Creative minds and performers from the five continents contributed to the diversity of the event and stimulated the dialogue about arts. Local students and professionals exhibited their best pieces of work in the numerous galleries, while hundreds of plays and dances of the Eastern Cape were performed at the City Hall, at Rhodes Theatre and inside Saint Andrew’s College. The Village Green Fair hosted thousands of stands, targeted daily by a mass of people in search of the finest crafts, traditional attires and delicious treats of game meat. World renowned companies and solo artists staged brilliant puppet shows in the city parks. In the local cinemas, the Magna Carta Film Festival displayed a broad selection of independent movies. The main feature of the 41st edition of the Festival was Satire. “Reinvention”, spoke Ayanda Mjekula, Chairman of the Festival’s Board, “is critical to an institution such as ours, as is constant reflection and innovation”. Nothing can enhance freedom of speech and renovation better than Satire, which has the power to poke institutions and people’s common sense. Among the many comedians, TV star Conrad Koch and his ventriloquist puppet Chester Missing entertained the audience discussing the importance of irony in politics in a sold-out event in the Blue Theatre. Chester Missing has become popular for his cunning interviews with politicians from across Southern Africa.
The Festival’s Board emphasized the importance in Southern Africa of freedom of speech, as stated in the Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in Section 16 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which reads: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes [...] freedom of artistic creativity”. A showcase of cartoons, called “Freedom of Expression in Broad Strokes”, portrayed the international fight for the rights of satirists. Featuring, artists of the likes of Jeremy Nell (Vodacom journalist of the year 2011, RSA), Roar Hagen (NOR), Aristides E. Guerrero (CUB), Mihau Ignat (ROM), Michael De Adder (CAN) and Tjeerd Royaards (NDL). Royaards’ presence in the Festival represented an important opportunity for the local emerging artists, as a commission from The Hague, Netherlands, is scouting for talents in South Africa.
