Press Releases

The wait is finally over, congratulations to our Africa Human Rights Film Festival 2023 winners, the selection has not been an easy process, as the quality of films was on a very high standard.

The winner of the Best Environmental and Human Rights Short Documentary Award tells the story of a brave and principled woman who was assassinated in October 2020 for leading a community resistance to the forced expansion of the Tendele Coal Mine in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Fikile Ntshangase is one among many activists and whistle-blowers who have found themselves up against politically connected corporations and have lost their lives in the pursuit of justice. Told through the eyes of Fikile’s granddaughter, The Gooseberry’s Grandmother’s Daughter works on several levels – it celebrates the activism of brave women, it exposes the forceful and often illegal practices of mining companies towards rural communities, and it amplifies the call to on those with the authority uphold the law and bring all those behind Fikile’s murder to justice. Congratulations to filmmaker Julie Laurenz, on making a powerful contribution to the fight for climate and social justice. 

The winner of the Best Environmental and Human Rights Feature Documentary Award goes to a film that follows three Latina women who bravely stand up for the rights and protection of indigenous communities in the face of brutal practices of transnational corporations in Peru, Brazil and Honduras. The modus operandi of these extractive corporations is all too familiar to people in the Global South trying to resist environmental and human rights abuses. This is a film that puts a human face behind the exploitation of Latin America’s land and natural resources and the impacts on her people. The Illusion of Abundance needs to be taken to audiences in the North, to boardrooms, conferences, and political arenas so that the implicated companies can no longer hide behind weighty PR budgets and slick greenwashing and are forced to answer questions about how dirty they are prepared to be to chase profits.

The Dewa Mavhinga Human Rights Film Award goes to a film that takes us to the drought-stricken Turkana-Ngaremara people in a coming of age story. This beautifully crafted documentary lays bare the mounting communal tensions within a vulnerable climate crisis impacted community in Kenya. Between the Rains is an excellent example of how climate justice messaging becomes more poignant when delivered via a compelling narrative and a strong and complex central character. The film speaks loudly on the imperative to learn from traditional cultures that are embedded in a deep respect for nature, juxtaposed to the dominant economic system that seeks to separate human existence from nature and indeed to exploit the natural world, to our collective detriment.

#AHRFF2023

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23 October 2023

The 6^th edition of the Africa Human Rights Film Festival (AHRFF) saw enthusiastic audiences flocking to screenings and other initiatives, creating a special interaction between the audience, filmmakers, and industry professionals.

The AHRFF started its three-day programme on Wednesday, 18 October 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa, with screenings at the Isivivanana Community Centre – Bertha Movie House, the Africa Climate Development Initiative (ACDI) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Opening Night at the Labia Theatre.

Films such as The Green Vein, Hold The Line, Temperature Rising, Voiceless were some of the films that that were exhibited across the venues.

The main purpose of the festival is to generate robust debate using film, empowering citizens, raising awareness, and promoting respect for human rights in marginalized communities including rural areas and townships, this was all achieved at this year’s festival as we attracted audiences from all walks of life.

“We want to thank all who supported our event. In the coming year, we hope to expand our programming and bring in more stakeholders as we seek to use film to raise awareness on human rights and climate change in frontline communities in the Global South.” Explained one of the AHRFF Festival Co-Director’s, Buntu FY Hweshe.

The 6^th edition show cased a total of 33 films from 16 various countries across the globe.

The AHRFF is funded and supported by Oxfam, a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustices across the globe.

“Oxfam was delighted to sponsor the 2023 Africa Human Rights Film Festival as part of our effort to share the stories and solution from human rights defenders and climate champions. I was really inspired by the energy of the artists, activists, academics, youth, and community members who joined us across three venues in Cape Town. I found hope in the workshops and conversations on how these films can inspire real action on human rights and climate change, as well as from the incredible stories of activists on the frontlines of the climate crisis. We are thankful to the city of Cape Town for hosting us and look forward to returning in 2024!”, explained Andrew Bogrand, Senior Policy Advisor at Oxfam (USA).

