Due to screen at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) this month and
with more festival prospects internationally, Thina Sobabili is a fiercely
independent production and an intense family drama that takes an unflinching
yet compassionate look at township life.
Set in Alexandra, east of Johannesburg, