On Thursday the 18th of July 2024 Durban’s Suncoast Casino hosted the prestigious Opening Night of the 45th annual Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). Anticipation filled the air as film-makers, attendees and critics made their way into the CineCentre cinema complex celebrating day one of ten days of disruptive cinematic experiences for viewers across multiple venues in the warm coastal city.

This year the Durban International Film Festival opened and closed with two extremely powerful documentaries in their own right: The first of which is titled Legacy: The Decolonized History of South Africa by South African-born actor and first-time female filmmaker Tara Moore.

Legacy: The Decolonized History of South Africa was later awarded Best South African Documentary Film at the DIFF Awards Ceremony which took place on Saturday the 27th of July.

The jury said, “The film is a partial account of South Africa's history and the aftermath of apartheid's legacy. While it may fall short of offering a decolonised history, it does prompt us to take up the conversation and ask how we decolonise our history: past, present, and future. History is never complete, South African documentary filmmakers remain critical in continuing to add to the body of films that speak to who we are and who we will become as a country”.

After all winners in the DIFF 2024 Awards were announced (Saturday the 27th of July), the festival closed with The Showerhead - A documentary Directed by Craig Tanner on South African political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, also known as Zapiro.

The film covers Zapiro’s upbringing within a large family, influenced by his mother’s fighting spirit, even during Apartheid, for a better and equal society. He goes on to say that when the United Democratic Front (UDF) was formed 1983 he and his family joined the party, he later became known as the party’s official cartoonist - often critiquing the Nationalist Government’s attempt to justify an unjust sytem. This lead to the arrest of Zapiro and two family members at the time.

Through his work, he captures the spirit and times of South Africa’s history from the change into a democracy (1994), the inauguration of Nelson Mandela, Mbeki Denialism, The Arms Deal and of course the ascent to power of our previous president Jacob Zuma. It was during this era in his career when Zuma sued Zapiro for three of his published works at five million rand each. Even with a fifteen million rand lawsuit hanging over his head, Zapiro continued to fight in the form of art for justice. It was later mentioned that these cases were no longer pursued.

The documentary touches on our uniquely powerful stance as South Africans - whose justice system not only allows, but promotes Free Speech as enshrined in our Constitution, while some countries, would ensure creative activists like Zapiro would be stopped in their tracks by any means necessary.

Being KZN - the home of Zuma, the film, when focused on the cartoonists’ very public creation of the character known as “The Showerhead”, was disrupted by the impromptu chanting of a disgruntled supporter who loudly sang “Wenzeni uZuma” in the dark of the cinema. An elderly gentlemen politely escorted him out of the cinema. Only to be met by an applause of the majority of the audience. If there’s anything disruptive-art is never short of - Drama is certainly it.

Both films prove educational, enlightening, informative and provocative. We urge our readers to watch both Legacy: The Decolonized History of South Africa (by Tara Moore) and The Showerhead (by Craig Tanner) when afforded the next opportunity - as we begin to better understand our country and the socio-political context we find ourselves in, in a far richer way.

Written By Lex LaFoy.