ENCOUNTERS 2025: SHORTS BLOCK - BETWEEN FEAR AND FORGETTING

Every year since our founding in 2010, The Bioscope has proudly hosted screenings of The Encounters South African International Documentary Festival. Now celebrating its 27th year as a festival, Encounters returns to The Bioscope once again with screenings at The Bioscope from 20 - 29 June. Tickets are R90. 

SEE THE FULL BIOSCOPE PROGRAM HERE

SHORTS BLOCK - BETWEEN FEAR AND FORGETTING

Never Come Fetch Me  (13 PG V)

Jessie Ayles | South Africa | UK | 6 min | 2024 

This experimental short provides a moving account of a young boy’s life on the mean streets of Cape Town’s ganglands, where he quickly progresses from selling drugs to getting involved in gangsterism, before being shot in the foot and sent to a home for “rude children”, where he suffers further trauma and violence. Narrated by a 15-year-old ex-gang member, the film’s striking visual poetry extends the language of the documentary form while providing a compelling and engaging intimacy that never succumbs to sentiment. With its idiosyncratic and authentically felt vision, Never Come Fetch Me suggests a bright future for emerging filmmaker Jessie Ayles.

Fear Fokol (10 PG L)

Dir. Tuva Björk | Sweden | 15 min | 2025 

Fear Fokol takes a deep dive into South Africa’s booming private security industry, driven by fear, inequality and mistrust in the ‘other’. With more than 550,000 private security guards, outnumbering the police and military combined, the industry has become a powerful force in protecting South Africa's residents. As filmmaker Tuva Björk takes us on a night-time journey into the anxieties and fears of Johannesburg’s affluent residents, Fear Fokol reveals the fragile illusion of safety they provide, while reflecting on ideas of ownership, protection and vulnerability. Through a voyeuristic lens, the film examines the social divide that fuels the demand for private protection within an industry built on the failure of public protection and commodified fear, exposing the deeper psychological and socio-economic issues behind the commercialisation of security and the fragile nature of safety in a divided society.

They Dug a Grave In My Heart  (10 PG V)

Ulisses Arthur | Brazil | 24 min | 2024 

This sharply directed short focuses on the suburban neighborhood of Bebedouro, Brazil, where drilling by a salt-mining company has caused virtually all of the buildings to crack and slowly fall apart. With the local population having left due to the risk of collapse, a gang of masked teenagers roam the ruined landscape with plans to destroy the machine responsible for the destruction of their homes and lives. 

In 2025, The Bioscope celebrates 15 Years Of Cinema. We couldn’t have achieved this without our dedicated staff who look after you every time you visit. We’re lucky enough to have had all of them with us for as long as we can remember, and believe that this loyalty deserves constant support!

For the months of May, June and July, we are running a special BIOSCOPE BIRTHDAY STAFF FUNDRAISER, where in the checkout of your ticket purchase, you can give a donation that will go straight to them - Owen, Silin, Bongi, Portia, Polite, and Swenkie!