Just as the twin cooling towers define Orlando’s skyline, Soweto looms as large in our storytelling history.
From the musical Sarafina! to the sci-fi blockbuster District 9, the biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, and the recent romcom, Soweto Love Story, this vast urban expanse — home to more than a million people — has long captured the imagination of both local and international film audiences.
Fitting, then, that the hometown of Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Lucas Radebe has now gained its own platform for telling stories.
So it was on a chilly and grey Wednesday evening that I found myself driving through a city hurriedly sprucing up its appearance ahead of the arrival of the world leaders whose faces lined the double-decker carriageway. I passed the Nasrec Expo Centre — soon to host the G20 Leaders’ Summit — and continued into the precinct housing the multi-coloured façade of the Soweto Theatre in Jabulani.
The reason? The opening night of the Soweto Film Market and Soweto International Film Festival — a modest undertaking with high hopes of inspiring a new crop of storytellers — spearheaded by Thapelo Motloung, a fresh-faced, 26-year-old TV host and producer.
“I am a filmmaker myself, and although I have been given a lot of opportunities, I come from a vibrant township of young people who, most of the time, are educated but struggle with employment,” he says.
“My thought was: How can I create a platform which can establish a conversation between filmmakers and bridge a gap between those who are successful and those who are trying to,” explained the founder of the film mart and CEO of the festival.
Among the young creatives who attended were neighbours Thamsanqa Xhosa, who runs a production services company called Black Material, and award-winning actor Motlatsi Mafatshe of Isidingo and House of Zwide fame, who appears in 9 Memeza, an inventive and entertaining indie film set in the township and which recently won my heart.
With the night’s feature being an MTV documentary feature, The People and Mental Health, I spotted Monde Twala, who heads the African division for the cable channel’s parent company Paramount (the US media company embroiled in a new round of global job cuts after its recent merger).
Meanwhile, interviewing arrivals such as actor Vincent Mahlape (making waves on new TV series, Bad Influencer) was pretty local BET International presenter Naledi “Leddi G” Radebe.
I got to chat to Nambitha Mpumlwana, who recently launched a venture of her own, Divas Repartee, to encourage women to come together to support each other.
“There is so much value in those conversations because we validate each other, network with each other and help grow each other,” explained the veteran actress.
I also caught up with the night’s host, bubbly Candice Modiselle (now Sello, after recently getting married) who always impresses me with her ability to compère events without needing a script or auto-cue.
“It is years of YoTV live and theatre which has prepared me for moments like this,” explained the starlet, who rather than having a new dress run up for the occasion, took the eco route and rented a ready-made gown instead.
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