State of Violence

A man tries to find a woman among refugees.

Khalo Matabane spent two years making the film, interviewing those who knew and loved Mandela, and also those who criticised him. Global thinkers, politicians and artists including the Dalai Lama, Henry Kissinger and Ariel Dorfman talk about the effect of his policies and his decision making. Their thoughts are weighed equally with ordinary South Africans like Charity Kondile, who refuses to forgive her son's apartheid operative murderer. Through these interviews, completed in the last months of Mandela's life, Matabane interrogates for himself the meaning of freedom, reconciliation and forgiveness. By doing so he challenges Mandela's enduring impact in today's world of conflict and inequality. Thought-provoking and reflective, Mandela, the Myth and Me is a moving film which frames Mandela from a fresh, deeply personal perspective. (Storyville)

After a young protégé's murder confirms a prison gang leader's growing misgivings about his life inside, he joins a reform-minded warden's efforts to improve the prison, eyeing it as a path to early release. Gaining fulfillment and self-worth, he becomes a valued partner in the new changes before explosive gang resistance forces a deadly choice between the gangster he is and the changing man he knows he now is.

South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane takes a journey across the new South Africa in a minibus taxi, a popular medium of transport for ordinary people. He travels from his village in the north where he was born, to the south and the camera never leaves the vehicle. He meets characters who have a range of provocative stories and at times the camera captures obscure images.