The Lost Girls of South Africa centres on five girls aged between 12 and 15 years from the Nelson Mandela Bay area in the Eastern Cape who have suffered sexual abuse.
Of paramount importance to filmmakers Xoliswa Sithole (Shouting Silent) and Deborah Shipley (Wasted, A World Without Water) was that the girls tell their own stories and that their dignity be protected at all times.
This documentary also serves as a campaign to draw attention to the issue and provoke action and change in the country.
The filmmakers are delighted with the Freedom to Create Prize recognition. “Any great publicity will help bring attention to the film,’ says Sithole.
Shipley adds: “I am delighted the documentary is honoured in this way. It is a great privilege to be shortlisted alongside such excellent work from around the world. The nomination also means a great deal as this is one of the few films to be included. We strive to make our work as artistically valid as possible and this is great recognition of that.’
The film was initiated when, in the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, UK broadcaster Channel 4 commissioned Shipley’s company True Vision Productions to make a documentary on a contemporary theme in South Africa.
Shipley explains: “Xoliswa and I felt that girls in their final year of primary school experience significant life changes. So we set out to research that in more detail. However, once we were on the road talking to girls, it became apparent sexual abuse was a major problem among this group, so we shifted the focus of the film.’
Sithole and Shipley had previously worked together on True Vision’s British Academy Award-winning Orphans of Nkandla, about the impact of the HIV/Aids pandemic on children of sufferers.
Finding voices
To source the girls Sithole and Shipley, after getting permission from the Department of Education, targeted schools in the poorest areas and worked with social workers, teachers and parents to identify the girls. They also dealt with Childline, the Rape Crisis Centre, the police and the Department of Health.
“There was clearly a need to tell this kind of story since one in three children is raped in the Port Elizabeth area alone. Although the girls and their parents wanted to tell their stories, they also needed to maintain a distance and requested that the film not be shown in South Africa. At a later stage they changed their minds,’ notes Sithole.
The filmmakers researched the topic for around six months before the year long shoot commenced in June 2009. Shockingly, they found that a young girl born in South Africa is more likely to be raped than to complete her secondary education.
When asked how she deals with such tough subject matter Sithole responds: “It is difficult, however most importantly it is a privilege when people allow you into their world. As a filmmaker one invariably gets involved but you have to try and maintain a delicate balance between distance and caring.’
Shipley adds: “The desire to bring such hugely important issues to public awareness is paramount. I have enormous respect for the altruism and stoicism of all the contributors who consented to be in the film and the selfless and gracious work of the social workers, carers and engaged community members who helped to facilitate our path. They are all truly inspiring.’
On camera
The Lost Girls of South Africa was shot in 1080 25p HDV on a Sony Z5. Shipley shot some of the major interviews and a little of the actuality. “My UK co-producer, Brian Woods, was originally going to shoot the film, but after the initial shoot it became apparent that having a white male on the shoot was not going to bring out the best in the girls. I filmed the following shoot, and then the subsequent three shoots were filmed by a very talented professional director of photography (DOP), Natalie Haarhof, who is based in Johannesburg.’
Primarily funded by Channel 4, the filmmakers received a small advance from the film’s international distributor, DRG (Digital Rights Group).
Online campaign
“We made the film because we felt that the issue of child rape in South Africa needs to be highlighted, and pressure should be brought to bear on the government, the police and the courts to take this crime far more seriously,’ says Shipley. “Because we cannot simply rely on a handful of TV broadcasts we set up www.lostgirlssa.org and a Facebook page to try to channel the anger and passion the film evokes as constructively as possible. Both offer viewers the opportunity to directly help the girls in the film but also encourage them to get involved in letter-writing campaigns and other forms of active campaigning.’
The Lost Girls of South Africa has to date been shown in the UK, Australia, Italy, Japan and Portuguese speaking Africa, as well as at several film festivals. DRG is actively pursuing further opportunities to spread the message.
According to Shipley, after the film was broadcast in the UK a school teacher in Leicester showed the film to her class. “The children in her school were deeply moved by the film – indeed as a direct result of seeing two girls disclose to teachers that they had been raped – and they were inspired to engage in a letter-writing campaign, targeting the South African president and parliament, as well as the British Government. As a result of letters to the UK’s Department for International Development, a delegation from the school was invited to London to meet MPs and ministers and present the case.’
by Joanna Sterkowicz
