On the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Durban International Film Festival, which takes place from June 14 to 23, The Local History Museums and DIFF organizers, the Centre for Creative Arts, present an exhibition entitled, Celebrating 25 Years of the Durban International Film Festival.

The exhibition takes a retrospective view of the festival over the past quarter of a century, with most of the reminiscence coming from DIFF Founder, Ros Sarkin, who together with her husband Teddy, began the initiative in 1979. The exhibition showcases posters, programmes, personal anecdotes, press coverage, etc, providing interesting insights into the social and political contexts of the recent past. The array of artifacts bear testimony to a feast of cutting-edge, innovative film that came to characterize the Durban International Film Festival. Ros Sarkin recalls people camping outside screening venues overnight in order to secure tickets to festival movies.

The exhibition also provides a valuable measure of the extent to which the DIFF has grown and developed over the years. The very first film festival movie, Travelling Players, directed by Theo Angelopolous, was screened at the Avalon-Albert, in what was "Indian-town" at the time. A total of 7 films were screened in the first year. In comparison, the festival in 2004 will present 72 feature films, 46 documentaries and 26 short films, totaling nearly 300 screenings at six principal venues plus community halls and tertiary institutions. The Festival programme has expanded massively to accommodate workshops, seminars, special events and the presence of a number of festival guests provides added value. Speaking on the early days, Ros Sarkin comments: 'The late seventies were a barren time for the visual arts * South Africa was feeling the strangulation of apartheid isolation and the oppressive regime that tolerated only one way of thinking and expressing oneself. The festival offered a space for South Africans who did not fit into the "braaivleis, sunny skies and Chevrolet image" of the time.'

Celebrating 25 Years of the Durban International Film Festival offers a perspective that identifies the very unique character of South Africa's longest-running international film festival. It is a must for local film enthusiasts and will have appeal particularly for those who have patronized the DIFF over the past few decades, and for those interested in this fascinating slice of history about one of Durban's outstanding cultural events.

The exhibition will be officially opened by eThekwini Deputy Mayor, Cllr Logie Naidoo and Mr Moosa Moosa CEO and Director of Avalon Group, at the Kwa Muhle Museum at 5.30 for 6.00pm on 09 June 2004. For more information, please call 260 3586 or e-mail cca@ukzn.ac.za.