Durban festival’s Noshen Moodley to serve as artistic director.

John Irvin (pictured, director of films such as Hamburger Hill) and his partner in Dearheart Productions, Claire Evans, are starting the first Golden Rhino Film Festival in London, to celebrate South African film talent.

The festival will run in London from Feb 2-5, 2012. Expected attendees include High Commissioner of the Republic of South Africa, Dr Zola Skweyiya, and South African-born writer Ronald Harwood (The Pianist, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly).

A festival launch event will be held at BAFTA on Sept 24.

The festival, which organisers expect to be annual, will start in the UK before moving on to Washington, DC, and Los Angeles in the autumn of 2012.

The festival wants to leverage top international talents from South Africa while also nurturing new filmmakers there.

Ivan Fallon, former chief executive of Independent News & Media, serves as the festival’s chair.

The head programmer and artistic director will be Noshen Moodley, who is also the head of programming at the Durban International Film Festival and also consults for Dubai.

In its first year, the festival will present awards for: Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Arts, Best Emerging Talent, Best Documentary, London critic award for Best Film, Best Indigenous African Language Film, and Women In Film Award.

The festival will also offer two scholarships for the two-year MA course at the London Film School.

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