Local film director Weaam Williams announced that her film District Six Rising from the Dust has been accepted to the Official Selection of the Venice Film Award for 2021.
The mom of two says: “Our collective ancestral story will be travelling the globe in 2021.
“I spent six years of my life putting together this ancestral story.”
Despite the sold-out festival screenings and accolades prior, she only reached completion in August 2019.
undefinedThe doccie previously received the Award of Excellence at the Scandinavian International Film Festival in 2018, and tells the painful story of forced removals and restitution, unpacking the art, history and social landscape of Cape Town’s most remembered district.
It also takes a personal look from Weaam’s point of view at dispossession and restitution, and the legacy of intergenerational loss within the context of South Africa’s current restitution process.
“The documentary is about my life in District Six and it reached its final conclusion in August 2019,” says Weaam.
Part of the film documents her moving out of District Six at the end of 2018 for personal reasons, which, she says, was a difficult journey.
“This documentary is a capsule of six years of my life, understanding intergenerational trauma via a physical spiritual transition.”
Weaam says she decided late last year to resubmit her film to film festivals, and is amazed that it’s doing well.
“(I) received a considerable fee waiver from the Venice Film Awards, which to me showed a leap of faith in the film.
“It has made it into the Official Selection of the Venice Film Awards - which I am very happy about - and has led to many more festivals reaching out to me.
“l also received a full fee waiver from Kalakari Film Festival, which too is a generous sentiment.”