[Socrates] Seminal award-winning anti-apartheid film TODAY 4:45pm

[Larissa Swedell]

Dear all,

Our next film in the Representations of South Africa film series will be *Last
Grave at Dimbaza*, a film shot clandestinely in South Africa during 1970's
apartheid that played a crucial role in raising global awareness of the
cruelty and inhumanity of this political regime.

Please see below for details, and apologies for the cross-posting.

All the best,

Larissa


Last Grave at Dimbaza (1974)

Thursday November 6
4:45 pm
Rathaus 209

“In 1969, a small group of South African exiles and British film students
formed Morena Films in London to produce films about the apartheid.  In
1974 they produced one of the first, and certainly the most influential,
films about apartheid.  LAST GRAVE AT DIMBAZA—shot clandestinely in South
Africa and smuggled out of the country—had an enormous impact on global
opinion at a critical moment in the struggle against apartheid, revealing
to audiences worldwide the shocking inequalities between whites and blacks
in South Africa.  It went on to win major awards at many internation film
festivals.”  – Icarus Films

“A documentary shot by a British team who wanted to remain anonymous for
fear of reprisals (not just against them, but the people who helped them).
Most of the white South Africans they encountered were persuaded that they
were simply making home movies.  Consequently, and illegally, they went
where camera teams had never penetrated: into the heart of the Bantustan
(the tiny waste area designated for black development), the various
ghettos, even into the vast houses of the white farmers.  The film
continually juxtaposes the two communities of South Africa to ghastly
effect, and the cold statistics of its commentary are unbearable.  Everyone
knows that conditions in South Africa are bad.  This film presents proof
that they are genocidal.”  – *Time Out Boston*

*Best Film*, 1975 Melbourne International Film Festival
*Best Film*, 1975 Fespaco African Film Festival
*George Sadoul Prize*, 1975 Paris Film Festival
*Peace Prize*, 1975 Leipzig Documentary Festival

*Representations of South Africa* *film series:*
http://southafrica.qc.cuny.edu/representations-of-south-africa-film-series