This year’s Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) kicked off to a great start with the festival focusing on South Africa’s 20 years of democracy. Opening ceremony speeches clearly conveyed the depth of emotion many felt at this pinnacle moment in our history and a vast array of films have been carefully selected to highlight South Africa’s recent history. The festival also selected a local film, Hard to Get, to premiere at the opening ceremony to further illustrate this theme, but what it did was far, far more.

Having read the synopsis, I must admit that I was slightly underwhelmed by the choice of opening film but then we were introduced to a very young, charismatic director (Zee Ntuli), who piqued my interest. Could he convey that youth and charisma on-screen and provide us with something remarkably different? I wasn’t too sure. The opening scene was risky but unappealing … and then it all changed. Ntuli delivers an innovative, funny and all-round likeable piece of filmmaking. There are times when his experimental filmmaking can border amateur/not fully refined but for the most part, it works really well. Accompanied by a fun, local soundtrack that carefully enhances scenes and some downright good acting, this film showcased the great triumph that is South African cinema and the amazing talent that should be nurtured in this growing industry.

The film tells the tale of a carefree womaniser, TK (Pallance Dladla), whose plans to never rock the boat are thrown overboard when he meets thrill-seeking, petty criminal, Skiets (Thishiwe Ziqubu), who’s built so many walls around herself that it’s second nature for her to push everyone including TK away. In an effort to save themselves from the local gangster with severe anger management issues, TK and SKiets leave the only home TK has known to the vast unknown of Jozi. Skiets at first seemed to play a very Lady Macbeth role, nudging TK into a life of crime to serve their daily needs but this quickly changed as the fast-paced script threw them into increasingly more dangerous situations, with their only hope being each other. These two protagonists could not be more different with Dladla and Ziqubu giving such convincing performancez that helped you relate to each of them. Their performances were authentic, nuanced and the cast (not just the protagonists) had great all-round chemistry. Israel Makoe, Paka Zwedala and Jerry Mofokeng added great depth to this production but the lead couple definitely stole the show with their transformative characters. However, the star of the film for me was the humour. The film had such subtle humour, which takes a lot of skill to pull off and what impressed me the most from Ntuli was the trust he had in his audience to be subtle and faith that they didn’t need him to be in-your-face with scenes or script.

The film festival runs until 27 July 2014 and film enthusiasts should definitely catch the next screening of Hard to Get on 21 July at 15:30 at Ekhaya Multi Arts Centre or 23 July at Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. For more on the festival including a screening schedule, visit durbanfilmfestival.co.za