Sanjeev Singh, Director of Acquisition and Distribution for Videovision Entertainment announced today that the company has acquired the most talked about and controversial film of the Cannes Film Festival this year, the Lars von Trier helmber, AntiChrist which had its lead stars, Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in attendance in Cannes. The film will have its South African premiere at the Durban International Film Festival on Saturday, 25 July. Charlotte Gainsbourg won the Best Actress Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her powerful performance in the film.
Antichrist is a no-holds barred journey into hell and a grisly and highly personal take on the horror film genre. A grieving couple (Willem Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) retreats to ‘Eden’, their isolated cabin in the woods, where they hope to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage, but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Singh, who is a veteran of more than twenty Cannes Film Festivals as acquisitions director, is excited that Videovision Entertainment has been able to bring the biggest line-up ever of films from Cannes to the Durban Film Festival this year – the Winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes Samson And Delilah as well as the comedy Looking For Eric which also premiered in Cannes with its lead star and former Manchester United footballer, Eric Cantona in attendance. Samson And Delilah, directed by Warwick Thornton, follows the lives of two Aboriginal teenagers living in the Australian outback. Samson fills his days with bad guitar playing and the intoxication of petrol fumes while Delilah has a far more arduous existence, spending her time looking after her disabled grandmother. Samson gradually falls in love with Delilah and makes his feelings known. When her grandmother dies, Delilah is accused on negligence by the community and the two of them steal a car and head off to Alice Springs. Looking For Eric is a warm-hearted and uplifting comedy which tells the story of Eric Bishop, a forty-something postal worker and avid Manchester United fan who receives inspiration from his football idol, Eric Cantona.
Other Cannes highlights in the Festival are director Steven Soderbergh’s Che 1 and Che 2 and the documentary features Maradona and Tyson. Che 1 tracks the epic on the life of the famous Argentine revolutionary, Che Guevara’s rise from doctor to commander to revolutionary hero, while Che 2 takes the story up in 1965, when Guevara resigned from his government posts, renounced his Cuban citizenship and dropped out of sight. Soderbergh follows Che to Bolivia where he attempts to spread the flames of revolution further into South America. Bernicio Del Toro who was also in Cannes to present the film, won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role as Che Guevara. Maradona, directed by Two-time Palme D’or winner, Emir Kusturica celebrates the incredible story of footballer, Diego Maradona. Tyson from acclaimed indie director James Toback, is a stylistically inventive portrait of the mesmerizing boxer, Mike Tyson.
Also included in the Videovision Entertainment line-up in the Festival are Disgrace, based on JM Coetzee’s novel which follows a white South African academic (John Malkovich) who, after having an affair with a young coloured student, retreats to his daughter’s farm in the Eastern Cape following disciplinary action; An Education, written by Nick Hornby (About a Boy, Fever Pitch) is based on the memoirs of journalist, Lynn Barber; Genova, directed by Michael Winterbottom, it tells the story of a widower who relocates to Italy with his two daughters, following the death of his wife; Heaven On Earth marks Preity Zinta’s transition from Bollywood movies to the art movie genre under the guidance of acclaimed director, Deepa Mehta; London River is an intimate account of two very different people who come to understand their sameness in the search for their children; The September Issue, directed and produced by R.J. Cutler (The War Room), tells the story of the legendary editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, Anna Wintour, whose life inspired the film The Devil Wears Prada; and the Closing Night film, Whatever Works which sees Woody Allen return to New York, casting the eternally antisocial Larry David as his alter ego.
Sanjeev Singh commented, “We are delighted to continue our relationship with the Durban International Film Festival which has spanned 30 years and congratulate them on their 30th Anniversary this year. We also congratulate the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa on their 10th Anniversary and for supporting the Festival. We are also delighted to be providing the Festival with fourteen films this year, the biggest ever line-up from Videovision Entertainment. “
