Encounters 2021: The Last Shelter

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

THE LAST SHELTER.

Directed by:Ousmane Samassékou. (France | Mali | South Africa). Dur: 1h 25mins

A uniquely intimate insight into the plight of West African migrants, The Last Shelter is concerned not with macro political conflicts, but with the lives of those affected. Told entirely from within a Malian halfway house, a refuge both for those trying to escape to Europe and for those who have failed or have been sent home, the film unfolds through fly-on-the-wall observation and quiet conversation between residents as they slowly open up to one another, forming something of a family of their own inside its walls, before their respective times come to move on. Punctuated by experimental passages of almost surreal beauty, the film seamlessly balances the characters’ hopes and fears, love, tragedy and their desperate determination, while its most intimate moments take on an almost confessional air. The Last Shelter is profoundly moving and striking in the trust it has earned from its subjects.

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]