13th European Film Festival South Africa Programme Announced

The 13th European Film Festival South Africa presents the latest award-winning, critically-acclaimed and star-studded European films for local audiences to experience in cinemas around South Africa from 17 to 27 September. As the world faces ever faster and enormous changes, the festival’s offerings from across the continent paints intimate, human portraits of family in all its different forms as vital to personal, psychological and social survival. 

This year’s programme boasts 12 films including new work from Oscar-winning directors Pawel Pawlikowski and Paolo Sorrentino; social realist legends, the Dardenne Brothers; BAFTA-winning feature debutant Akinola Davies Jr.; and intriguing, entertaining, always engaging work from both veteran and emerging European cinematic storytellers. Featuring impressive performances from the cream of European talent including Mads Mikkelsen, Javier Bardem, Sandra Hüller and Carice van Houten, and a host of newcomers ably meeting the challenges of demanding, emotional roles – the 13th edition of South Africa’s premier festival for cinema-lovers explores family and its realities and challenges across time, place and genre.  

Opening the festival is The Last Viking, with Denmark’s biggest star Mads Mikkelsen, leading the star-studded cast of this madcap, blackly comic Danish family-drama/crime-caper-noir about brothers, mental health, past secrets, the Beatles and getting by with more than a little bit of help from your friends. 

Winner of the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut, My Father’s Shadow (UK), British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr’s first feature marks the arrival of a vital, bold new voice in world cinema. Poetically realised with haunting imagery and bustling, vivid, angry life it’s a deeply personal film that’s a tribute not only to its creators’ own father but to all parents who daily face the struggles to keep their families alive and together at all costs. 

My Fathers Shadow ©Lakin Ogunbanwo

Germany’s offering Fatherland directed by Oscar-winning director Paweł Pawlikowski (Ida and Cold War), European cinema’s master of visual and narrative precision, delivers a tightly controlled, intimate, and heart-breaking portrait of German literature’s legendary Thomas Mann as he and his daughter make a journey across a nation trying to grapple with grief and the horrors of the past as the Cold War rages. Winner of the Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Festival, the film stars Oscar-nominated Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall).

In Young Mothers (Belgium), the multiple award-winning Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne paint a small, gritty, and empathetic portrait of the struggles of young mothers. Abandoned by their families and society, these courageous and anxious young women support each other as they make the first of many tough adult decisions of their lives.  Winner of the Best Screenplay award at Cannes this year.

Young Mothers

Oscar- and BAFTA-winning leading Italian director Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty) reteams with collaborator Toni Servillo in La Grazia (Italy). Servillo won a Best Actor statue at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in this elegantly styled, intimate drama about fathers, daughters, love, duty and the eternal question of “who owns our days?”- set against the grubby backdrop of Italian politics. 

La Grazia - Toni Servillo - © Andrea Pirrello

Colours of Time (France), directed by Cédric Klapisch is a family drama that weaves together stories from one family’s 19th century past and their 21st-century present. A memorably delightful and touching exploration of art, family and history. 

Porcelain War (Ukraine) directed by Brendan Bellomo and this stunning documentary’s key protagonist, Slava Leontyev, is an inspirational Oscar-nominated film in which Leontyev, his wife, and their friend tell, at great personal risk and with footage they shot, the story of how their lives as artists were brutally upended by the war in Ukraine. Now, with roles as Ukrainian soldiers – they’ve never lost their passion for art and nature as they risk everything for family, nation and freedom. 

Oscar winner Javier Bardem gives a brooding performance as the fictional, acclaimed, mercurial Spanish film director Esteban Martínez in The Beloved (Spain). Director Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Martinez returns to his homeland to film a colonial-era period drama set in the Western Sahara. 

The film unravels the fragile relationship between fathers and daughters and asks difficult questions about personal sacrifices made in service of art.

In A Family (Netherlands) Dutch director Mees Peijnenburg offers a powerful window on divorce in modern Europe, told empathetically through the eyes of a brother and sister trying to each find their own ways and hopefully a path together through the aftermath of the bitter war between their parents. It stars Carice van Houten (Game of Thrones) and Pieter Embrechts.

A Family © Jasper Wolf

Veteran award-winning Polish director Agnieszka Holland offers an energetic and generally bright biopic about the enigmatic literary genius Franz Kafka, in Franz. The film contemplates its protagonist, his difficult relationship with his father, and imagines how his legacy might be celebrated in the future. 

Ireland’s Christy is the debut feature from Brendan Canty that has picked up many nominations and awards at this year’s Irish Film and TV Awards for its tender direction and impressive lead performance from Danny Power as the title character – a teenager with a murkily remembered tragic past, who, after he’s kicked out of his latest foster home, returns to Cork to stay with his estranged brother. As he tries to figure out his future, he rediscovers the relationship with his brother and begins to imagine a home among people in a place he might yet grow to know and love.  

Christy

The extraordinary and original, Aquí (Portugal) is director Tiago Guedes’ ambitious, epic and suitably enigmatic adaptation of the Jesus trilogy of novels by South African Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee. It stays true to its source material’s humanist hopes, despairs and probing of the eternal philosophical questions that keep families and societies eternally (and anxiously) moving onward. 

