Category Archives: When the Mountain Meets its Shadow

Cape Town and New York film premieres of ‘When the Mountain Meets its Shadow’

Cape Town and New York film premieres //Filmpremieren in Kapstadt und New York

Dear friends and colleagues,

we are very happy to announce the Cape Town and the New York premieres of our documentary WHEN THE MOUNTAIN MEETS ITS SHADOW. The film has been shown in many countries so far, the South African premier was at the Durban International Film Festival in July. Now the film will be screened for the first time in Cape Town at the Architects Collective Film Festival.

We would be very happy to see you either on Friday the 10th of September at 5.30pm at the NU METRO Cinema Waterfront (please note that there is an entrance fee for this screening) or on Sunday the 12th of September at 1 pm at COSATU Community Center (COMMUNITY HOUSE 41 SALTRIVER RD – no entrance fee). The two short documentaries “KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON” with Lizo Ndzabela and “IN BETWEEN WORLDS” with Hester Stephens will have their premieres on Sunday as well!

We will be writing about the premiers in our blog.

The film will be touring South Africa, if you are interested about times+places please stay updated here. In November the film will have its premier in New York at the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival.

We’re looking forward to meeting you!

Kind Regards,

Alexander and Daniela
DOK-WERK filmcooperative

____________________________________________________

Liebe FreundInnen, KollegInnen und InteressentInnen,

wir freuen uns, Euch die Kapstadt und New York Premieren unseres Filmes IM SCHATTEN DES TAFELBERGES bekannt geben zu dürfen. Der Film wurde bereits in vielen Ländern gezeigt und hatte seine Südafrikapremiere auf dem Durban International Filmfestival im Juli 2010.

Nun ist er mit dem Architects Collective Filmfestival unterwegs und wird u.a. am Freitag, den 10 September um 17:30 im NU METRO Cinema Waterfront gezeigt. Wir würden uns natürlich freuen, Euch dort zu sehen.

Das zweite Screening ist am Sonntag, den 12ten September um 13 Uhr im COSATU Community Center (COMMUNITY HOUSE 41 SALTRIVER RD). Es ist ausserdem auch die Premiere der beiden kurzen Dokumentarfilme “KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON” mit Lizo Ndzabela und “IN BETWEEN WORLDS” mit Hester Stephens. Dieses Screening ist kostenlos.

Wir werden von unseren Premieren im Blog berichten.

Der Film wird nun durch Südafrika touren, die Termine werden regelmässig hier aktualisiert.
Im November ist die New York Premiere beim Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival.

Liebe Grüße,

Alex und Daniela

Filmtour When The Mountain Meets Its Shadow/Im Schatten des Tafelberges

Filmtour When The Mountain Meets Its Shadow/Im Schatten des Tafelberges
26 03 2010

Preview-Filmscreening in Anwesenheit der Protagonisten Ashraf Cassiem und Mncedisi Twalo aus Kapstadt und der Filmemacher mit anschließender Diskussion

Im Schatten des Tafelberges
Kapstadt, Südafrika 2009.

In kaum einer anderen Stadt der Welt liegen Armut und Reichtum so dicht beieinander wie am Kap der guten Hoffnung. Der Dokumentarfilm When the Mountain meets its Shadow erzählt die Geschichten von Ashraf, Mne, Zoliswa und Arnold, die in den Armenvierteln rund um Kapstadt auf unterschiedliche Art und Weise ums Überleben kämpfen. Ashraf und Mne von der Anti Eviction Campaign setzten sich täglich in den Townships gegen Zwangsräumungen und Wassersperrungen ein. Zoliswa, eine alleinerziehende Mutter, sucht eine neue Stelle als Hausangestellte und Arnold macht eine Ausbildung zum bewaffneten Wachmann in der boomenden Sicherheitsindustrie. Als die Stadtverwaltung eine komplette Armensiedlung räumen lassen will, werden Ashraf und sein Freund Mne mit ihren eigenen unverarbeiteten Erlebnissen aus der Zeit der Apartheid konfrontiert …

Preview Screenings with Ashraf Cassiem and Mncedisi Twalo from the Anti Eviction Campaign Cape Town and the filmmakers

English:

When the Mountain meets its Shadow
Cape Town, South Africa

In hardly any other city of the world can poverty and wealth be found as close together. When the mountain meets ist shadow tells the stories of Ashraf, Mne, Zoliswa and Arnold, who, each in their own way, fight for survival in the informal settlements around Cape Town. While Ashraf and his friend Mne from the Anti Eviction Campaign fight against evictions, water- and electricity cut-offs in the townships, Zoliswa and Arnold put their trust in their ability to work. Zoliswa, a single mother, is looking for a new position as a cleaner and Arnold trains as an armed guard to work in the booming security industry. When the city council wants to clear an entire informal settlement, Ashraf and his friend Mne are confronted with their own, undigested experiences from the apartheid years …

