dream.

GOLD LION A HIT IN LESOTHO (posted October 21, 2008)

The 2008 Gold Lion Film Festival commenced in stellar fashion at the weekend in Maseru, Lesotho.  Screenings were sold out at the Cinema at Lesotho Sun Hotel.

            “Swaziland’s film festival is turning into a Southern Africa-wide event.  Lesotho is the newest country to request screenings.  Our partners in Maseru did a spectacular job organizing the shows.  Now, it is on to Swaziland,” said James Hall, Director of the Gold Lion Film Festival.

            Alliance Francaise de Maseru and its director Pascal Tomascini organized the Lesotho screenings.
            On Opening Night, the best animated short films of 2008 were screened.  For the first time, the festival gave an award for Best Animated Film, with a prize of R3000 sponsored by the cellular phone provider Vodacom.
            The winner was Joaquin Baldwin, a filmmaker from Sherman Oaks, California in the U.S.A.  His film, “Sebastian’s Voodoo” was selected by a panel of six judges assembled from media and cultural organizations.
            The judges noted of the film that tells of one voodoo doll’s ultimate sacrifice, made to save his fellow dolls, “Sebastian’s Voodoo” tells an original story, and is both technically accomplished and emotionally moving.” 
            The festival also gave out its first award for Best Documentary Film, with an E2000 prize donated by Sun International Hotel and the German government and a trophy (a carved wooden box) donated by Hall.
            The winner was “Africa 11,” a 21-minute documentary by Austrian filmmaker Stefan Lukacs.  The film shows the trials and triumphs of young male Nigerian political exiles in Austria who form a football team whose excellence threatens the local Austrian teams.
            Lukacs was at the screening, and was on hand to accept the award when it was announced at the show’s after-party.
            The Austrian government sponsored Lukacs’ trip to Africa.
            “They will be very happy.  I am very happy.  This award will help me get funding for my next projects,” said Lukacs.
            “Africa 11” had its world premiere at the Gold Lion Film Festival.
            A special documentary award committee considered four other films, from the U.S., U.K., Brazil and Italy before choosing “Africa 11.”
            A certificate was also presented to Alliance Francaise de Maseru.

Alliance Francaise de Maseru Director Pascal Tomascini

Intense conversation: Some members of the awards committee dissect their voting decisions.