VIDEOVISION ENTERTAINMENT FILMS FOR THE DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Videovision Entertainment will participate in the Durban International Film Festival with five films this year. Directly from its Cannes Film Festival Competition engagement is Atom Egoyan’s Adoration; from the Toronto Film Festival’s Official Selection are Santosh Sivan’s Before The Rains and Jeremy Podeswa’s Fugitive Pieces; the Berlin Film Festival hit, Mike Leigh’s Happy Go Lucky and the acclaimed More Than Just A Game which is produced by Videovision Entertainment and directed by Junaid Ahmed. The Festival runs from 23 July to 3 August 2008.

More Than Just A Game is directed by Junaid Ahmed and produced by Videovision Entertainment’s Anant Singh and Helena Spring. Told through the stories of five former prisoners, More Than Just A Game follows the story of how political activists who were unjustly imprisoned on Robben Island in the 1960s rise above their incarceration by creating a football league, the Makana Football Association, thereby finding an outlet for their passion and commitment to discipline through football. The film was released at cinemas earlier this year and will be released on DVD in September 2008.

Directed by Santosh Sivan (The Terrorist, Asoka), Before The Rains, is an epic period film. Linus Roache (Priest) plays Moores, an ambitious British landowner in 1930s Kerala who wishes to extend his plantation. Crucial to Moores getting things done is TK (Rahul Bose) a local fixer who makes all the necessary logistical arrangements. While Moores is married, he is also conducting a torrid affair with the beautiful servant Sajani (Nandita Das). When his wife returns from England, Moores decides to end his affair with Sajani, who is herself married, but this is not so easily done and the consequences are tragic. Before The Rains will be released in South Africa on 5 September 2008.

Fugitive Pieces is directed by Jeremy Podeswa (The Five Senses). It is a beautifully shot film about redemption and humaneness. While conducting an archaeological dig in Nazi-occupied Poland, Athos discovers a young boy whose family has been massacred. He secrets the boy to Greece and lovingly raises him. When they move to Canada, and as the boy grows up, his past continues to haunt him, especially the fate of his beloved sister who went missing all those years ago. Fugitive Pieces will be released at cinemas in South Africa on 3 October 2008.

A hit at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky is a delightful comedy is about Poppy, a teacher from London who is just perfectly happy. An eternal optimist and enthusiast, Poppy tries to spread her good cheer to all around her, with varying degrees of success. Poppy’s altruism sometimes leads her into personal danger and awkward situations, but she always manages to find a solution and keep a smile on her face. For her great performance, Sally Hawkins won the Best Actress Award at the Festival. The South African release of Happy-Go-Lucky is scheduled for 30 January 2009.

Directly from its Cannes premiere, Adoration, directed by Atom Egoyan, is about terrorism, technology and a young man who gets embroiled in a complicated game. The film follows an orphan, Simon, who hears a story of a terrorist who plants a bomb in the luggage of his pregnant girlfriend who is traveling to Israel and imagines himself to be the child of that couple. He soon begins to present this fantasy as fact, leading to great controversy as he converses with critics through the internet. Simon is unaware, though, that he is part of a greater plan. The release of Adoration in South Africa is scheduled for 13 February 2009.

Sanjeev Singh, Videovision Entertainment’s Head of Acquisition and Distribution commented, “We are delighted to premiere our award-winning films at the Durban International Film Festival. The Festival has become the leading film festival in the country and we are pleased to be supporting it.”