A controversial examination of love across the color line, as a woman classified as mixed-race poses as white to continue her love affair with a white priest. The results of her deception bring tragedy to herself and her son. Rautenbach, as near to an auteur as was possible under the circumstances, has been criticized for an ending which seemed to support the existence of predestined racial groupings. But the film is far more complex than that, and the heartbreaking reality of the pain inflicted by apartheid is palpably presented. Filmed on location amongst the mixed-race fishing community on South Africa's West Coast, the filmmaker took a brave step in the accepted practice of the time by mixing cast members classified as white with cast members classified as'colored', although all the major black roles were still played by white actors.

KATRINA
by Jans Rautenbach
1969, 97 minutes, 35 mm

Director: Jans Rautenbach
Cast: Jill Kirkland, Joe Stewardson, Cobus Rossouw

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FESTIVALS

✮ 2011 - Anthology Film Archives (New York) - April 2011
* This screening is part of: UNITED WE STAND: SOUTH AFRICAN CINEMA DURING APARTHEID