The Cape Town International Film Market & Festival at the Westin Hotel hosted by Pearl Thusi and Maps Maponyane.
After the ten days of the festival, energy of local young filmmakers combined with the enthusiasm from the many local and international experts, professionals and guest speakers, has proven that Cape Town’s film industry is thriving.
Jury members from across the globe viewed all the films in competition and the following is the full list of winners.
Pitching Competition
This year the festival selected 8 projects from numerous entries who each had to hand in a comprehensive proposal to get selected. They went through workshops & pitch mentoring with the Writers’ Guild of South Africa, to get them pitch ready.
The winner of this year’s prize pworth $20 000 sponsored by the Moving Billboard Company is Nathan Theys, for the project Ronald.
The runner-up prize, also sponsored by the Moving Billboard Company, and worth $10,000 awarded to Brett Michael Innes for Callus.
South African Short Film
The Cape Town International Film Festival has a passion for short films, and particularly our South African Short films. There are two films that the juries acknowledged for Honourable Mentions.
Jaap by Ian Morgan
Meticulously crafted, Jaap may start off with stereotypes, but the characters turn out well-rounded in the end. Director Ian Morgan has created a quirky, funny, poignant and endearing road trip movie.
Post by Jesse Brown
Post is an immersive sensory experience. A short, hand-held camera documentary it paints a portrait of filmmaker Jesse Brown’s grandfather, showing off an intimacy between the two that is both playful and real, yet sublime.
Best Short Film
Intergalactic Samurai Hagar Ben-Asher
Well-rounded, polished, emotionally visceral and with an ending to make your hair stand on end, this story of two young Ethiopian girls in Israel will subtly teach you something you didn’t know. The story about identity is universal but will be of relevance to South Africans.
The superb performance Hagar Ben-Asher gets out of her two characters immediately grabbed us and left us gasping is Intergalactic Samurai.
Best Actor
Pankaj Tripathi as Salim in Mango Dreams
Best Actress
Antoinette Louw as Molly Fischer in An Act of Defiance
Best Script
Jean van der Velde for An Act of Defiance
Best Editing
Mustafa Presheva for Ayla: The Daughter of War
Best Cinematography
Massimo Moschin for The Last Prosecco
Best Documentary Film
Hana by Giuseppe Carrieri
Best LGBT Film
Special Mention Award
KA Bodyscapes by Jayan K. Cherian
The role of film festivals is to make visible emerging filmic voices that counter dominant cultural representations in which certain lives are frequently left out. In India homosexuality is criminalised in law, with high levels of persecution and harassment. In this context, KA Bodyscapes is a courageous film. It is a film about working class LGBT people struggling against both homophobia and sexism. Set in Kerala, the film weaves together several narratives that highlight the vulnerabilities of economic marginalisation, violence, state harassment, and powerful queer resistance, in the daily realties of women and LGBT people.
Best LGBT Film
Heartstone by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
This is an extraordinarily crafted film, dealing with the crisis in contemporary masculinity and how a heteronormative structure damages all genders and sexualities. It is a coming of age story of young people that mirrors the harsh and isolated, yet breathtaking, Icelandic fishing village in which it is set. Heartstone is a stunning debut feature with raw, visceral performances, sensitive directing, truthful screenwriting and poetic cinematography.
Best South African Feature Film
Catching Feelings by Kagiso Lediga
South African films are amongst the best in the world. Many of our feature films are screened and win at festivals around the globe. Tonight we honour the best in South African filmmaking. The winner for Best South African Feature Film…
The film is a refreshing film that not only showcases the talent of its writer and director but also introduces the audience to characters and conversations that they will recognise instantly from their own lives. Well executed and vibrant, it is a love letter to Johannesburg and a deserving addition to the canon of South African cinema.
Best New Director
Manouj Kadaamh for Horizon
Best Director
Visa Koiso-Kantilla for Star Boys
Grand Prix Award
Kivanç Sezer for My Father’s Wings
The highest honour for any feature filmmaker, is to be awarded the Best Feature Film Award. This year the competition was exceptionally tough but the prize was awarded to Kivanç Sezer for My Father’s Wings.
