Kom Winter Film Fest

Welcome to the Kom Winter Film Festival, where the Kommetjie Residents and Ratepayers Association is putting on a programme of amazing films that feature, or were made by, Kommetjie residents.

Due to high demand, we have added an extra show on Sunday 22 June, with Joelle and Yves present for Q&A afterwards.

The two shows are at 15:00 (screening starts 15:30) and 18:00 (screening starts 19:00)

MY MERCURY

South Africa, 2024, 104min

Director: Joelle Chesselet

Directed by award-winning filmmaker and Kommetjie resident Joelle Chesselet, who is joined by Director of Photography, award-winning director Lloyd Ross (also a Kommetjie resident), and My Octopus Teacher co-director Pippa Ehrlich, this moving documentary is set on the inhospitable Mercury Island, off Namibia. Her brother, conservationist Yves Chesselet, sets out solo to protect endangered gannet and penguin colonies from invasive seals. In this wild, windswept place, he makes a cruel pact to save the seabirds from extinction. In the end, the birds are saved, but at what cost? In the words of renowned Namibian conservationist, Dr Margaret Jacobsohn, "anyone serious about real conservation issues should watch this stunningly beautiful, funny, shocking documentary". She calls it a "courageous and ambitious film" that tackles head-on the dilemma of whether humans should intervene when human-induced ecological imbalances pit species against each other. Through a reflective and tender lens, My Mercury is a deeply moving portrayal of "nature's brutality and beauty juxtaposed with one man's courage and frailties", which "leaves one reeling." 

Joelle and Yves will be present for a Q&A after the film

Recommended minimum age: 14

Tickets R120. Please consider making a donation to KRRA when you purchase your ticket.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And then later in July (Dates to be confirmed), we will have a double billing that features the following two films:

OURS NOT MINE

South Africa, 2022, 38min

Director: Fly on the Wall Films

Beautifully shot, although you can call the subject matter anything but. Ours, Not Mine features MD of Protect the West Coast and Kom big wave surfer Mike Schlebach, who started PTWC to expose and stop heavy mineral sand mining on the West Coast of South Africa that entails the industrial-scale extraction of minerals such as zircon, ilmenite, rutile, magnetite and garnet between Columbine and the Orange River, including parts that are officially deemed Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas. Visually rich footage shows the biodiversity and splendour of a pristine wilderness. This is juxtaposed with the wasteland left behind for generations by mining companies from Australia, South Africa, China and others. The film underlines that a destructive, single-use activity stifles efforts to find sustainable economic activities, such as agriculture, fisheries and nature-based tourism.

WHERE WE THRIVE

South Africa, 2023, 34min

Director: Dean Leslie

From the opening line holy macaroni cheese balls! to the closing credits of this tribute to the significant role in surf culture played by Kommetjie, near Cape Town, we get a fascinating glimpse into how a rural backwater "too far" from Cape Town became a surfing mecca. This sumptuously filmed adventure documentary, narrated by endurance runner Ryan Sandes, is a non-pretentious unearthing of the small town gem of the "Kom", the birth of big wave surfing in South Africa and the adventure potential of the rugged Cape Peninsula. The film is quintessentially an ode to adventure, and that communality that binds us all together.