Welcome

The kykNET Silwerskerm Film Festival is an esteemed South African and Afrikaans film festival that has nurtured, developed, and empowered the local industry for more than a decade. It has proven to be a seminal platform for seasoned and emerging filmmakers alike. Alongside the world or South African premieres of the latest feature films, the Silwerskerm Film Festival showcases the work of young talent with a series of short films in a variety of genres. These short films are produced with the festival’s financial backing and mentorship. Besides the cinematic delights and shorts in the running for the coveted Silwerskerm Film Festival Awards, which honours outstanding performances in front and behind the scenes, the packed festival line-up includes panel discussions, workshops and industry-focused masterclasses. These classes are presented by renowned local and international experts sharing their knowledge and experience.

The first Silwerskerm Festival, hosted in the Karoo town of Prince Albert, featured only one film with the apt title, ’n Saak van geloof [A Question of Faith]. Since these humble beginnings, more than 170 short films and 50 prominent feature films have debuted at the festival. The list of success stories linked to the festival is impressive. Apart from creating new job opportunities, Silwerskerm films have garnered several international accolades, and some of the country’s most respected producers, directors and screenwriters entered the industry as winners of the short film project.

Messages from our sponsors

Waldimar

The Silwerskermfees 2.0 is here

Since that brave, visionary decision in 2011 to celebrate films in Afrikaans in Prince Albert, the kykNET Silwerskerm Film Festival has grown into a prestigious platform for feature film premieres, a showcase for the best short films in the industry, and an incubator for film talent.

Every year, numerous feature films are shown here for the first time, work that often pushes boundaries. The short films, of which over 170 have debuted at the festival, have given dozens of writers, directors, producers, and actors their first chance to show what they’ve got and to shine on the silver screen.

While mentors for these short film teams often came from the kykNET stable, many directors who debuted with a short at the festival, went on to become renowned filmmakers and mentors themselves, or ventured into television. Some of them, whose work was seen for the first time at the Silwerskerm Festival, went on to create some of the most popular shows on kykNET.

This year, we are broadening the scope of the festival by incorporating documentary short films into the short film festival and by fully making television part of the festival. In addition to the usual film discussions and the premiere of five feature films, aspiring TV makers will be able to attend workshops on how to submit the perfect programme pitch. TV experts will share industry secrets in panel discussions and networking sessions. kykNET is also proud to showcase the pilot episodes of several new series for the first time at the Silwerskerm Festival.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the festival for the first time – we are expanding the circle in the hope that it will be empowering.

The highlight of this year’s festival is the Silwerskerm Awards for Film and TV on Saturday evening, 26 August – a glamorous event where stars from the big and small screens will be honoured. The awards ceremony will be broadcast the next evening at 20:00 on kykNET (DStv Channel 144).

– Waldimar Pelser, M-Net Director: Premium Channels

Geordin

A message from the mayor

A warm welcome to everyone attending the 11th kykNET Sliwerskerm Film Festival, and a big thank you to the organisers for always putting together such a world-class event. Whether you’re watching in the Camps Bay festival hub, or at one of the outreach screening venues, I have no doubt that this Silwerskerm Festival will live up to the exceptional reputation it has built up over the years.

I am also certain that this year’s festival will unearth a host of new names to add to our wealth of local talent. Cape Town’s film and television industry has never been in better health, and is fast establishing itself as a global powerhouse. We certainly have no shortage of talent in the Mother City – from writing, directing and acting to the many behind-the-scenes roles that bring this visual storytelling to life. Not to mention our ever-expanding offering of production companies and post-production facilities.

A high quality event like Silwerskerm really does our city proud and does wonders for our local film industry. I hope you all have a fantastic festival.

– Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town Mayor

Astrid

A message from the Dagbreek Trust

Dagbreek Trust has been a proud supporter of kykNET’s Silwerskerm Film Festival for a considerable time and is delighted to be involved again this year.

Year after year, we enjoy the impressive results of the energy that this project generates in the industry, challenging and entertaining us on TV screens and in theatres. But it is particularly the confidence it builds, the skills and talents it develops, and the heights to which it inspires roleplayers in the Afrikaans film industry that are valuable to us. From established storytellers to newcomers, everyone can learn something valuable from the programme to take away with them.

We trust that these few days of exciting screenings and conversations will, as always, forge new connections and ignite sparks of inspiration. We look forward to rubbing shoulders with everyone who’s a name or wants to make a name, and we wish Waldimar and his team great success with this important initiative.