As the festival comes to an end the team is now tasked with an important duty to sit down and select winners for the three categories, which are Best Feature Documentary, Best Short Documentary and Best Impact Documentary. Winners will be announced on social media on Friday, 27 October 2023.

Our goal to use film to generate robust dialogue, empower African citizens and raise awareness on human rights and climate change in the global south has been achieved.

ends

Programming team

Buntu FY Hweshe – Festival Co-Director

Davison Mudzingwa – Festival Co-Director

Helena Steenkamp Festival Co-Founder

Stay updated

To stay updated follow Africa Human Rights Film Festival or AHRFF on social media and visit our website on www.ahrff.com

Facebook: Africa Human Rights Film Fest

Twitter: @AHRFF101

Instagram: @ahrffestival

Hashtags: #AHRFF2023 #AHRFF #AHRFF23

Prepared by Memeza Communications on behalf of AHRFF

For festival enquires please contact Francis, francisjhweshe@gmail.com / 068 204 1556

For media enquires please contact Nolwazi, nolwazimagwaza1@gmail.com / 076 638 3546.

22 September 2023

The Africa Human Rights Film Festival (AHRFF) which will be kicking off its unique experience of telling human rights stories through film, from the 18th – 20 October 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa, has announced its film selection for this year’s festival. Now in its 6th year, the festival has grown a large print across the globe, attracting filmmakers from every corner of the world.

This year the festival received over one thousand submissions and from these entries the team selected 33 films to make up the various categories. 

The festival came to life in the year 2018, with only one human rights film shown each month on the last Thursday of the month, in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, with the goal of empowering the local community. Over the years the AHRFF has seen tremendous growth as this year it will show case a total of 33 films from 16 various countries across the globe. 

Through the support from Oxfam, this year’s focus is on raising awareness on human rights and climate change in the global south.

Festival co-director Buntu FY Hweshe said that with “so many entries coming through this year from around the world, the selection process was not easy. If we had more resources, we could screen more films and extend the duration of the festival.

“We are satisfied with the quality of our selection. But if your film was not selected, it still remains an important voice, and it has its own audience.

“We believe that our audiences will find our film selection highly entertaining, insightful and educational. 

“Our goal is to use this selection of films to generate robust dialogue, empower African citizens and raise awareness on human rights and climate change in the global south”.

The long list of exceptional titles includes the awards winning Lobola, A Bride’s True Price?, Directed by Sihle Hlophe, a few years ago Sihle Hlophe got engaged, a few days later her father unfortunately passed away, the person she hoped would of received her lobola and followed all family traditions and customs. As much as Sihle respects lobola, she has strong values and reservations about the transactional, patriarchal and heteronormative elements of the practice. In an effort to learn more about lobola before making a decision, she attends three other lobola ceremonies, this is where the documentary takes a drastic turn, after Sihle has experienced the three different ceremonies. 

Sihle comes to an important realisation, that lobola is not just about uniting two families, it is also about honouring the ancestors of those two families, what will her final decision be? Will she turn her back on lobola or embrace it? I guess we can only find out at the festival. 

This year’s festival promises to be nothing, but exceptional, the three-day festival will also showcase the following films:

