Mthatha-born veteran actor, Jet Novuka’s dream for Mthatha and the Eastern Cape to have an annual international film festival is finally becoming a reality, with the hosting of the inaugural Mthatha International Film Festival (MIFF) that is being held at the Nelson Mandela Museum from today, December 16, to Sunday, December 19.
The hybrid MIFF’s four-day programme features local and international film screenings, as well as workshops, aimed at ensuring engagement with locally based prospective film makers and broader community participation.
The festival will open with the screening of the opening film, The Foggy Mountain, which is co-directed by Phan Ahn and Ken Dinh and starring Peter Pham.
The MIFF initiative is the brainchild of Novuka, through his company, Jetset Creations, and directing the four-day festival is film producer and businessman, Senzo Zindela of Zindela Pictures, who has been successfully running the Ugu Film Festival for the past nine years.
“We are excited to be finally going live with the festival as it’s been a long time coming.
“This is truly a passion project in every sense of the word as it came from a deep-seated desire for me to plough back into my place of birth by contributing to the development of the local film industry,” said Novuka, as quoted in a statement from the festival organisers.
“This signals the beginning of an era in Mthatha and the greater Eastern Cape, where aspirant filmmakers, school-going children and the broader community can realise that exposure to the ins and outs of the film industry is indeed within their reach and that their film aspirations are valid and attainable,” Novuka added.
Among international guests who will be gracing the four-day festival are award-winning Vietnamese American actor, Peter Pham, Hollywood actor, Sherman Augustus, known for his role in American favourite, Into The Badlands, award-winning actress, Cynthia Rothrock, as well as several high-profile film directors and producers from Hollywood and Thailand.
“In curating the films that will be screened at the festival, as well as the overall coordination of the workshops and empowerment activities, we were deliberate about ensuring that not only do we showcase and promote local content and talent to domestic and global audiences, but that the local film industry development narrative also comes through quite strongly,” said Zindela.
The Mthatha International Film Festival is hosted under the theme: ‘Creating Spaces for Storytellers and Unearthing Hidden Gems.’
The public can follow the inaugural MIFF on social media platforms.
