THE SUIT HEADS TO MORE FILM FESTIVALS

John Kani and his son Atandwa star in The Suit. PICTURE: SUPPLIED/BRENDON SALZER

THE SUIT has been selected from a pool of 166 international films to participate in the 9th Île Courts - International Short Film Festival of Mauritius next month. 

These news come after two weeks ago the film was selected for the 20th Urbanworld Film Festival — a festival that is listed as one of 85 qualifying festivals and awards which the Academy Awards use to get the best of the crop for the short film category.

Director Jarryd Coetsee, who studied film-making at the London Metropolitan Film School said they first  received the invitation from the Urbanworld Film Festival on the  July 19, and “were instructed to withhold public announcements till the festival holds its official announcement of the festival's full programme which occurs on Thursday”.

“We were over the moon and I felt like I would burst not being able to share the thrilling news with the entire team, family, friends and followers!

“I will be definitely be attending the festival with the producer, Luke Sharland, and we are currently trying to arrange support to enable our lead cast also to attend,” he said.

The short film is set in 1950s Sophiatown,  tells the story of Philemon (played by Atandwa Kani) who discovers his wife, Matilda (played by Phuthi Nakene), in bed with a young man.

The young man flees, leaving behind his suit, which  Philemon forces Matilda to treat the suit as if it were a person. She must serve the ‘visitor’ meals, take it to church and for walks around the neighbourhood.

She eventually succumbs to her broken heart when Philemon humiliates her by compelling her to feed the suit in front of her friends at a dinner party and  commits suicide by hanging herself in the suit. According to the Pretoria director  the film   “also acts as metaphor to the substantial comment on the brutal effects of the forced removals of the time and the cyclical nature of oppression”.

“Oppression is cyclical in nature. We see it in the consequences of the Syrian civil war which has resulted in one of the largest migrant crises in recent history. We see it in the ongoing conflicts that have inspired the Black Lives Matter campaign in the USA. We see it in recent censorship by the SABC of showing violent protests against the lack of service delivery,” he said.

The festival sponsored by HBO and BET Networks and supported by NBC Universal and Time Warner, will take place in New York City from the 21st – 25th September 2016 with  Selma director Ava DuVernay and movie star David Oyelowo as its ambassadors.

In addition The Suit  has also been selected from a pool of over 200 films for the Africa in Motion – Scotland African Film Festival —a festival aimed at showcasing the best of African cinema from across the continent — and  will be shown in Glasgow and Edinburgh in October 2016. 

In the same  month it will also be shown at the  Shnit International Short Film Festival in Berne, Switzerland.

“We are delighted by this significant international recognition which is a testament to the sterling work of our 102 cast and crew members. We are also thrilled by the prospect of sharing this powerful story with a wider global audience,” said Coetsee.