1. The Total System – Anatomy of a multinational energy company, Directed by Jean-Robert Viallet, France
2. The Green Vein, Directed by Sara De Sousa Correia, Portugal
3. Cobalt Rush, The Future of Going Green, Directed by Quentin Noirfalisse and Arnaud Zajtman, Belgium
4. Coltan Fieber, Directed Jan Christoph Gockel and TD Jack Muhindo Mahamba, DRC
5. The Illusion of Abundance, Directed by Erika Gonzalez Ramirez and Matthieu Lietaert, Belgium
6. Amuka, Directed by Antonio Spano, Belgium
7. EACOP – Crude Reality, Directed by Hugo Duchesne, France
8. Our World, Directed by David Morandini, France
9. One of The Thousand Hills, Directed by Bernard Bellefroid, Belgium
10. Catapum: Nowhere to Fall, Directed by Palu Abadia, Colombia
11. In-Visibles, Directed by Lia Beltrami, Italy
12. The Last Transhumance – Ibrahim, Directed by Louise Thaller and Stanislas Giroux, France
13. Climate Emergency, Feedback Loops, Directed by Susan Gray, USA
14. Kambwe Ka Makuba (Land of Smelting), Directed by Audrey Colgin – Hubbard and Joshua Kalenga, USA
15. Sundarban: Rising Water, Ebbing Life, Directed by Dheeraj Sarthak, India
16. We are all responsible, Directed by Nelson Kao, Brazil
17. Wentworth Community vs Big Oil, Directed by Angelo Louw, Malcolm Rainers, South Africa
18. Wings of A Community, Directed by Marco Tulio Sànchez and Josè Martel Blanco, Mexico
19. The Gooseberry Grandmother’s Daughter, Directed by Julie Laurenz, South Africa
20. Black Waters, Directed by Mateo Vargas, Mexico
21. Between The Rains, Directed by Andrew H. Brown and Moses Thuranira, Kenya
22. Beyond The Cup of Coffee, Directed by Ran Levy-Yamamori, Kenya
23. People of the Great River, Directed by Ayumi Miyano, Zimbabwe
24. Fast Beauty – The unvarnished truth about cosmetics, Directed by Nera Smiljanic and Anna Fein, we do not have the country
25. Beyond The Cup of Coffee, Directed by Ran Levy-Yamamori, Kenya
26. Hendrik Witbooi, God from heaven has now broken the treaty, Directed by Alexnder George Honisch, Namibia
27. Beauty For Ashes, Directed by Federico Ancillai and Nqobile Nunu K.H., South Africa
28. The Oceans, Directed by Anne de Carbuccia, France
29. Voiceless, Directed by Victor G. Villavieja and Martìn Soto, Spain
30. Where To Go, Directed by Nacho Sànchez Sànchez Bravo, Spain
31. A Tree Has Fallen – Remembering Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Directed by Marika Griehsel, Sweden

The festival will start off with its opening night at The Labia Theatre on the 18th October, followed by two days of film binging, workshops and open discussion at the Isivivana Centre in Khayelitsha, which is home to the Bertha Movie House, open discussions and film workshops will be available to the general public at no cost.

“As Isivinana we are looking forward to collaborating with AHRFF and are excited to host a festival of such magnitude. We are eagerly awaiting this film festival and we believe it will expose our audiences to different kinds of films and hope it will inspire many to take on their camera and tell their own story”, said Ayanda Msebenzi, Bertha Movie House Co Ordinator.

Programming team

Buntu FY Hweshe – Festival Co-Director

Davison Mudzingwa – Festival Co-Director

Helena Steenkamp Festival Co-Founder 

Stay updated

To stay updated follow Africa Human Rights Film Festival or AHRFF on social media and visit our website on www.ahrff.com 

Facebook: Africa Human Rights Film Fest 

Twitter: @AHRFF101

Instagram: @ahrffestival 

Hashtags: #AHRFF2023 #AHRFF #AHRFF23 

Prepared by Memeza Communications on behalf of AHRFF

For festival enquires please contact Francis, francisjhweshe@gmail.com / 068 204 1556

For media enquires please contact Nolwazi, nolwazimagwaza1@gmail.com / 076 638 3546. 

30 August 2023

The Africa Human Rights Film Festival (AHRFF) is gearing up for the 6th edition of the film festival, which will be taking place in Cape Town at Isivivana Community Centre in Khayelitsha, The Labia Theatre and the African Climate & Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town.

The three-part film festival will feature a traditional, opening-night screening at the Labia Theatre, two academic and policy panels with screenings at ACDI, and a three-day community screening at the Isivivana Centre.

The festival came to life in year 2018, with only one human rights film shown each month on the last Thursday of the month, in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, with the goal of empowering the local community.

Over the years the AHRFF has seen tremendous growth as this year it will show case a total of 30 films from 16 various countries across the globe.

The main purpose of the festival is to generate robust debate using film, empowering citizens, raising awareness, and promoting respect for human rights in marginalized communities including rural areas and townships.

