Black Lives Matter is a documentary on the tens-of-thousands of miners working and living in abysmal conditions across South Africa. The film has been selected to screen at the Montreal International Black Film Festival, and has been nominated in the Best Documentary Feature Category.
The film that screened last year at the Durban International Film Festival puts the Canadian based mining firm Ivanhoe in the spotlight, taking the Marikana Massacre as its starting point, but digging deep into the history of the mining sector as well as the political backstory that led up to the tragedy.
Director Joseph Oesi, a South African filmmaker and TV journalist, was moved to produce the film after witnessing the devastating events of August 16th 2012 play out on TV screens across South Africa and the world. He explains his motivation for making the film, “South Africa has certainly set a course, fueled by a betrayal to the original course set by the original struggle heroes and to the Freedom Charter. Mining, at the heart of the country’s economy, has underpinned the course in the interest of big business. In essence the struggles, sufferings from Colonialism and Apartheid still persist in modern day South Africa to the disappointment of the vast majority.”
Black Lives Matter, powerfully demonstrates that even since this defining moment, nothing has changed for most miners, and mining communities across South Africa. Oesi explains the message of the film further, ““Black Lives Matter explores how the mineral wealth, rightfully belonging to the people of South Africa, has been sold to capitalist interests for the enrichment of a few elite and at the expense of the country. It also shows how traditional communities have been divided by this process. The corruption at all levels of society impacts not only on the moral fabric of our society, but also on the working class poor.”
In South Africa, 22 years ago, the African National Congress came to power. This, many believed, would signify an end to racism and oppression, and our people would prosper. But today inequality and economic disempowerment are still rife. The corruption and power grabbing at all levels of society impacts not only on the moral fabric of our society but, more importantly, on the working class poor.
The massacre of 34 striking mineworkers at a mine called Marikana brought these issues into sharp focus. Now, in an area called Mokopane in South Africa’s Limpopo province, tensions between the community and the mining companies, and communities and their traditional leaders, seem set to explode, with equally dire consequences. Black Lives Matter explores how the mineral wealth, rightfully belonging to the people of South Africa, has been sold to capitalist interests for the enrichment of a few elite and at the expense of the country – and how traditional communities have been divided in this process.
This film takes us on a journey through three rural communities – the Mogales, the Kekanas, and the Mapelas. What they have in common is that the richest platinum bearing reef in the world runs underneath their land – and that international mining companies have made dubious deals with traditional leaders whose very legitimacy is questioned by the communities they supposedly serve.
https://vimeo.com/168244259Montreal International Black Film Festival
Montreal International Black Film Festival
SINCE: 2005
WHERE: Montréal, Quebec, Canada
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The goal of the Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) is to bring audiences the most beautiful and the most amazing new Black films, while creating a space to debate major cultural, social and socio-economic issues. The MIBFF wants to promote a different kind of cinema, cinema that hails from here and from abroad and that does not necessarily have the opportunity to grace the big screen, groundbreaking cinema that moves us, that raises awareness and that takes us all by surprise. The MIBFF wants to deal with issues and present works that raise questions, that provoke, that make us smile, that leave us perplexed, that shock us…
Montreal International Black Film Festival
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BLACK LIVES MATTER Documentary Tackles South African Miners Working Conditions | Trailer
Black Lives Matter is a documentary on the tens-of-thousands of miners working and living in abysmal conditions across South Africa. The film has been selected to screen at the Montreal International Black Film Festival, and has been nominated in the Best Documentary Feature Category.
The film that screened last year at the Durban International Film Festival puts the Canadian based mining firm Ivanhoe in the spotlight, taking the Marikana Massacre as its starting point, but digging deep into the history of the mining sector as well as the political backstory that led up to the tragedy.
Director Joseph Oesi, a South African filmmaker and TV journalist, was moved to produce the film after witnessing the devastating events of August 16th 2012 play out on TV screens across South Africa and the world. He explains his motivation for making the film, “South Africa has certainly set a course, fueled by a betrayal to the original course set by the original struggle heroes and to the Freedom Charter. Mining, at the heart of the country’s economy, has underpinned the course in the interest of big business. In essence the struggles, sufferings from Colonialism and Apartheid still persist in modern day South Africa to the disappointment of the vast majority.”
Black Lives Matter, powerfully demonstrates that even since this defining moment, nothing has changed for most miners, and mining communities across South Africa. Oesi explains the message of the film further, ““Black Lives Matter explores how the mineral wealth, rightfully belonging to the people of South Africa, has been sold to capitalist interests for the enrichment of a few elite and at the expense of the country. It also shows how traditional communities have been divided by this process. The corruption at all levels of society impacts not only on the moral fabric of our society, but also on the working class poor.”
In South Africa, 22 years ago, the African National Congress came to power. This, many believed, would signify an end to racism and oppression, and our people would prosper. But today inequality and economic disempowerment are still rife. The corruption and power grabbing at all levels of society impacts not only on the moral fabric of our society but, more importantly, on the working class poor.
The massacre of 34 striking mineworkers at a mine called Marikana brought these issues into sharp focus. Now, in an area called Mokopane in South Africa’s Limpopo province, tensions between the community and the mining companies, and communities and their traditional leaders, seem set to explode, with equally dire consequences. Black Lives Matter explores how the mineral wealth, rightfully belonging to the people of South Africa, has been sold to capitalist interests for the enrichment of a few elite and at the expense of the country – and how traditional communities have been divided in this process.
This film takes us on a journey through three rural communities – the Mogales, the Kekanas, and the Mapelas. What they have in common is that the richest platinum bearing reef in the world runs underneath their land – and that international mining companies have made dubious deals with traditional leaders whose very legitimacy is questioned by the communities they supposedly serve.
https://vimeo.com/168244259
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IMPERIAL DREAMS, 3 1/2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS, TIME TO GO, Win Top Honors at 2015 Montreal International Black Film Festival
The 2015 Montreal International Black Film Festival held from September 29 to October 4, 2015, announced its prize winners at the Festival’s closing ceremonies on Sunday. Malik Vital’s Imperial Dreams won the award for Best Narrative Feature, Marc Silver’s 31/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets won the award for Best Documentary Feature, and Loîc Barché’s Le Commencement won the award for Best Narrative Short.
Winners of 2015 Montreal International Black Film Festival
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: Malik Vital’s Imperial Dreams (USA)
In Imperial Dreams, a 21-year-old reformed gangster’s devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Honorable mentions to: Ernest Nkosi’s Thina Sobabili (South Africa)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Marc Silver’s 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets (USA)
3 1⁄2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS dissects the shooting death of 17-year old Jordan Davis by Michael Dunn in Jacksonville, Florida on Black Friday 2012. The film examines the aftermath of this systemic tragedy, the contradictions within the American criminal justice system—particularly the implications of the “Stand Your Ground” self-defence law— and the racial prejudices that ensued. With intimate access, the film follows the trial of Dunn and its deep impact on Jordan’s family and friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKbCoRA__UI
Honorable mention to: Michiel Thomas’ Game Face (USA) and Stanley Nelson’s Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (USA)
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT: Loîc Barché’s Le Commencement (Time To Go) (France)
Ever since he was a child, the Musician has had only one goal: becoming a great guitar player. Now thirty, he’s living with a young welder, Elsa, who wants to build a life with him. But the Musician knows that for as long as he hasn’t achieved his goal he will never be able to commit to anything or anyone else. One night, however, Elsa convinces him to take a job in a music shop in a nearby city. But on the way there, the Musician meets a strange man who promises to make his dreams come true in exchange for his soul…
Honorable mention to: Anna Muso’s Ran Fast (USA)