The Endless River

Oliver Hermanus : 2015

A young waitress welcomes her husband home to the small South African town of Riviersonderend after his four-year jail sentence. At first it appears their plans for a new life together are finally being realised. But when the wife and son of a foreigner living on a nearby farm are brutally murdered, the young woman and the grieving widower begin gravitating towards each other. Trapped in a cycle of violence and bloodshed, the two form an unlikely bond seeking to transcend their mutual anger, pain and loneliness. Oliver Hermanus's feature premiered in competition at Venice International Film Festival 2015.

Impunity

Jyoti Mistry : 2014

Investigating a gruesome murder, a special investigator and a local police detective find themselves knee-deep in political corruption and conspiracy. The mauled remains of a cabinet minister's daughter are found in an exclusive African safari resort after a party celebrating her engagement to a rising political star. Special Crimes Unit investigator Dingande Fakude, called in from Pretoria to solve the mystery, teams up with local police detective Naveed Khan, a trained psychologist and self-styled outcast. Young couple Derren and Echo, who were working as waiters at the engagement party, are taken in for questioning by the two investigators. As Derren and Echo's culpability becomes evident, Fakude is relieved that the high-profile murder case can be swiftly closed. However, as he and Khan continue to piece the story together, uncovering a trail of murders, they are faced with a terrible choice – engineer a cover-up and provide impunity for the new political class, or save a little girl's life. Jyoti Mistry's noir thriller, her second feature, premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2014.

Little One

Darrell Roodt : 2012
Umfaan

In a field near a township in Johannesburg, a middle-aged mother makes a gruesome discovery: a little girl has been left for dead. Rushing her to the hospital, Pauline saves her life. But her life has been changed forever. Six-year-old Vuyelwa has been raped and her face badly beaten. She remains silent and unresponsive to all except the big-hearted woman who saved her. No one comes forward to claim her. The identity of her abusers and the whereabouts of her parents remain a mystery. Little One becomes yet another statistic in a country where one in every three girls under the age of 21 are victims of rape. But to Pauline, Vuyelwa is not a statistic – she's a survivor. She visits her daily. To help her cope with the shame and disfigurement, Pauline knits the girl a mask to cover her face. And under that mask, the little girl begins to smile. And so does Pauline – the girl has become like a daughter to her. Abandoned by her parents, she refuses to allow the child to be lost in the system. So when her attempt to adopt her is denied, Pauline takes matters into her own hands. After all, love is not a crime.

Fynbos

Harry Patramanis : 2012

Richard, a real estate developer on the brink of bankruptcy, travels with his wife Meryl to a lavish and remote glass house bordering on a sweeping landscape in the Western Cape of South Africa. He is desperate to sell it. The transparent, glass Fynbos mansion blends into the hills with a beauty almost too great for the human eye to take in. The house stands between heaven and earth, like a virtual blind spot in the retina's perception. It is here that Meryl and Richard meet with a couple interested in buying the house, with the two hippie-like house-sitters also forming part of the group. When Meryl goes inexplicably missing, stifled by a sense of looming distrust and financial pressure, Richard is caught in a maze of missteps and uncertainty. The blind spot begins to expand, opening up the increasingly enigmatic story to new interpretations that bring themselves to bear on the occurrences both from without and from within. What transpires within the walls of this glass house then has little to do with money and everything to do with the human condition: souls are left pondering the line between what is real and what is perceived. Focusing more on people's actions and reactions, than on plot development, Harry Patramanis's debut feature is an exercise in minimalism. With its elliptical storytelling and evocative atmospherics, it is a unique and haunting dramatic thriller, allowing seemingly specific events to remain open to multiple interpretations. The film premiered at Durban International Film Festival 2012 and its European premiere screened in the Forum section at Berlin International Film Festival 2013.

Layla Fourie

Pia Marais : 2013

Set in post-apartheid South Africa, the story centres on polygraphist Layla Fourie, who is offered a job in a company specialising in lie-detection and security in a small town. As a single mother, Layla is forced to take her six-year-old son Kane with her. However, as they head into the country for what Layla hopes will be the beginning of a new life, an accident occurs which will change everything. A web of lies and deception becomes firmly wrapped around the young mother and son and, as their trust is put to the test, it's just a matter of time before the truth will tear them apart. Their relationship and how it evolves throughout the story reflects a certain atmosphere that prevails in South Africa, one of hope and yet shadowed by distrust. Pia Marais's thriller, her third feature, received a Special Mention when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2013.