The festival pays tribute to the tireless dedication and vision of a former co-director of the festival Peter Rorvik, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Peter was a passionate supporter of independent films, and nurtured a generation of film lovers and filmmakers across South Africa and beyond for decades. 

The 13th European Union Film Festival South Africa takes place from September 17 to 27, 2026 in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria.

For the full programme and schedule follow on social media or go to www.eurofilmfest.co.za

South African Film God’s Work awarded prestigious prize at Luxor African Film Festival

The South African feature film God’s Work, directed by Michael James and produced by Sithabile Mkhize was awarded the prestigious Radwan El Kashef Prize for Best Film Addressing an African Issue (Silver Mask of Tutankhamun) at The Luxor African Film Festival in Egypt last week.

“The Radwan El Kashef Prize for the Best Film addressing an African issue is not granted annually, but only when the High Committee decides that a particular film deserves this special honour, marking it as a distinction reserved for truly exceptional works that embody both artistic excellence and deep engagement with African realities,” says Festival Director Ms Azza El Husseiny.

The prize is named after Egypt’s pioneering independent filmmaker Radwan El Kashef (1952–2002), and symbolizes cinema that elevates marginalized voices with empathy and poetic depth. The film was honoured for “its powerful artistic vision and its sincere exploration of African identity and collective struggle.”

The award was presented to the director, Michael James by Dr Hossam El-Mandouh El-Husseini, Egyptian Member of Parliament, in recognition of the enduring cultural ties between Egypt and Africa and the festival’s role as a platform for creative dialogue across the continent.

Reflecting on the honour, director Michael James said: “Receiving this award on behalf of the film, and all involved is deeply humbling. This award affirms the importance of telling African stories with honesty and empathy, and I hope God’s Work continues to contribute to the ongoing dialogue around affirming the humanity of the homeless community."

Sithabile Mkhize commented, “This award is especially important because it acknowledges one of the central intentions of the film, which is to use the power of cinema to build bridges across humanity."

“This recognition is a powerful validation of the collaborative effort behind God’s Work,” says Executive Producer Toni Monty. “It highlights the strength of African filmmaking and the importance of creating platforms where our stories can resonate globally. We are proud to see the film stand alongside works that embody both artistic excellence and social relevance.”

The film is supported by the Durban Film Office, KZN Tourism and Film, The National Film and Video Foundation, and co-produced with Amafrika Films and Mojo Entertainment. 

SA Film GOD’S WORK selected for Luxor African Film Festival in Egypt

The South African film GOD’S WORK, directed and written by Michael James, and produced by Sithabile Mkhize, will have its Middle East and North Africa  premiere in the Long Film Competition at the 15th Luxor African Film Festival in Egypt from 30 March to 5 April.

GOD’S WORK which had its South African premiere at the Durban International Film Festival last year, screened to sold-out houses, and critical acclaim, and is due to be screened at the Joburg Film Festival on Sunday 8 March.

Mbulelo Radebe, Thobani Nzuza and Siya Xaba in God's Work directed by Michael James and  produced by Sithabile Mkhize.

The film is set in Durban where a group of unhoused men are surviving on the society’s margins in a dilapidated building that offers a fragile sanctuary. They are  bound by quiet loyalty. The audience is drawn into their personal journeys as they  navigate a world of indifferent authorities, opportunists, and looming violence. It is their  inner worlds - woven from memories, visions, and ghosts - that hold reality as vivid as the one they fight to live through.

Director Michael James describes the film as an act of bearing witness; and one which forces us to question our understanding and relationships with  unhoused people.

Thobani Nzuza in God's Work directed by Michael James and produced by Sithabile Mkhize.

The film features Thobani Nzuza, Mbulelo Radebe, Omega Ncube, Siya Xaba, Zenzo Msomi and Nduduzo Kholwa with cinematography by Jared Hinde and score by award-winning composer, West-African born George Acogny.

GOD’S WORK is written and directed by Michael James, and Produced by Sithabile Mkhize (SA), Co-Produced by Marco Orsini (USA), Executive Produced by Toni Monty (SA) and Gary Springer (USA). A Maverick Resistance production in association with the KwaZulu-Natal Film and Tourism Authority, the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa, Amafrika Films, and Mojo Entertainment LLC, supported by the Durban Film Office.

For the trailer, press notes and additional information visit the website at: https://www.godsworkthefilm.com/ and follow on social media: Facebook: @godsworkthefilm Instagram: godsworkthefilm

South African Feature God’s Work Selected for Joburg Film Festival

God’s Work, the uncompromising South African feature directed by Michael James, has been selected to screen at the 8th edition of the Joburg Film Festival on Sunday, 8 March at 16:15 at Artistry in Sandton.

Set within an abandoned inner-city building, God’s Work confronts homelessness not as abstraction, but as lived economic exclusion. Hunger, addiction, fractured memory and systemic neglect shape the interior and exterior worlds of men pushed beyond society’s margins. Stark social realities collide with surreal psychological landscapes, creating a film that resists easy categorisation.

