As part of its 10th anniversary celebration,the Encounters documentary film festival, in conjunction with the British Council and corporate sponsors, will be screening an array of provocative, inspiring, saddening, delightful and colourful documentaries this year in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

The Encounters website credits the festival’s humble beginnings to two film enthusiasts who launched the South African International Documentary Festival in Cape Town in 1999. With 17 South African and six international films on the bill, the festival drew 2 500 viewers. This year there are 49 films on show, more than half of them South African.

The annual documentary festival gives directors – whether students, newcomers or established professionals – a platform to screen their films to a South African audience.

Festival director Mandisa Zitha says, “We are proud that Encounters has reached its 10-year mark and that our passion for documentaries is shared by a growing audience. We will continue to show significant films that the local public has not seen before and serve as the meeting point for documentary filmmakers, students, broadcasters and funders.”

The British Council in South Africa is collaborating with Encounters on a number of screenings.

“Encounters allows up-and-coming filmmakers to get their work seen and to interact with established filmmakers,” says British Council project officer Nomalanga Nkosi. “It has introduced local directors to an international audience."

This year the British Council is supporting a film called Joy Division, directed by Grant Gee. This film is based on the life of a popular Manchester band, which changed the landscape of music in a city that was ravaged by crime and filled with homeless children. This film shows the journey of four friends who formed a punk rock band through their need to decry the horror they saw in the city around them.

Nkosi says the British Council is providing support through funding. “We will also be attending the entire festival. I think it’s important for us to show ourselves so that we can be exposed to films that will give us a view of what’s happening in other countries. These aren’t just entertaining films. They are relevant and they make one socially aware.”

According to Nkosi, films funded by the British Council must abide by certain mandates. “We are about strengthening cultural relations, so we choose films that share the same values and principles and speak to what we do."

“To me it’s important that we are exposed to other cultures and we can only do that through intercultural dialogue and initiatives like Encounters, because they generate discussion.”

For Nkosi, one of the festival’s highlights last year was a film called A pair of shoes and a bicycle, about black South African soldiers who fought in the Second World War. Some of the few possessions they took home with them were a pair of shoes and a bicycle. “It was a powerful film. I know the director and I know how much he wanted the film to be shown on TV. Encounters gave him that platform.”

Nkosi says that Encounters has provided opportunities for filmmakers and the industry to meet and form partnerships, and for individuals to build skills and share ideas. “There have been a number of South African filmmakers whose films have been screened at the festival and who have later made connections with international people.”

The Encounters film documentary festival opens at the Nu Metro cinema in Hyde Park, Johannesburg on June 19 and will end on June 29. It will run in Cape Town at Nu Metro at the V&A Waterfront from July 3 until July 13. For Johannesburg ticket bookings, contact Nu Metro, Hyde Park on +27 (0)11 325 4257. In Cape Town, call Nu Metro at the V&A Waterfront on +27 (0)21 419 9700/1. Tickets can also be booked online on the Nu Metro website

For more information about Encounters and past documentaries screened, please visit the festival’s website. Read about our upcoming events, or contact your closest British Council office to find out more about our latest events. If you are interested in studying in the UK, the British Council offers several services, including helping you with your English, giving you handy study tips, and helping you find ways to fund your studies.