Extra Screening of My Mercury on Sunday

Due to high demand, the KRRA has added an extra screening of My Mercury on Sunday 22 June, which is for 3pm at the Soetwater Environmental Centre, preceding the original show at 6pm. Buy a raffle ticket for prizes worth thousands of rand. Winners announced after the second show.

The Kom Winter Film Festival, presented by the Kommetjie Residents and Ratepayers Association, is putting on a programme of films this winter that feature, or were made by, Kommetjie residents.

The two shows of My Mercury will take place at 15:00 (screening starts 15:30) and 18:00 (screening starts 19:00). Come for a bite and refreshment before both screenings, with the Green Room running a bar, and rotis for sale (cash only).

The filmmaker Joelle Chesselet and subject of the film Yves Chesselet will be available for a Q&A after both screenings.

Book for both screenings at Quicket here

MY MERCURY

South Africa, 2024, 104min

Director: Joelle Chesselet

Directed by award-winning filmmaker and Kommetjie resident Joelle Chesselet, who is joined by Director of Photography, award-winning director Lloyd Ross (also a Kommetjie resident), and My Octopus Teacher co-director Pippa Ehrlich, this moving documentary is set on the inhospitable Mercury Island, off Namibia. Her brother, conservationist Yves Chesselet, sets out solo to protect endangered gannet and penguin colonies from invasive seals. In this wild, windswept place, he makes a cruel pact to save the seabirds from extinction. In the end, the birds are saved, but at what cost? In the words of renowned Namibian conservationist, Dr Margaret Jacobsohn, "anyone serious about real conservation issues should watch this stunningly beautiful, funny, shocking documentary". She calls it a "courageous and ambitious film" that tackles head-on the dilemma of whether humans should intervene when human-induced ecological imbalances pit species against each other. Through a reflective and tender lens, My Mercury is a deeply moving portrayal of "nature's brutality and beauty juxtaposed with one man's courage and frailties", which "leaves one reeling." 

Joelle and Yves will be present for a Q&A after the film

Recommended minimum age: 14

Tickets R120.

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Please consider making a donation to KRRA when you purchase your ticket on Quicket, or make a donation here to keep KRRA assisting you in the community.

To purchase raffle tickets with amazing prizes see the blue image above for EFT details, or pay via Snapscan at the QR code below. Remember for EFT to reference with RAFFLE, and your NAME and send your POP to Michele on 082 476-1202 (so she can assign you a ticket number for the raffle). For Snapscan, use the same reference, but add your phone number so we get assign you a ticket number. 🏢 How awesome are these prizes from these legendary Kom businesses. Thanks guys!

🍕 🥐 🍥 🍚 🍷 🍻 🔩 🥓

1. Last Word voucher for 2 guests for 1 night

2. Trizanne - Dawn Patrol Wines and hamper

3. Slivers biltong and nuts - R1000 hamper

4. Buco - hamper

5. Espresso - R200 voucher

6. Fishermans Garden - R350 voucher

7. Greenroom - voucher - R100

8. Good Riddance Coffee Co - R500 voucher

9. Just Foods Deli - food hamper

10. Charity - beauty voucher R350

11. Phil - kite - R600

12. White Rabbit - beers and t shirt

13. Kommetjie Pizzeria And Kommetjie Liquor Store - wine and voucher

14. Protea artwork by Hildieberry

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And then on 27 July, we will have a double billing that features the following two films:

OURS NOT MINE

South Africa, 2022, 38min

Director: Fly on the Wall Films

Beautifully shot, although you can call the subject matter anything but. Ours, Not Mine features MD of Protect the West Coast and Kom big wave surfer Mike Schlebach, who started PTWC to expose and stop heavy mineral sand mining on the West Coast of South Africa that entails the industrial-scale extraction of minerals such as zircon, ilmenite, rutile, magnetite and garnet between Columbine and the Orange River, including parts that are officially deemed Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas. Visually rich footage shows the biodiversity and splendour of a pristine wilderness. This is juxtaposed with the wasteland left behind for generations by mining companies from Australia, South Africa, China and others. The film underlines that a destructive, single-use activity stifles efforts to find sustainable economic activities, such as agriculture, fisheries and nature-based tourism.

WHERE WE THRIVE

South Africa, 2023, 34min

Director: Dean Leslie

From the opening line holy macaroni cheese balls! to the closing credits of this tribute to the significant role in surf culture played by Kommetjie, near Cape Town, we get a fascinating glimpse into how a rural backwater "too far" from Cape Town became a surfing mecca. This sumptuously filmed adventure documentary, narrated by endurance runner Ryan Sandes, is a non-pretentious unearthing of the small town gem of the "Kom", the birth of big wave surfing in South Africa and the adventure potential of the rugged Cape Peninsula. The film is quintessentially an ode to adventure, and that communality that binds us all together.