– Astrid de Vos, Executive Trustee: Dagbreek Trust

Judges

Jaco

Jaco Bouwer

Multiple award-winning director for stage and screen Jaco Bouwer, worked in theatre for many years before moving into the medium of film. His short film This Country Is Lonely premiered at IFFR 2019, and his first feature film, Gaia, premiered at the SXSW film festival 2020, and has subsequently won the 2022 Silwerskerm Festival Awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Cinematography. His latest series, Spinners, made in collaboration with Canal+, is the first submission from Africa to be selected to be screened at Cannes Series. Bouwer creates work that resists convention and easy categorisation. He’s equally at home in film, theatre, dance, site-specific performance and installation art. It is, however, his unique ability to combine all these media to reflect the visual, spatial and acoustic dimensions of language that really sets his work apart. This aesthetic focus has been called everything from post-modern and experimental, to avant-garde, and even subversive — but in bringing this aesthetic to a wider audience, Bouwer also seeks to expose the artificial barriers that exist between and within cultures. His complex cultural critique favours controversial subjects, without any attempt to solve the social and political issues they raise. Instead, Bouwer prefers to take his stories to the next level, combining the personal and the political, aesthetics with introspective enquiry and a radical formalism with an equally radical expression of subjectivity to hurl them into the realm of the imagination.

Vinette

Vinette Ebrahim

Vinette Ebrahim has been in this industry since 1974 and still enjoys every moment. Her professional training began at the Space Theatre under the direction of the late Yvonne Bryceland and her husband, Brian Astbury. After six months of classes at the Rita Maas School of the Arts, she performed in every town that had a theater or a hall. From Shakespeare to Fugard, from Lizz Meiring to her own work. She has been nominated and awarded Best Actress at numerous festivals and entities, like the KKNK, Naledi, the Gariepfees, Rapport/City Press and the DAK Netwerk. She is also known for her work in soap operas, telenovelas, films and series, and has been nominated and awarded for, amongst others, 7de Laan on multiple occasions. She is the proud winner of last year’s Silwerskerm Film Festival Award for Best Actress in the film, Bakarat. After 19 years of acting in a soap opera, she enjoys spreading her wings again. She is currently working on Generations, Diepe Waters, dubbing and a play for the arts festival circuit. At 66, she is busier than ever!

Rafiek

Rafiek Mammon

Rafiek Mammon has a master’s degree in Educational Philosophy from Stellenbosch University. Mammon is the former arts editor of the Cape Times as well as a former Fleur du Cap Theater Awards judge. He serves on various panels as a judge and also as a text reader for several festivals around the country. Rafiek is an award-winning playwright, currently involved in various theater development projects. He also enjoys directing plays. Mammon was a lecturer in the Journalism Department at CPUT for several years and also lectured at the University of Cape Town for four years. He currently teaches at Stellenbosch University and works as a freelance playwright, consultant and reviewer.

Leon

Leon van Nierop

Leon van Nierop is an award-winning author, TV presenter, reviewer, director, film researcher, producer and lecturer. He has been in the industry for 48 years, and initially distinguished himself as a presenter for the SABC. He writes reviews for various platforms and wrote the scripts for Ballade vir ’n enkeling and Wolwedans in die skemer. He presented film analysis at the Pretoria Technikon for 20 years, and was head of the Film Academy at TUT for four years. He was full professor of film at the university. Leon has written 37 novels, as well as four academic books, including Movies Made Easy, Druk speel and Seeing Sense: On Film Analysis. Also Daar doer in die fliek, both an encyclopedic film guide and documentary TV series for kykNET.

Silwerskerm Festival Team

M-Net Director: Premium Channels Waldimar Pelser
Founder: Silwerskerm Film Festival Karen Meiring

kykNET

Senior Manager: Scheduling Janine Cornelius
Scheduling Specialist Lorika Boshoff
Manager: Microscheduling Nicole du Toit
Contracts Coordinator Tessa Carey-Osman
Administrator: Barter Agreements Memory Louw
Microschedulers Luyanda Chirenje
Nomali Mndebele
Sean Fong
Senior Manager: Marketing Leo Smit
Senior Manager: Publicity Suzaan Keyter
Marketing Manager Abraham van Zyl
Brand Coordinator Suné Els
Ryan Mollentze
Publicity Specialist Lindi Herbst
Publicity Specialist Herschelle Benjamin

M-NET CONTENT TEAM

Executive Head of Content: Premium and Co-production Nicola van Niekerk
Senior Manager: Reality and Entertainment Terja Beney
Commissioning Editors Marguerite Albrecht
Wikus du Toit
Merveline Ferris
Lizette Khan
Quentin Krog
Lucia Meyer-Marais

MULTICHOICE

MultiChoice: Executive Group Head of General Entertainment Nomsa Philiso
Executive Head of General Entertainment Georginah Machiridza

SILWERSKERM FESTIVAL PROJECT TEAM

Executive Project Manager Edmund Beukes
Programme Manager Tina Kruger
Project Manager Nicky Meiring
Production Coordinator Josh Hall
Festival Coordinator Luzanne Paxton
Content Editor Danie Marais
Translator Bianca du Plessis
Creative Head Haddad Viljoen
Head of Publicity Lani Lombard
Technical Service Provider – Helium Wayne van Schalkwyk
App and Registration – Ovation Art Melodie Schoeman
Marisa Buys
Event Management – Charcoal Consulting  Kirsten Kiely
Screens and Festival Displays – Garnish Creative Barry Cilliers