Encounters 2021: President

Every year since our founding in 2010, The Bioscope has proudly hosted screenings of The Encounters Documentary Film Festival. Always a highlight in our calendar, the festival returns this year with limited physical screenings at The Bioscope from 11-20 June. Tickets are R70. For more information on the festival as a whole, please visit encounters.co.za

PRESIDENT

Directed by: Camilla Nielsson. (Denmark | United States | Norway | Zimbabwe). Dur: 1h 55 mins.

This gripping documentary from Camilla Nielssen, who gave us 2016’s Democrats, chronicles the 2018 Zimbabwe election in remarkable detail. Playing much like a political thriller – although some of the real-life events might not be believable in a fiction film – the film documents the election battle between Nelson Chamisa of the MDC opposition party and Zanu-PF’s Emmerson Mnangagwa, who ousted long-time dictator Robert Mugabe but who is clearly very much of the same cloth as the man who ruled the country with an iron fist for 40 years while gradually destroying the economy and imposing a culture of state violence. As the election looms closer, it becomes increasingly clear that a valid democratic process would lead to the election of Chamisa as president and MDC as the ruling party. However, as with so many strong-man ‘democracies’ in the 21st century, an election is no guarantee of a democratic outcome.

COVID POLICY AND PROCEDURE.

The new Bioscope location is set to be a 47 seater cinema. We are however selling far less in order for there to be space to sit apart from other members of the public. We ask you to please keep your mask on the entire time within the cinema premises. Drinks and snacks will be on sale and can be consumed during the film, but please consider those around you when your mask is off for this. 44 Stanley is largely an open air shopping centre, and The Bioscope has a great outside space directly outside the cinema that public can make use of. Within the cinema, we will also make use of temperature reading, air filtering, and constant cleaning to make sure that The Bioscope remains a safe and hygienic experience.

After purchasing tickets, if you experience any COVID related symptoms, or come into contact with anyone who has tested positive, we ask you to please not attend the screening. Please understand that The Bioscope will not be able to refund you this ticket. We are happy however for you to give your ticket to someone else that can attend. If this is not possible, we would be happy to exchange your ticket for a future screening/event. This can all be coordinated via email at [email protected]