Page 32 - DIFF PROGRAMME 2024

2024 DOCUMENTARIES
AGENT OF HAPPINESS
Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó, Bhutan, Hungary, 2024, 94 min, Nepali, Dzongkha, English with English subtitles
21 JULY 17:00 PAVILION 12 28 JULY 12:00 GATEWAY 8
How can you measure happiness? The country of Bhutan invented Gross National Happiness to do just that, and Amber is one of the agents who travels door to door to meet people and measure how happy they really are. A hopeless romantic, he is still living with his elderly mother at the age of forty and dreams of finding love: a happiness agent in search of his own happiness. We join him on a cross-country road trip meeting citizens from all walks of life, reminding us of the fragility and beauty of our own happiness. No matter where we live.
Joe Bullet follows the story of the iconic film Joe Bullet 1973. Produced in 1971, starring Ken Gampu, Sol Rachilo, and Abigail Kubeka, it was the first film to feature an all-African cast. Shortly after its release in 1973 at the Eyethu Cinema (Soweto), it was banned by the government. It was never screened again. It features the original surviving cast Kubeka and Rachilo, producer Tony Van Der Merwe, and banned filmmaker Kevin Harris. The voices of Dr. Gcina Mhlophe, Dr. Mbongeni Ngema, and Dr. Kgotso Nkhatho narrate the atrocities of censorship at the peak of apartheid South Africa.
Citizen Sleuth follows Emily Nestor and her Mile Marker 181 podcast, as she conducts an amateur murder investigation into the death of Jaleayah Davis. The documentary examines the ethics of the true crime genre through Emily’s pursuits of her top suspects. With a growing audience of millions, Emily’s podcast becomes a hit, but as she probes deeper into the case, she is confronted with a new truth she struggles to tell her listeners. Told in real time over several years, Citizen Sleuth chronicles the rise, fall, and redemption of a podcaster in the new media landscape.
BANNED
Naledi Bogacwi, South Africa, 2024, 80 min, English
21 JULY 14:30 SUNCOAST 7 24 JULY 19:30 GATEWAY 9
CITIZEN SLEUTH
Chris Kasick, United States, 2023, 82 min, English
19 JULY 17:30 PAVILION 12 27 JULY 19:45 GATEWAY 9
30 45TH DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL