Cape Town South Africa

Capetonians with a taste for macabre movies will be able to get their fix of slasher flicks, blood and gore horror films and thrillers at the 4th annual South African HORRORFEST Film Festival, symbolically kicking off this Halloween weekend (31 October) and running until 6 November 2008.

Hailed as Africa’s biggest festival of its kind, HORRORFEST 2008 will dish up its usual ghoulish fare laden with classic and contemporary horror staples such as vampires, witches, werewolves, mad scientists, serial killers, zombies and demons. The lineup includes the visceral 1972 offering from famous horror movie director Wes Craven, called Last House on the Left; cult classic Vampira the Movie; and David Cronenberg’s debut feature, Shivers (AKA It Came from Within).

Movies of fresh blood… we mean… talented up-and-coming film makers will also be shown as part of the South African HORRORFEST short film-making contest. Although this Shadow Realm line-up includes a mixture of shorts from all around the globe, the best local short will win a R20 000 production prize for their next project, courtesy of sponsors Visual Impact and Hdhub.

It’s enough to send chills down anyone’s spine!

For more information, visit www.horrorfest.info.

Here is some news that is bound to get local jazz lovers all jazzed up.

For one night only, on Saturday 1 November (tomorrow night), legendary South African jazz musician Abdullah Ibrahim (74) will be returning to his native Cape Town to enchant the audience with his New York-based Abdullah Ibrahim Trio and the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra.

The18-piece big band orchestra, initiated and founded by Ibrahim in September 2008, consists of young musicians from poverty-stricken rural areas with the goal of nurturing and exposing their talent.

The concert will be taking place at the Opera House of the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town at 8pm and will last approximately two and a half blissful hours. Tickets range from R120 – R180, which we think is an absolute steal for the honour of seeing and hearing the man who has recorded with the likes of Duke Ellington!

For more information, visit www.artscape.co.za.

Only tell people you trust with your life…

Designer wear at factory shop prices, everything must go! Be sure to register on their mailing list to receive updates on upcoming factory shop sales!

www.habitsfactory.co.za

The skies above Muizenberg is going to burst into bright, cheerful colours this coming weekend (25 and 26 October) as kite-flyers participate in the fourteenth annual Cape Town International Kite Festival.

Up to 25,000 people usually descend upon scenic Zandvlei to witness the spectacular show kites flown by local and international kiters. Apart from the kite-flying, there will also be various other forms of entertainment, kite-making workshops, food and craft stalls and live shows.

The event is Africa’s biggest kite festival and it is for a great cause. It is organised by Cape Mental Health in association with love-song playing Heart 104.9 FM and, since October is National Mental Health Awareness month, aims to raise funds and to promote good mental health.

Entry is R10 for adults and R5 for kids.

Although spring is still struggling to take hold here in the Cape Town area – what with winter still unceremoniously sweeping it aside with an occasional icy gust and downpour – an upcoming event is bound to finally ignite spring fever in the Western Cape.

The third annual Rocking the Daisies festival kicks off this coming Friday. The website (link to www.rockingthedaisies.com) promises that it will be the best festival yet. 26 local and international acts, including hot US band Eagle Eye Cherry, as well as top South African bands including Goldfish, Plush, Bed on Bricks, aKING, Dirty Skirts, Taxi Violence, Farryl Purkiss and 22 DJ’s, will rock the Cloof Wine Estate near the charming town of Darling until Sunday 5 October. Several comedians, such as Martin Evans, Brendan Murray and Paul Snodgrass are bound to tickle festival goers’ funny bones.

The entertainment line-up might be red-hot, but the festival prides itself on being entirely eco-friendly and green. So even though the festival location is less than an hour’s drive by car from Cape Town, Rocking the Daisies will be hosting a cycle to the festival from Cape Town. All competing cyclists will get their tickets at half price and receive a complimentary glass of Cloof Estate wine.

Staying with the festival’s green theme, all vehicles carrying less than three people will be charged a R20 parking fee. The money will go towards the planting of trees to offset the festival’s carbon footprint.

Now that is enough to warm even the coldest heart!