Anti-apartheid drama wins best picture award at UK Jewish Film Festival

A film about Jews’ role in opposing apartheid rule in South Africa took home the best film award as the UK Jewish Film Festival (UKJFF) drew to a close.

An Act of Defiance, directed by Jean van de Velde, recounts the story of a mixed group of black and Jewish men who were arrested in 1963 for conspiring to commit sabotage against the South African state.

The film won the 2017 Dorfman Best Film Award, it was announced last night at the festival’s closing event.

Simon Chinn, the head judge, said the feature, which was screened at the festival’s opening gala earlier in November, was “a powerful and important film that aims to correct the record in relation to this key moment in South Africa’s history. Compellingly told, accessible, and with fine performances, this is a film which we hope will bring a little-known aspect of the anti-apartheid struggle to a broad international audience.”

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