Welcome to the first edition of the Cape Winelands Film Festival!

During the past fifteen years, more than in any previous period in film history, filmmakers around the world have explored the quality of their medium.  Revivals in diverse film cultures such as China, Iran, South Korea, Thailand, Mexico, Argentina and Taiwan brought joy to cinephiles across the globe.  In Africa and Central and South America, new filmmakers emerged who selectively engaged with the themes of their forebears, for example, Salles and Meirelles in Brazil, Gonzáles Inárritu and Del Toro in Mexico, Dani Kouyaté in Burkina Faso and Abderrahmane Sissako from Mauritania.  

Great auteur filmmakers became darlings of cinephiles around the world: Bruno Dumont, Alexander Sokurov, Bela Tarr, Michael Haneke, Francois Ozon, Abbas Kiarostami and many more.

Unfortunately South African film lovers had few opportunities to see these films.  The aim of the Cape Winelands Film Festival is to provide a chance to catch up with the rest of the world’s cinephiles.  The objective is to create a window on world cinemas.

A part of this year’s programme is to feature award-winning films that Capetonians and South Africans haven’t seen on our big screens: Ozon’s Time to Leave, Tavernier’s Safe Conduct, Dumont’s award-winning dramas, Humanity and Flandres, Kiarostami’s poetic The Wind will carry us, Olivier Assayas’s Sentimental Destinies.  Apart from a focus on the vibrant French film industry movie lovers will have the chance to see wonderful films from South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Italy, Thailand and Tunisia.

We will also pay tribute to two giants of the cinema that passed away last year – Ingmar Bergman and Ousmane Sembene.  There will be a rare chance to see two classics of the Egyptian cinema master filmmaker Youssef Cahine’s film The Earth and Shadi Abdelsalam’s unforgettable masterpiece The Night of the Counting of the Years.  Don’t miss these great films that will be screened in their original 35mm versions.

The festival is also proud to feature a selection of outstanding short films (by local and international filmmakers), as well as Oscar winning and nominated documentaries.

Our sincere thanks to all the sponsors that helped making this event possible for you the film lovers.