Shnit Cape Town Announces 2019 Line Up

shnit Cape Town, celebrating its 10th anniversary, has announced an outstanding 2019 lineup. A total of 37 South African films and over 100 international submissions will be screened this year ranging from animation to mock-docs, fiction and experimental. The exceptional non-profit transnational film festival, shnit is hosted annually simultaneously on five continents, in Cape Town, Bern, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Hong Kong, Moscow and San Jose, with the shnit Finale held in New York City. This year, Dr John Kani will head the shnit Cape Town Jury Panel alongside cinematographer Gaopie Kabe, director and comedian Kagiso Lediga and writer Lauren Beukes.

A dynamic transnational film festival, shnit will take place from 17 to 28 October, and is proud to present a 50% female-directed South African film programme this year with 19 of the 37 films having been made and / or directed by women. shnit's programming team is strongly womxn-driven and representative in terms of race, age and sexual identity. The South African and international line ups include films with body- and sex-positive focus, challenging confrontations of gender-based violence, political allegories and interrogations, not forgetting shnit's characteristically irreverent and quirky humour. Selected from 150 South African entries and thousands of films globally, shnit's 10th year in SA is full of the strong voices the festival has sought to seek out since inception.

Films submitted range between 3 to 37 minutes in duration and a well curated line up will be presented, designed to entertain, thrill, engage, inspire debate and challenge audiences, and offering a wide-ranging look into the exciting film work coming out of the South African industry today. From deeply introspective drama, to comedy, heartwarming humanity, to top end animation, experimental films and unflinching interrogations of the state of the nation, the films will showcase the multifaceted identities and complexities of today's SA.

The full list of South African films is as follows: Afrika is a Country by Frances Kroon (3 mins/Experimental), Axis Mundi by Sean Steinberg and Matthew Jankes (23 mins/Fiction), Billy Monk-Shot in the Dark by Craig Cameron-Mackintosh (37 mins/Doc), Camcopy by Rob Smith (10 minutes/Mock-Doc), Fall into the Sky by Akuol de Mabior and Christen Torres (9 mins/Doc-Experimental), Miracle by Bongi Ndaba (24 mins/Fiction), Nongqawuse by Sandulele Asanda Biyana (24 mins/Fiction), Scenes from a Dry City by Francois Vester and Simon Wood (13 min/Doc), Skaap (Sheep) by Mzonke Maloney (5 mins/Fiction), The Bull by Kelsey Egan (15 mins/Fiction), The Letter Reader by Sibusiso Khuzwayo (28 mins/ Fiction), Vossie Vergas Homself (Vossie Kills Himself) by Philip Nolte (24 mins/Fiction), The Lost Carts of the Karoo by Timothy Gabb (15 mins/ Doc), Wrapped Up by Beth Ribeiro and Shari Mwanika (12 mins/Fiction), Agulhas by Alexandra Richards (11 mins/Fiction), Chin Up! By Lara Lipschitz (8 mins/Fiction, Tuiskoms (Coming Home) by Michael Klein (12 mins/Fiction), Cowboy Dan by Wynand Louw (23 mins/Fiction), Ember by Caitlin Hoseck ( 5 mins/ Animation), Far From The Castle by Julia Jansch (17 mins/Fiction), Fatima by Imran Hamdulay (18 mins/Fiction), In The Light Of The Fire by Rafeeqah Galant (13 mins/ Fiction), Kloof by Gerhard Pretorius ( 24 mins/Fiction), Milk & Honey by Danelle Venter (8 mins/ Experimental), Nomvula by AdvikBeni and Jason Maselle (15 min/Fiction), Our Albertinia by Chantel Clark (21 mins/Fiction), Queer by Priya Jeram Patel (5 mins/Documentary), Roses For The Ocean by Ts'episo Mahase ( 3 mins/Experimental), Sonrotse (Sun Rocks) by Alena Muir (11 mins/Fiction), Story Of A Baked Brownie by Elelwani Netshifhire (5 min/Experimental), The Company's Garden by Will Nicholson (9 min/Fiction), The Jaguars Daughter by Puleng Stewart ( 4 mins/Experimental), Tweetalig by Heleen van Tonder ( 11 min/ Fiction), Undone by Sara Laubscher and Saira George (4 min/ Animation), Unknown No by Jennifer Pack ( 26 mins/Fiction), and What Constitutes Home? by Alex Williams ( 7 mins/ Documentary).

Standout international submissions include Skin, by Guy Nattiv, this years Oscar winner for Best Short Film, a gruelling and painful look at racism and violence in the USA. Others on the list include Brotherhood, by Meryam Joobeur, a Tunisian/Canadian drama making waves around the world, including nominations and/or awards at Toronto, Sundance, Cairo and Durban International Film Festivals. Other world titles include Third Kind (Yorgos Zois /Greece), a spec sci fi set on a future Earth, which looks at today's refugee crisis, filmed in real locations and refugee camps. Uno (Javier Marco /Spain) is an intimate vignette highlighting the danger and trauma of refugees seeking passage to Europe. Fifteen (Peiman Zakavat /Peru) is a confident hard hitting film about internet shaming among teens. End of the Line (Jessica Saunders, USA) stars The Big Bang Theory's Simon Helberg in an adaptation of Aimee Bender's surrealist short story of the same name. Films like Call of Comfort (Brenda Lien /Germany) and Riot Not Diet (Julia Mann/Germany) take hard looks at our obsession with body image while P.O.V. (Jeronimo Acero/France) Etiqueta Negrita (David Aoiz/Spain), Black Hat (Sarah Smith/USA) and Yulia and Juliet (Zara Swinger/ Netherlands) explore the full spectrum of love and relationships. International animations are outstanding as always, from the hilarity of Hors Piste (Leo Brunel/ France) and Turbopera (Antoine Marchand)/France) to the horrific and visceral Augenblinke (A Blink of an Eye, Kiana Naghshineh/Germany).

Screenings will be at the festivals longstanding venue The Labia Theatre as well as at Bertha House in Khayelitsha, 44 Long Street in the CBD, Kelvin Corner in Woodstock and various other venues from 17 to 28 October. An exciting family-friendly outdoor event will also take place at Battery Park at the V&A Waterfront on Sunday 20th October at 5:30pm with details online via Facebook.

shnit is South Africa's foremost and most established event in its genre. Of the momentous 10 year milestone, founder and film maker Sean Drummond (Five Fingers for Marseilles, Apocalypse Now Now) said, "when we brought shnit to SA in 2010, we wanted to present a platform to celebrate great SA work and to tap into what the world was doing in short films." Ten years on we've had the privilege of working with some of Cape Town's most passionate filmmakers, our team, venues, juries, audiences and extended work family and have been privileged to have the support of the industry from top to bottom. Our mission hasn't changed: to celebrate and showcase the best in local work and to bring in the best in international work every year to entertain, enlighten and inspire".

Films in the Made in South Africa category will compete for the South African jury prize and all South African films screened will be eligible for audience awards in the Made in South Africa and Local Flavour categories, while International submissions will compete for a collective global International Competition Audience Award. Overall winners of the international competition will receive a Flaming Faun statuette and a share of the US$20,000 prize money at the awards ceremony held in New York City in October 2019. For more info, events and screening updates, visit www.shnit.org, facebook.com/shnit.org and Follow @shnitcapetown on Instagram.