Movie buffs, you’re in for a treat because the festival you’ve been waiting for is finally here. The 37th annual Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) will be kicking off with over 150 screenings at 15 venues across Durban and its outlying areas from 16-26 June.

So, the theme, you ask? Of course! No DIFF is complete without a key focus and this year’s does not disappoint. Several areas will be spotlighted this year including dance and music, contemporary Dutch film and issues around intersectionality. Fear not as this does not mean the festival will not be celebrating Africa’s growing film industry as the festival will be screening approximately 50 African and South African films.

This year’s opening night film will be broadcast on the 40th anniversary of 16 June 1976 and will showcase the World Premiere of the South African documentary, The Journeymen, the latest instalment in the Twenty Journey project. The Twenty Project was made possible courtesy of Kickstarter backers and chronicles the journey of three young South African photographers, Wikus de Wet, Sipho Mpongo and Sean Metelerkamp, as they travel 24 000km in a motorhome throughout South Africa, with GoPro cameras strapped to their chests, to explore the mood and feel the pulse of contemporary South Africa.

Said Acting Festival Director, Peter Machen, “It is highly appropriate that this intersectional portrait of our strange and beautiful country will screen on the fortieth anniversary of 16th June, 1976. The film is a portrait of a nation that was forever changed by the actions of the youth of Soweto, and screening it on this day will act as a tribute to the bravery of the tens of thousands of unnamed young people who helped build the road to our liberation.”

DIFF partners for the 11th year with Wavescape to present a feast of surfing cinema from around the world. Wavescape opens with a free outdoor screening at the Bay of Plenty Lawns on Sunday 19 June, before locating to the new venue at Rivertown Beerhall from June 20 to 26.

The 9th Talents Durban in co-operation with Berlinale Talents, brings together the creativity of 20 selected filmmakers from Africa, who will take part in a series of masterclasses, workshops and industry networking opportunities during the Festival. Supported by German Embassy and Goethe-Institut, Talents Durban creates a space for filmmakers to hone their skills, develop collaborations and network with other future leaders of the film industry in Africa, and the world.

Now in its 7th year, the Durban FilmMart, a partnership project with the Durban Film Office, and supported by the City of Durban, is a film finance and co-production market presented in three strands – Finance Forum, Master Classes and the Africa in Focus seminars. Nineteen selected African projects (9 fiction features and 10 documentaries) will hold one-on-one meetings with potential financiers, co-producers, and distributors in the Finance Forum. The DFM master class and networking programme is open to registered delegates only. See www.durbanfilmmart.co.za for further details.

New venues this year include the Playhouse, Nu Metro (Westville Pavilion), Rivertown Beerhall and numerous outreach venues in Umlazi, Clermont and Inanda. Other venues include Ster Kinekor Musgrave, Ster Kinekor Cinema Nouveau, the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, the KZNSA Gallery, eKhaya MultiArts Centre, Luthuli Museum in Groutville and the Elangeni-Maharani Hotel, with festival hubs at the Elangeni-Maharani and the Playhouse.

Programme booklets with the full screening schedule and synopses of all the films will be available free at cinemas, and other public information outlets. For more info go to www.durbanfilmfest.co.za