SCREENING: Everything Must Fall, a documentary

An unflinching look at the #FeesMustFall student movement that burst onto the South African political landscape in 2015 as a protest over the cost of education.

The story is told by four student leaders at Wits University and their Vice Chancellor, Adam Habib, a left-wing, former anti-apartheid student activist. When Habib’s efforts to contain the protest fail, he brings 1000 police on to campus. There are dire consequences for the young leaders. By blending dramatic unfolding action with a multi-protagonist narrative, much of the drama lies in the internal struggles the activists have around the weight of leadership. Threaded through the film is a pulse of anticipation, shared across the generational divide, that somehow these youth have reached breaking point and won’t back down until they achieve the kind of social transformation that previous generations had long given up on.

"[T]he film portrays students as seeing themselves as the most important agents in taking forward not only their struggle, but the struggle of workers as well... Brings to the fore some of the more pertinent political questions of our time." —Amandla! Magazine

"The hard-hitting, thought-provoking documentary film that provides perhaps the best insight possible into the tumultuous events that disrupted university campuses around the country." —Inside Labour

"Demanding governments be held accountable while also challenging deeper racial, gender, class and sexual identity discrimination, this group of inspiring young people demonstrate the power that comes from collective organizing which embraces intersectionality to create lasting change." —Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Best Film, 2019 One World Human Rights Film FestivalBest Documentary, 2019 South African Film and Television AwardsBest Documentary Director, 2019 South African Film and Television AwardsBest South African Documentary, 2018 Cape Town International Film Festival2018 Johannesburg Film Festival2018 International Documentary Film festival Amsterdam (IDFA)2019 Oslo Human Film Festival2019 Human Rights Watch Film Festival2019 Movies That Matter Human Rights Film Festival