The Durban International Film Festival brought together the cream of the continent’s filmmaking talent. But, amidst the glitz and glamour, climate justice organisation Greenpeace offered a harsh reminder of the impact pollution has on Durban residents, with the KZN premiere of its newest documentary CRUDE.
Award-winning climate activist and documentarian Angelo Louw said that he was quite nervous about the response to the film, but was relieved that community members from Wentworth (the township featured in the film) were happy with how Greenpeace told their story.
“It’s a challenge whenever you try to tell a community’s story. You never want to get it wrong… and so, screening it in Durban was probably the most stressful for me! I’m just happy the activists from the community not only like it, but want to show it all of the province in months to come,” Angelo said.
CRUDE tells the stories of residents from the South Durban Basin, their battles with ill health, their suffering at the hands of the surrounding fossil fuel companies, and their attempts to bring change to their community. The organisation hopes that this awareness will help steer South Africa away from new oil projects.
In 2021, Angelo hinted to Get It that he would soon start working on a Durban-based project. He also spoke about the release of his first book, The Problem With Black People, which he launched a month ago. Louw says that our profile of him was probably what manifested these projects into being.
“I am extremely blessed to be able to have said that to you without a solid plan, and then to be here today with a new film and a book.”
But how does he balance his activist and filmmaking with his new career as an author?
“I take it a day at a time. I am hectically busy and hardly have time to take it all in – but I’m not complaining. I got to spend some time at the beach after the premiere; how many people can say that that’s how their working day went?”
CRUDE will soon be available for online streaming, and Louw assures us that he is working hard to get the print version of the book out in before the end of the year.
