Anton Beukman

Jan Breytenbach

Fidel Castro

Jannie Gildenhuys

Maxim Gladkov

For twenty-three years, five western nations, members of the Soviet bloc and two superpowers were locked into a war never formally declared. It all began in 1966. Once the Draft started, every able-bodied white South African male was called up for service.

The history and myth of a ghost island off the SW African coast are told through a dystopian parable, in which a character undergoes brainwashing to escape the burden of memory in a world he no longer relates to.

Angola: thirty years of independence, three years of peace. Capital, Luanda, a city built for 600 thousand people where four million now live. Ten characters guide us through different ways of living and interpreting the city. People from all of the country's provinces meet at this crossroads. They are the life of the city, transforming it by inventing ways to make money and reinventing themselves.

Otelinda and Lutoy, married for almost 50 years, are reminded of the moments of greatest tension they experienced, in the Angolan civil war, when confronted with the images on the news about the war in Ukraine. Narrated by Otelinda, her story, we learn her story from the 25th of April, until the day she waited alone for her husband on the verge of misfortune, in Cabinda. Her narration is accompanied by the contrasting images of their daily lives in 2023, as well as the landscapes and people of the country where they now reside. Their relationship initially appears distant, but becomes closer towards the end of the narrative, through the memories of everything they suffered together.

Sissako visits a war-torn Angola after thirty years of war in search of a friend and thereby through interviews reflects on the lost utopias of a generation of Africans who experienced the liberation struggles. His camera is witness to the dislocation and despair of those he encounters living in Angola, however he also discovers the resilient spirit of Africa and optimism for its future in unexpected ways.

Scenes from the three last days of the festival in which the population of the old Kingdom of Jau participate yearly.

In Luanda, one of the world's poorest and most dangerous places, three students from Angola's only music school work towards their end-of-year concert. The Music School is Angola's first and only school of its kind. It houses some 80 students, most of them desperately poor. Many face disapproval and outright rejection from their families who can't see a future in music. This film asks if, despite the ravages of 27 years of civil war, musical passion can overcome terrible hardships.

The film sheds light on a country in which, after twenty-seven years of war and three ­years of official peace, there is an overwhelming discrepancy between poor and rich. A sensitive and respectful approach towards a traumatised society.