– Weingarten, Sa 27.03.2010 / 20:15 Kulturzentrum Linse
– Basel, So 28.03.2010 / 11:00 kult.kino atelier
– Freiburg, So 28.03.2010 / 20:00 KOKI Freiburg
– Genf, Mo 29.03.2010 / 20:00 Maison des arts du Grütli
– Bern, Di 30.03.2010 / 20:00 Kino in der Reitschule
– Nürnberg, Mi 31.03.2010 / 19:00 Filmhaus Nürnberg
– Schwäbisch Hall, Do 01.04.2010 /20:30 Kino Schafstall
– Berlin, Sa 3.04.2010
Tagesseminar im Bildungswerk der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
– Berlin, Mo 05.04.2010 / 20:00 Festsaal Kreuzberg
– Bielefeld, Di 06.04.2010 / 19:30 Welthaus Bielefeld
– Bochum, Mi 07.04.2010 / 17:00 Bahnhof Langendreer
– Bremen, Do 08.04.2010 / 18:00 Kino 46
– Hannover, Fr 09.04.2010 / 20:30 Kino im Sprengel
– Wien, So 11.04.2010 / HTU Cinestudio
– Hamburg, Di 13.04.2010 / 19:00 Metropolis
– Hamburg, Mi 14.04.2010 / 10:00 Metropolis
– Göttingen, Mi 14.04.2010 / 20:00 Lumiere
– Stuttgart, Do 15.04.2010 / 19:00 Corso
– Oslo, Fr 16.04.2010
– Oslo, Sa 17.04.2010

Während der Tour gibt es einen Blog mit aktuellen Einträgen, Videos und Fotos zur Tour hier:

http://filmtour.blogsport.eu/

We would be delighted to meet you at one of the screenings. You can also follow us on this blog (text/photos/videos): http://filmtour.blogsport.eu/

Temine/all dates here:

http://dok-werk.com/termine

www.dok-werk.com

AEC: Telling the world that neither this City nor the World Cup works for us!

Click here to read this statement in Italian.

25 March 2010
Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Release

Telling the world that neither this City nor the World Cup works for us!

The poor in South Africa have mandated their leaders from social movements like the Anti-Eviction Campaign, Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Landless People’s Movement, Sikhula Sonke, the Anti-Privatisation Forum, etc, to speak about issues that are relevant to poor people. The poor have not mandated us to support political parties and their elite agendas.

The poor who make up our rank and file members of our movements want us to tell the world that in South Africa the poor are treated like terrorists and criminals. Our members are intimidated, harassed, arrested, and tortured every single day. And we are tired of being treated as second-class citizens.

As part of our effort to tell the world about our struggle, two Anti-Eviction Campaign members will be embarking on a trip to Germany, Scotland and Switzerland at the invitation of activists from those countries.

We will be present at the launching of a new documentary film called When the Mountain Meets its Shadow. While visiting Europe, we, the poor people in the shadow of Cape Town’s mountains, will be visiting with and speaking to poor and oppressed Europeans who are also struggling. We will be sharing our experiences and dialogging about our struggle.

One of the things we wish to make clear during our trip is that the World Cup in South Africa is not benefiting the poor.

The lives of small businesses and informal traders in South Africa have been destroyed by this World Cup. If we are not allowed to trade near stadiums, fan parks and other tourist areas, how can we benefit from tourism? In Green Point, we were evicted and moved to less useful areas to make way for the new stadium. In Grand Parade, they want to evict us to make way for the FIFA Fan Park. In Cape Town Station, they are evicting us to make way for a renovated train station for tourists. In Mitchell’s Plain, they evicted us to make Town Centre a “world class shopping facility” for visitors during the World Cup. All these evictions have been using a new oppressive by-law enacted last year.

The poor are not only evicted from their trading spaces for the World Cup, we are also being evicted from our homes. In Woodstock, Salt River and Gugulethu, massive gentrification linked to World Cup accommodation projects has effected thousands of residents. In Joe Slovo, government evicted 2,000 residents and dumped them in Tsunami and Thubelisha Temporary Relocation Areas in Delft. They tried to evict another 10,000 Joe Slovo residents and hide them from the N2 Freeway as part of a Word Cup vanity project. But luckily, residents of Joe Slovo sent thousands to the street in protest and the government eventually gave in. Just the other day in Greenpoint, near the Somerset Hospital and the new stadium, 150 poor residents were evicted without any alternative. Maybe they will end up in Blikkiesdorp where the City is trying to dump all of Cape Town’s poor.

These are just some of the injustices that our communities are faced with every single day.

If there is still any doubt as to whether there is or is not democracy for the poor in South Africa, hopefully our words and experiences will convince Europeans otherwise.

Power to the Poor People!

For more information, please contact the following people before Friday 26th of March:

Mncedisi Twalo at 0785808646
Ashraf Cassiem at 0761861408

After the above comrades leave on the 26th for Europe, contact Mzonke Poni for comment at 0732562036

When the Mountain Meets its Shadow

Preview of the Dok-Werk Fikmkooperative documentary When the Mountain Meets Its Shadow which will be released in 2010.

Preview – Part 1

Preview – Part 2

Preview – Part 3

Preview – Part 4

When the Mountain meets its Shadow
Cape Town, South Africa

In hardly any other city of the world can poverty and wealth be found as close together. When the mountain meets its shadow tells the moving stories of Ashraf, Mne, Zoliswa and Arnold, who, each in their own way, fight for survival in the informal settlements around Cape Town. While Ashraf and his friend Mnce from the Anti Eviction Campaign fight against evictions, water- and electricity cut-offs in the townships, Zoliswa and Arnold put their trust in their ability to work. Zoliswa, a single mother, is looking for a new position as a cleaner and Arnold trains as an armed guard to work in the booming security industry. When the city council wants to clear entire informal settlements in preparation for the World Cup in 2010, Ashraf and his friend Mnce are confronted with their own, undigested experiences from the apartheid years …

75min, 60min, 52min / HD / Color / 2009

Directors:
A.Kleider and D.Michel
Camera:
Alexander Kleider
Sound:
Romin Khan
Editor:
Daniela Michel

Click here to visit the Dok-Werk website and here to download more information on this film in pdf.