Doccie on Cape water crisis scoops top prize

Doccie on Cape water crisis scoops top prize

Two of SA’s most acclaimed documentary filmmakers, Francois Verster (The Dream of Shahrazad) and Simon Wood (The Silent Form), have collaborated with the Academy Award winning American producer Laura Poitras (Citizen Four) to make an evocative short documentary on the Cape's water crisis, Scenes from a Dry City. The film premiered at the world’s foremost documentary festival IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) in November 2018, becoming the first South African film in four years to be selected ‘in competition’ at the festival. Having scooped the top prize for Best Mini Doc at its US premiere at the 16th Big Sky documentary film festival, the film has recently become eligible for an Academy Award consideration for Best Short Documentary in 2020. Described by IDFA as ‘a film that is as visually stunning as it is urgent’, Scenes from a Dry City reflects on the water crisis in Cape Town from different societal perspectives.