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German Premiere: "The Giant is Falling" with Director Rehad Desai in Attendance
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Event information
| Rosenthaler Straße 40/41 10178 Berlin |
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The Giant is Falling takes us through the big political events of recent years that signify the dying days of the ANC in South Africa. Locating the moment when things fell apart as the Marikana Massacre, the film charts the various ways people have collectively responded to the ANC’s failure to deliver on its promises. From the end of the ANC’s special relationship with the trade unions, to the #FeesMustFall student movement, to the more recent crushing electoral losses at the polls for the party of liberation, the film picks at the festering sore of inequality that is making the current status quo untenable.
The screening will be followed by a public discussion with director Rehad Desai as well as by a small reception in the Cinema Foyer.
The screening is organised in cooperation with Brot für die Welt.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJDRtWL1sk4
Detailed Synopsis
The loyalty people have for the party of liberation operates at a deep psychological level. But in recent years, the ANC’s popularity is at an all time low, not least amongst people who were once its most loyal supporters. The nation’s sense of unease is only made worse by the high profile corruption cases surrounding President Jacob Zuma and his friends, and compounded by patronage and the ANC’s unwillingness to cut him loose. Now that a new political party has entered the ring, the Economic Freedom Fighters, and the ANC finds itself challenged by the energetic young ‘Fighters’.
The Giant is Falling takes a sweeping look at the big political events of recent years that signify the end of an era in South Africa. With declining popularity at the polls and the real possibility of losing the comfortable majority the party has enjoyed for two decades, the big debate in South Africa is whether or not the party can recover its reputation as the most respected liberation movement in the world?
Locating the moment when things fell apart as the Marikana Massacre, the film charts the various ways people have collectively responded to the ANC’s failure to deliver on its promises. Bookmarked by the 2016 Local Elections, The Giant is Falling asks why South Africa, a middle-income country, rich in mineral wealth has failed to address inequality in twenty-two years of democracy and why the gap between rich and poor is growing. From the break with the trade unions, to the #FeesMustFallstudent movement, to the more recent crushing electoral losses at the polls for the ANC, this film provides an unflinching look at the festering sore of inequality that is making the current situation untenable. The question is when the status quo breaks, what will replace it?
Rehad Desai
Rehad Desai is a Cape Town-born filmmaker who returned from exile in 1990 and now lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. Rehad has a Masters in History and began making documentaries in 1998. He formed Uhuru Productions in 2003 and has been the driving force behind the company ever since. He is also the Chairperson of the Human Rights Media Trust, formed in 2004. Over the course of his time as a filmmaker, he has conceived and produced over 20 documentary films, many of which he has directed or co-directed. Six of these films have been feature length documentaries, produced with significant international participation and have received critical acclaim and wide festival take-up. Rehad is the founder director of the Tri Continental Human Rights Film Festival.
Filmography
The Bank, the Bodybuilders and the Businessman (1998);
Has Socialism Failed Us? (2000);
Carlos Cardoso: An Independent Spirit (2001);
Dilemma (2002);
My Land My Life (2002);
The Untouchables (2003);
Death of a Bushman (2004);
Born into Struggle (2004);
Looting the Nation (2004 – Anita Khanna);
Taking Back the Waves (2005);
Bushman’s Secret (2006);
The Heart of Whiteness (2006);
Bhambatha – War of the Heads 1906 (2007);
You Chuse (2008 – Anita Khanna);
It Happened to Me (2008 – Rehad Desai, Arya Lalloo, Darryl Els, Michael Matsie);
The Father Inside (2009 – Rehad Desai, Arya Lalloo);
The Battle for Johannesburg (2010 – Rehad Desai, Darryl Els);
The Weather Gods (2011);
COP17: An Activists Diary (2011);
Smoke in the Sky (2011);
Permission to Stay (2011);
Miners Shot Down (2014).