DOCUMENTARIES
DOCUMENTARY
MURDER IN PARIS
MURDER IN PARIS is a political crime thriller that traces the motives for the assassination of anti-Apartheid activist, Dulcie September. The story travels from the heart of Paris in March 1988 to the pursuit of justice in 2021. A misty spring morning in Paris, 29 March 1988. Dulcie had just visited the post office to collect mail for the ANC office in France, where she served as a Chief Representative of the African National Congress. She would have been completely unaware, as she pressed the lift button to the fourth floor, that an assassin was lurking in the shadows. “Dulcie September wasn’t only murdered but there was an attempt to erase her existence. There was an attempt to remove her from the centre of a very powerful network of players that were supporting the Apartheid government. It was done in a manner that after 30 years we still don’t know who killed Dulcie September”. – Hennie van Vuuren, author – Apartheid Guns and Money In a powerful documentary, Murder in Paris, director Enver Samuel attempts to expose layers of deceit, complicity, hidden agendas in the unsolved mystery of Dulcie September’s murder. Murder in Paris, has been selected for the Durban FilmMart 2019 at the Durban International Film Festival, was broadcast on SABC3 on Human Right Day March 21st 2021. It was selected for Encounters 2021 where it was one of the top 3 most watched documentaries. It won Best Documentary and the Inaugural Human Rights Award at DIFF 2021. Official website
DOCUMENTARY
MURDER IN PARIS
MURDER IN PARIS is a political crime thriller that traces the motives for the assassination of anti-Apartheid activist, Dulcie September. The story travels from the heart of Paris in March 1988 to the pursuit of justice in 2021. A misty spring morning in Paris, 29 March 1988. Dulcie had just visited the post office to collect mail for the ANC office in France, where she served as a Chief Representative of the African National Congress. She would have been completely unaware, as she pressed the lift button to the fourth floor, that an assassin was lurking in the shadows. “Dulcie September wasn’t only murdered but there was an attempt to erase her existence. There was an attempt to remove her from the centre of a very powerful network of players that were supporting the Apartheid government. It was done in a manner that after 30 years we still don’t know who killed Dulcie September”. – Hennie van Vuuren, author – Apartheid Guns and Money In a powerful documentary, Murder in Paris, director Enver Samuel attempts to expose layers of deceit, complicity, hidden agendas in the unsolved mystery of Dulcie September’s murder. Murder in Paris, has been selected for the Durban FilmMart 2019 at the Durban International Film Festival, was broadcast on SABC3 on Human Right Day March 21st 2021. It was selected for Encounters 2021 where it was one of the top 3 most watched documentaries. It won Best Documentary and the Inaugural Human Rights Award at DIFF 2021. Official website
DOCUMENTARY
SOMEONE TO BLAME
Director Enver Samuel, in his documentary Someone To Blame – The Ahmed Timol Inquest, weaves a compelling narrative that draws on the 2017 re-opening of the inquiry on the untimely death and brutal murder of Ahmed Timol in 1972. The young political activist died at the hands of the notorious security police at the John Vorster Police Station in downtown Johannesburg, framed by the police as a suicide at the time.
Samuel, an acclaimed filmmaker, builds on Indians Can’t Fly (2015) a previous documentary that deals with Timol’s life, his detention and his death. For the sequel, he uses newly recorded interviews and the court procedures. He contextualises the new developments by using archival material and graphical representations. Samuel constructs an intimate overview of an event that sets the scene for the families and friends of many other South Africans who died in detention during the apartheid years to also pursue the truth of what happened to their beloved ones.
It has been argued that as a result of the massification of the media, documentary films have become an important source to create discourse in the public domain as a way to simulate discussion and debate on the social, political and economic challenges in present day society.
Samuel’s film has created an important addition to the existing archive and will serve to preserve a heritage that South Africa is not proud of, but that must be acknowledged by all South Africans as we endeavour to build a new, just society.
Samuel’s film has created an important addition to the existing archive and will serve to preserve heritage that South Africa is not proud of, but that must be acknowledged by all South Africans as we endeavour to build a new, just society.
SAFTA for Someone To Blame – The Ahmed Timol Inquest – best documentary short, 2019. This documentary was selected for the Vancouver South Africa Film Festival 2019, Encounters South Africa International Film Festival 2019, Zanzibar International Film Festival 2019-winner best documentary, Jozi Film Festival 2019-winner Best documentary- COSAFF 2020winner best documentary and INPUT Bangkok 2019.
