Not down in any map; true places never are

As for Melville in the 19th century, so it is now.

Blighted Joburg (town/inner-city) is on something of an upswing - in the popular imaginary at least. There's Hotel Yeoville, a lyrical document of loves and lives in ex-bohemia; there 's Yeoville Studio at Wits, an architecture/urban-planning experiment that, among other things, has produced this guide to eating a whole continent without leaving town.

The Yeoville eating guide is a map of the future: it's a map of potential delight for those who dare. Meanwhile, what of those who are? Right here in Joburg, there are maps of Ethiopia, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Bangladesh and more; maps of the present; carried and communicated and explained and rearranged every single day.

The City That Kills Somalians

Set in Cape Town, a city where socio-economic division exists largely on racial lines, The City That Kills Somalians documents the stressed lives of the city’s impoverished people. What starts out as an observational film, builds into a story that draws the viewer into the uncomfortable racial tensions of the city. Through intimate footage, this hard hitting film sensitively unpeels the tough layers of Cape Town, giving voice to the unspoken silence of a people in need to talk to each other.

Directed by: Riaan Hendricks

2007 (Screened at DIFF 2008)

The Visitor (film)

This film, that was written and directed by actor Tom McCarthy, tries to give the hot political issue of illegal immmigration a human face. Tarek (Danai Gurira)and Zainab (Haaz Sleiman) rent a flat in Manhattan and are shocked when Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) comes to claim it as his own. It soon becomes obvious that the couple are victims of an unscrupulous real estate connection of theirs. Walter eventually, reluctantly, allows them to stay on with him. This leads to some cross-cultural bonding. Walter learns how to be a djembe drummer from Tarek. It all goes well until Tarek is arrested on a misunderstanding and is so discovered to be an illegal immigrant. Walter makes some radical life changes as he attempts to help his friend. The arrival of Mouna, Tarek's mother (Hiam Abass) in search of her son fans some romantic flames. The Visitor has the cliches that are usually attendant to similar tales but manages to win the heart of the viewer.

Read more at Suite101: ZIFF 2008 Opening Night: Zimbabwe International Film Festival 2008 Starts on a Good Note http://www.suite101.com/content/ziff-2008-opening-night-a67481#ixzz0zboJTRsU

Zimbabwe (film)

every day, 1000 people illegally cross the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa. Zimbabwe, the central character in the film whose patriotic name was bestowed upon her by her father in honour of the independence of the country, decides to jump the border and emigrate illegally to South Africa. The film chronicles her life as an undocumented domestic and the cyclical process of poverty, emigration, and violence.

Released 2008

Refugee reparations in Europe

32-year old Ebenizer Folefack Sontsa, the Cameroonian national whose violent repatriation caused a mini revolt last Saturday on a Brussels Airline flight to Douala and led to the arrest of Serge Fosso, a passenger on the flight, committed
suicide yesterday at the Merksplas refugee center in Belgium. According to news reports, Ebenizer, who was placed in isolation after Saturday’s failed expulsion attempt, used bedsheets to hang himself in a bathroom. Police had to be brought in to quell the ensuing riot by other detainees.

Controversy over Ebenizer Folefack Sontsa’s death: Was His Alleged Suicide a cover-up? Was Folefack a victim of police brutality or did he really take his own life? Friends say Folefack was so beat-up after the first expulsion attempt that he could barely walk straight, let alone be able to hang himself. Those who examined his corpse at the morgue claim that there was no sign of trauma around his neck. Inmates at the detention center say it is virtually impossible to hang oneself in the bathrooms.

Authorities at the Merksplas refugee center insist it was suicide, and that Folefack left a couple of suicide notes. An autopsy is ordered as lawyers file suit.

Is Italy flirting with fascism?

Silvio Berlusconi is back in power. Rome's mayor won on an anti-immigration platform. The right is noisier than ever. But this is not a return to the dark days of Mussolini.

Is Italy going fascist? Is Berlusconi like Mussolini? Will the past repeat itself - this time, unquestionably, as farce?

Ethiopian emigrants/ Paris tension