The Encounters South African International Documentary Festival is the country’s formative documentary event, screening contemporary South African and International features and short documentaries. Every year since its founding in 2010, The Bioscope has proudly hosted screenings of the festival and returns again with screenings from 21 June – 30 July. Tickets are R80 and you can find the full schedule here.
Worth a special mention is Black People Don’t Get Depressed, which is being screened on the 29th June along with a Q&A session. The film explores mental health issues among black creatives in communities on the African continent and in the diaspora, exploring myths, stigma and solutions through the personal stories of the characters.
Although there has been an improvement in awareness in recent years, as the title of this engaging documentary suggests, depression is often unacknowledged in black Southern African cultures and is instead written off as something that is ‘for white people’. But, as the film makes abundantly clear, the impact of mental health is a fundamentally human experience that transcends all boundaries, racial or otherwise.
The film is produced by Cati Weinek, well-known South African film maker and champion of talent and innovative storytelling. Cati’s family also owns our book store L’Elephant Terrible and is a much loved part of our 44 Stanley community.