DOCUMENTARY
SOMEONE TO BLAME
Director Enver Samuel, in his documentary Someone To Blame – The Ahmed Timol Inquest, weaves a compelling narrative that draws on the 2017 re-opening of the inquiry on the untimely death and brutal murder of Ahmed Timol in 1972. The young political activist died at the hands of the notorious security police at the John Vorster Police Station in downtown Johannesburg, framed by the police as a suicide at the time.
Samuel, an acclaimed filmmaker, builds on Indians Can’t Fly (2015) a previous documentary that deals with Timol’s life, his detention and his death. For the sequel, he uses newly recorded interviews and the court procedures. He contextualises the new developments by using archival material and graphical representations. Samuel constructs an intimate overview of an event that sets the scene for the families and friends of many other South Africans who died in detention during the apartheid years to also pursue the truth of what happened to their beloved ones.
It has been argued that as a result of the massification of the media, documentary films have become an important source to create discourse in the public domain as a way to simulate discussion and debate on the social, political and economic challenges in present day society.
Samuel’s film has created an important addition to the existing archive and will serve to preserve a heritage that South Africa is not proud of, but that must be acknowledged by all South Africans as we endeavour to build a new, just society.
Samuel’s film has created an important addition to the existing archive and will serve to preserve heritage that South Africa is not proud of, but that must be acknowledged by all South Africans as we endeavour to build a new, just society.
SAFTA for Someone To Blame – The Ahmed Timol Inquest – best documentary short, 2019. This documentary was selected for the Vancouver South Africa Film Festival 2019, Encounters South Africa International Film Festival 2019, Zanzibar International Film Festival 2019-winner best documentary, Jozi Film Festival 2019-winner Best documentary- COSAFF 2020winner best documentary and INPUT Bangkok 2019.
DOCUMENTARY
INDIANS CAN'T FLY
Indians Can’t Fly is a 48-minute documentary that tells the story of Ahmed Timol, a 29-year-old Roodepoort teacher and anti-apartheid activist who ‘fell’ from the 10th floor of the notorious John Vorster Square security police building in Johannesburg in October 1971. His death in detention had a huge impact both locally and abroad.
The documentary is narrated by Timol’s nephew Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee, author of Timol: Quest for Justice, and directed by Enver Samuel.
A police inquest concluded that Timol committed suicide while under interrogation, but questions remain whether he may have been pushed, or tortured to death and thrown from the window. It has been suggested that the roadblock at which Timol was captured was set up specifically to trap him – which could mean his murder was premeditated by police. The term Indians Can’t Fly was soon bandied about by the callous security police who used it both as a joke and a way to get detainees to talk.
Indians Can’t Fly captures the life and times of a true martyr, an unsung ‘foot soldier’ of the struggle who played an important part in our liberation.
Indians Can’t Fly was nominated for three South African Film & Television Awards (SAFTA’s), best director, best documentary, best editor for documentary short, winning best achievement in directing and best documentary short.
DOCUMENTARY
INDIANS CAN'T FLY
Indians Can’t Fly is a 48-minute documentary that tells the story of Ahmed Timol, a 29-year-old Roodepoort teacher and anti-apartheid activist who ‘fell’ from the 10th floor of the notorious John Vorster Square security police building in Johannesburg in October 1971. His death in detention had a huge impact both locally and abroad.
The documentary is narrated by Timol’s nephew Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee, author of Timol: Quest for Justice, and directed by Enver Samuel.
A police inquest concluded that Timol committed suicide while under interrogation, but questions remain whether he may have been pushed, or tortured to death and thrown from the window. It has been suggested that the roadblock at which Timol was captured was set up specifically to trap him – which could mean his murder was premeditated by police. The term Indians Can’t Fly was soon bandied about by the callous security police who used it both as a joke and a way to get detainees to talk.
Indians Can’t Fly captures the life and times of a true martyr, an unsung ‘foot soldier’ of the struggle who played an important part in our liberation.
Indians Can’t Fly was nominated for three South African Film & Television Awards (SAFTA’s), best director, best documentary, best editor for documentary short, winning best achievement in directing and best documentary short.