Still from the film God’s Work

The film embraces a hybrid cinematic language — blending documentary textures, staged encounters, archival material and symbolic imagery — to question how cinema frames lives that exist outside systems of access and visibility.

“South Africa’s deepening social fractures are no longer peripheral,” says Producer Sithabile Mkhize. “People are being steadily removed from opportunity, recognition and support. God’s Work offers a direct encounter with these realities.”

Director Michael James describes the film as an act of bearing witness:
“This film is ultimately an exercise in empathy. Cinema allows us to dismantle distance — to attempt to see one another without mediation or judgment.”

Still from the film God’s Work

Early responses have described God’s Work as “a film that does not ask for sympathy but demands reckoning” and “a powerful confrontation with the human cost of inequality.”

The film features emotionally grounded performances from South African talents Thobani Nzuza, Mbulelo Radebe, Omega Ncube, Siya Xaba, Zenzo Msomi and Nduduzo Kholwa. Cinematography by Jared Hinde captures the textured physicality of the setting, while George Acogny’s haunting score deepens the psychological and emotional tension of the narrative.

God’s Work is produced by Maverick Entertainment, Amafrika Films and Mojo Entertainment, with support from the KZN Film and Tourism Authority, the Durban Film Office and the National Film and Television Foundation.

Producers: Sithabile Mkhize
Executive Producers: Toni Monty, Gary Springer
Co-Producer: Marco Orsini

God’s Work screens Sunday, 8 March at 16:15 at Artistry, 22 Fredman Drive, Sandown, Sandton.
Tickets: webtickets.co.za
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1072745582?fl=pl&fe=sh

SA documentary that has touched a nerve – picked up by international festival

Mother City, the hard-hitting South African documentary about the politics of urbanism premiered internationally at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival, and at the prestigious Encounters South African International Documentary Festival where it played to sold out houses. Since then, it has been in demand by audiences and festivals eager to engage with its content throughout the country and abroad.

The film received special mentions from the juries at both these festivals, and was shown to a packed audience of industry peers at the recent Durban FilmMart.

It had a special screening at the CineCentre GrandWest, Cape Town on 30 August followed by a robust panel discussion hosted by Daily Maverick journalist, Rebecca Davis with Disha Govender, Head of Ndifuna Ukwazi Law Centre; Nkosikhona Swartbooi, activist; Brett Herron, former Mayco Member for Housing, City of Cape Town, and Anthea Houston, CEO of Communicare.  

The London Renters Union, a campaigning union with branches across the UK, requested a special for the opening of their Housing Justice Assembly 2024 in London on 30 August.

Given the dire housing and land needs a robust impact campaign is created by the film makers and activists seeking various opportunities to screen the film to a wide and diverse audience in order to trigger discussion.

Where to see Mother City,  next:

In Cape Town a short season will follow at The Labia Theatre in Cape Town on Sunday 8 September, 2.30pm and from Friday 13 to Thursday 19 September 8pm.

Johannesburg public screenings take place at the CineCentre Killarney Mall from Wednesday 18 September at 19:00 with a special screening with the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation with Daily Maverick’s Ferial Hafajee hosting a post screening panel discussion.

It will screen at CineCentre on Friday 4 October at 7.30pm, Saturday 5 October at 5.15pm and Sunday 6 October at 2.30pm.

International screenings and festivals include:

●      Sheffield: The Showroom Cinema in Sheffield 28 October

●      London: Bertha DocHouse in London requested to screen Mother City  29 October 

●      Namibia at the Film Week in Windhoek

●      In Germany, at Afrika Film Festival Köln, 

●      and in Switzerland and USA in the next four months.

Seasoned impact filmmaker Miki Redelinghuys of Plexus Films and veteran investigative journalist Pearlie Joubert, directed and produced the film with renowned feature-producer Kethiwe Ngcobo. Described as a beautifully observed, deeply human and often heart-breaking look at the politics of urbanism, the filmmakers spend six years documenting the activists of the dynamic Reclaim the City movement, as they transform two mothballed state-owned buildings in Cape Town’s into homes for more than 1000 people.  The Woodstock Hospital was renamed Cissy Gool House by occupiers and the Helen Bowden nursing home in the Waterfront, Ahmed Kathrada House  .

“This is a classic David versus Goliath struggle, where activists challenge the powerful forces of politics and property. It has touched a nerve wherever we have screened the film and resonates deeply with audiences worldwide – this is not just a South African problem,” says Pearlie Joubert, who recently  screened the film to the Renters Union in London.

“All over the world people who are living on the edges are talking truth to power, taking their fight like the Reclaim the City movement - to the streets, the courts, high-end events, and governments determined to make their voices heard. We are hoping this film will create the necessary impact for activists as well as those in power whose decisions affect them, we want each and every person who sees this film to be moved to action,” says Redelinghuys.

Link to ticket sales

 Cape Town: https://bit.ly/3AGbNPc

Johannesburg: https://bit.ly/3X4UzT4

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