The AHRFF will run from the 18 October to 20 October 2023, the festival is amongst the few that focus directly on human rights and expose ordinary citizens to such content. “We are not only excited to be hosting another edition of the festival in the beautiful historical city of Cape Town, but longing to present and show case citizens content and films they would not generally see on a daily basis.

“ Thank you to our partner Oxfam, this year’s festival will draw a sharp focus on the intersection of climate and human rights in the global south with the goal of sparking discussions and awareness among frontline communities who suffer human rights violations and worst impacts of climate change, and what better place to present this, than in a city that holds and played a huge part in the South African history books,’’ explained Festival Co-Director Buntu FY Hweshe

The festival will start off with its opening night at The Labia Theatre then followed by two days of film binging, workshops and open discussion at the Isivivana Centre in Khayelitsha, which is home to the Bertha Movie House. The second venue for the festival will be the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) based at the University of Cape Town (UCT) where they will be two days of film screening and panel discussions.

Programming team

Buntu FY Hweshe – Festival Co-Director

Buntu is a passionate storyteller who dabbles in independent journalism, filmmaking and photographer. He was born and raised in Zimbabwe where he studied Communications and Journalist. In 2007, moved to Cape Town where worked as a journalist and studied filmmaking. The idea of starting the Africa Human Rights Film Festival was born out of his passion for telling stories that matter through the medium of film. He believes that stories old through film have the power to empower and amplify suppressed and underrepresented voices in society.

Davison Mudzingwa – Festival Co-Director

Davison Mudzingwa is a storyteller whose background is rooted in the media. He is the cofounder of Africa Human Rights Film Festival. He worked as a journalist for 10 years. Davison has directed Lost Tongue, a feature documentary about a language going extinct among the Khomani San people in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa.

The documentary won the Women Film Critics Circle Award at the Socially Relevant Film Festival New York. The documentary was also awarded 2nd place at the ReelHeART International Film Festival, Toronto Canada. The documentary also traveled to festivals such as Durban international Film Festival (nominated Best Documentary), Zanzibar

International Film Festival, Encounters international Film Festival, Native Film Festival, Human Rights Film Festival – Barcelona.

His second feature documentary What’s The Frack?, an environmental story about a Karoo, South African farmer resisting government plans to embark on shale gas mining also received critical acclaim in festivals such as Cayman Islands International Film Festival, Human Rights Film Festival Barcelona, Ekotopfilm Festival Czech Republic, Indie Karoo Film Festival, Kuala Lumpur Eco

Film Festival, Swedish International Film Festival and Singapore International film Festival. The documentary won awards at the Yosemite International Film Festival and the Headline Film Festival in the United States.

Davison has also directed shorts documentaries such as The Roaring Jets and Bush Trail that had a good festival run. He is also the founder of Entrepreneurship Africa, an initiative aimed at popularising entrepreneurship in Africa.

Helena Steenkamp Festival Co-Founder

Helena is a co-founder of Africa Human Rights Film Festival where she specialises in curating the annual Film Festival and the Arts and Heritage Festival. Helena is also the curator of the Kalahari Arts & Heritage Festival. Her resume includes working in the organising of the Kalahari Desert Festival as well as production of films in the Northern Cape. She was a co-producer of the award winning documentary Lost Tongue. Helena has also produced a web series called Kalahari Shorts. She led the coordination and production of this series that aims to preserve the heritage of the Khomani San. She has presided over the training of over 100 young people in the Kalahari in the last 4 years.

Helena is passionate about her involvement in the Africa Human Rights Film Festival as it gives her an opportunity to advance the rights of the marginalised populations such as the Khoi and San.

Stay updated

To stay updated, follow Africa Human Rights Film Festival or AHRFF on social media and visit our website on www.ahrff.com

Prepared by Memeza Communications on behalf of AHRFF

For festival enquiries please contact Francis, francisjhweshe@gmail.com / 068 204 1556

For media enquiries please contact Nolwazi, nolwazimagwaza1@gmail.com / 076 638 3546.