If I were to mention the word “FilmFest” to you, what would come to mind? Bearing in mind that the Design Indaba FilmFest is largely driven by design and as such mainly documentary films? Probably not expecting any Oscar award-winning movies hey?

Well, I am going to be honest with you, in the past two years that we have covered Design Indaba, both Marica and I showed very little or no interest in the film side of the Indaba. My mind conjured up images of boring doccies.

This year we were generously given a complimentary ticket to a film of our choice and that is what inspired me to dig deeper. I selected my movie coming out of my interest and off I went Monday night.

I viewed the screening of The Human Scale directed by Andreas Møl Dalsgaard. What is that all about? The growth of cities, the social impact that modernism design has had on city dwellers and the solutions offered by a visionary Danish Architect and renowned urbanist Jan Gehl and his inspirational team, to “use design to create a better world for all to inhabit.” Gehl Architects has played big parts in developing city infrastructures for social prosperity in such cities such as New York, Dharma India, and Copenhagen etc.

Why is this the movie of my choice – because it has been claimed that in the year 2050, 80% of the world’s population will be living in cities! Go figure dudes, go figure! And we who are working in the field of design are able to become more involved in creating a better space for city dwellers.

As a thoroughbred Capetonian, I have to talk about the hectic Cape Doctor (the infamous south east wind). The “Doctor” was so hard at work last night that the normal screen used by the Indaba FilmFest team had to be ditched. They obviously had to chase their tails in an effort to get a temporary screen up and running – from where I was sitting, it looked like hard labour by nicely muscled men. BUT THEY DID IT – and I say KUDOS TO THE TEAM!

 You will see from the images, despite the wind blowing at 90 km per hour, the spirit there could not be dampened at all. It was very festive indeed! The venue – the central courtyard of the Castle of Good Hope – oldest building in South Africa. We were surrounded by plenty of history there. Because it is an open air theatre set up, we had huge back cushions and grass floor mats to sit on. Comfy enough! There were food vendors on site, wine for sale and what movie does not have popcorn. As I said – very festive, once the movie hit the screen, peeps were tucked under their blankets to keep warm. The sound and the quality of the movie were really spot on.

Despite the fact that at the end of the movie, I had enough of the wind, it was an amazing experience and I will do it again next year.

Just as a teaser – the last movie on the Design Indaba FilmFest program is Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. It will be screened at the Nu Metro movie house at the V & A Waterfront. Am I going to be there?  You bet your bottom dollar on that. To quote Vicki Sleet of I Want That – “Race you there!!”

Check out the rest of the Design Inbaba FilmFest line-up: here

{Images via Design Indaba}