One of the things I love about independent long term travel is the flexibility it gives you. You can completely change your plans on a whim. When I was at the internet cafe back in Cape Town researching information to go to Namibia I got the following e-mail from my friend Wes Terray:

"It turns out that there's been a little bit of news here that might interest you in passing. The movie I worked on for the last year, Leverage, finally finished and I've been sending it around to festivals - including Swaziland who just accepted it. It'll be playing on a screen in their capital city of Manzini in early-mid October (no specifics just yet). So if you're sitting in a plaza in Manzini and
looking through the paper on a Friday night trying to decide what's worth going to see.."

So, naturally, I scrapped by plans to go to Namibia (for the moment, anyway) and started making my way to Swaziland. St. Lucia was my last stop before entering Swaziland a couple days before Wes' film's premier. Below is my review of the night:

Yes, I made it to Swaziland for the film fest. Although, I did almost miss seeing Leverage. I had a really lazy day most of the day, but the evening was really busy. See, the film fest was starting at eight, but the sangoma (witch doctor) wasn't supposed to arrive at the hostel until around 5, but this being Africa he didn't actually show up until 5:45. I was third on the list for a consultation. (I will be getting a really good job exactly 6 months from the World premier of your movie, Wes. Of course, to ensure this, my family must get better about remembering our ancestors which means that my parents must mix methylated spirits with sea water, boil it, and then throw an egg into it. Also, I will be getting married some day and will have one son who will get good grades in school and become a policeman. My health will be really good and in general my life will be lucky. No bad stuff. Or so said the sangoma anyhow. But I digress.)

Which meant that my consultation didn't finish 'til 6:30. Which gave me only 45 minutes to make, eat, and clean up from dinner before the taxi came at 7:15. So, I was rushing while I was cooking, and accidentally cut my finger. So I'm not sure when the good health the sangoma was talking about is supposed to start. But, in any case I managed to get on the taxi a little after 7:15.

Arrived at the House on Fire [the venue for the festival] around 7:30. Walked around a little. A nice place. Though, not as spectacular as everyone said it was. Of course it was really dark and drizzly, so I couldn't see it very well. There seemed to be a sculpture garden or some such thing out back, but it was too dark to see. The venue was pretty much outside, but, happily, with a roof and a couple heat lamps (none near where I was sitting). It was an amphitheatre like area, with chairs set up in front of the steps. The movie screen (not full size) was set up in front, on the stage area.

Gwen (the woman I came with) and I sat down, second row, around 7:35. There were probably about 50 people in the audience at that point, which was not bad, considering the program and newspaper said things wouldn't be starting 'til eight. When we sat down though, James the Fest Director was speaking and handed things over to the emcee who then announced the first film of the night, which, despite its being listed second in the program, was Leverage. Had I come late or even on time, I would have completely missed it. And, unfortunately, quite a few people did I am sorry to say. See, things in Africa don't generally start on time. They almost always start late. On time is early. Early is… unheard of. I was shocked.

You may be interested to know that Leverage was the longest film in the fest. I think that the film got a pretty good reception. Everyone seemed to be interested, but unfortunately I really didn't get a chance to ask many people what they thought. Gwen said that she really liked the interactions between the two main characters.

By the time the film finished there were probably about 75 people in the audience, which is about how many people showed up. Other than the film starting early, you actually got a really good time slot. I went to one of the afternoon festival showings on Thursday and there were probably less than ten people there, not including the school classes.

All things considered, I think 75 people was a pretty good crowd. The admission, 45E – about $8 – was not really affordable to local people, which meant that the crowd was, a bit disappoingly, mostly white. I think a good percentage of the muungu (white people, literally dirty white sea foam that has washed up on shore) in the area were there, 'cause there realy aren't that many. The film fest was, apparently, the biggest international cultural event Swaziland has ever had.

All in all, I think about ten films were shown Friday night. I can't at the moment recall all of them, but here is a brief run down of the ones I do remember.

Dutch Bird: A comedy about friendship, pigeon racing, and fabricated international drug trade schemes.

The Young Master: A kung fu movie set in post-apocolyptic China.

The one where the woman changed her clothes and personality a lot: I don't remember the actual title of this one. Some of the scenes were beautiful, but I couldn't figure out what the point was. Or if it had one.

Puca: A weird German film. Gwen thought it was a coming of age story about a sexual awakening and the potential violence of love. I thought it was about the conflict between duty and desire. Until the evil-looking animated monkeys showed up. Then I was just confused.

The Man Who Couldn't Dance: Because he had no legs. A comedy. He succeeded in the end.

Single Bed: A woman is making a stop-motion animation of a man getting into bed/sleeping. So she is filming herself sleeping at night. Watching her footage of herself sleeping she sees a guy in her room standing over her w/ a knife. One of the scariest moments I have ever seen on film. Second time she watches the film he is not there anymore…

That pretty much sums up Friday night at the Film Fest.