Vancouver South African Film Festival 2012 (@VSAFFest)

You may remember that last year I promoted the Vancouver South African Film Festival 2011 (in fact, I reviewed one of the opening gala films, SKIN), and this year I am proud to promote it as well. The Vancouver South African Film Festival has been since its inception one of my absolute favourites simply because it is focused on a region that definitely requires as much support as it can get. While my scholarly research is not focused on Africa right now, my 2012-2015 research programme will see some work in Africa undertaken.

What: 2nd Vancouver South African Film Festival
When: April 20-22, 2012
Where: Denman Cinemas
Why: 1) To raise money for Vancouver-based non-profit Education without Borders, whose current focus is on South African township schools; 2) To broaden the public’s understanding and appreciation of South Africa’s rich and complex culture, and to celebrate South Africa’s emerging film scene.

One of the films that I think is most amazing and that is worth checking out is the Opening Gala film, Under African Skies, an award-winning documentary about Paul Simon’s return to South Africa on the 25th anniversary of Graceland’s release. This is the VSAFF Opening Gala film on Friday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m. It is directed by Oscar-nominated Joe Berlinger.

There will be a lot of variety in the VSAFF, other films range in genre from drama to thriller to comedy, and documentaries deal with issues like xenophobia, gay and transgender rights, and justice. Spud, starring John Cleese, closes the festival on Sunday, April 22. The full schedule is available online.

Tickets: Available now online at vsaff.org. Gala is $35. Regular films around $12. Tickets also at the door if not sold out.

ABOUT THE VANCOUVER SOUTH AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL

Started in 2011, the VSAFF is proud to present features and documentaries that explore the culture, history and politics of South Africa. We believe that the VSAFF is the first significant festival of South African films held anywhere outside of South Africa. The VSAFF is a non-profit event organized by volunteers. All proceeds go to Education without Borders.

About Education Without Borders:

EwB is a fully-volunteer Canadian non-profit foundation created in 2002 in Vancouver. Our current mandate is to foster educational opportunities and community building in South African townships.

EwB’s efforts are focused on Fezeka Secondary, Songeze Middle School, and the surrounding community in the township of Gugulethu (pop. 400,000), on the outskirts of Cape Town.

EwB projects in Gugulethu range from math and English tutoring, to photography and dance, to a food garden and lecture series. We believe in empowering local staff and students and have South African project managers and volunteers on the ground, as well as partnerships with several South African-based non-profits.

Through fundraisers and private donations, EwB has raised more than $750,000 for projects in Gugulethu since 2002, starting with the construction of eight classrooms.

For more on EwB, please visit educationwithoutborders.ca

Some additional facts:

– There is a large, vibrant South African community in the Lower Mainland, around 60,000, with many living on the North Shore and in Surrey. The VSAFF, we believe, is the only significant festival of South African film outside of South Africa. Last year proved to be a gathering ground for expats to discuss, debate and celebrate.

– EwB is a fully-volunteer Vancouver-based non-profit with two local founders, Ruth and Cecil Hershler. The Hershlers reconnected with Fezeka Secondary and founded EwB thirty years after leaving apartheid South Africa in 1971. As students in Cape Town, they had tried to organize lectures and tutoring at Fezeka but were denied by the education department. The government did not allow whites to teach blacks.

– Since 2009, EwB has been running a remedial maths program in Gugulethu that has proved highly effective. It is the brainchild of Dr. Rahael Jalan, a mathematician with the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) based out of UBC. Dr. Jalan has a proven track record of success in B.C. with First Nations students, starting with her time at Britannia Secondary. We have seen amazing results from her workbooks in South Africa. Some students have already become tutors! Maths and English are the great barriers to post secondary education and work opportunities for township students. The results have been so positive that we are now working with a local non-profit there to expand Dr. Jalan’s program across the Cape.

– Thanks to the generosity of our EwB supporters, money has been raised to fly our first South African-born project manager, Vimbai Nyatsambo, to Vancouver for the VSAFF on April 20-22. She will speak with audiences at the festival, give at least one talk at UBC about the importance of education in breaking the cycle of poverty, and she will accompany Dr. Jalan to inner-city schools to learn more about the maths program. Vimbai grew up in Johannesburg, moved to Cape Town in 2004 to study at the University of Cape Town, and has her Masters in Social Development. She has been an inspiration to the students and staff in Gugulethu, and to us.