Press Release 21 June 2011

Punk In Durban!

The Punk In Africa Premiere

After an epic two years in production, the documentary film PUNK IN AFRICA will have its local premiere in South Africa at the 32nd Durban International Film festival on 28 July 2011.

The film is directed by Keith Jones and Deon Maas and will have its first public screening at The Musgrave theatre in Durban on Thursday July 28 at 10pm as part of the official DIFF programme. There will be a second screening on Friday 29 July at The Royal at 2pm.

PUNK IN AFRICA is the story of the multi-racial punk movement within the recent political and social upheavals experienced in three Southern African countries: South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In these societies, the punk subculture represented a genuinely radical political impulse, playing out against a backdrop of intense political struggle, economic hardship and even civil war.

PUNK IN AFRICA traces this until-now untold story from its roots in the underground rock music of early 1970s Johannesburg, the first multi-racial punk bands formed in the wake of the Soweto Uprising and the militant anti-apartheid hardcore and post-punk bands of the 1980s to the rise of celebratory African-inspired ska bands which sprang up from Cape Town to Maputo in the democratic era of the 1990s. Today, an emerging generation of bands continue to draw on this legacy to confront the political challenges of contemporary Zimbabwe and the uncertain identity issues of the Afrikaans minority in South Africa as the scene also begins to spread across the rest of the African continent.

Featuring music, interviews and rare and unseen archive footage of Suck, Wild Youth, Safari Suits, Power Age, National Wake, KOOS, Kalahari Surfers, The Genuines, Hog Hoggidy Hog, Fuzigish, Sibling Rivalry, 340ml, Panzer, The Rudimentals, Evicted, Sticky Antlers, Freak, LYT, Jagwa Music, Fruits and Veggies, Swivel Foot and more…

The film is a co-production between SAFTA-awarded Johannesburg company Meerkat Media and Prague-based producers Peligroso Productions and Bohemian Lion. The film received support from the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa, Red Bull Media (Austria) and prestigious European post-production firm UPP (Czech Republic). The film is represented for international sales and distribution by the sales agents Rise and Shine Films / Kloos and Co. (Berlin, Germany).

The Durban International Film Festival’s 32nd edition will take place from 21 – 31 July 2011 and will present over 200 screenings of films from around the world, with a focus on films from South Africa and Africa.

Punk in Africa DVD & CD Soundtrack out soon through Fresh Music & Ritual Entertainment

More information at www.punkinafrica.co.za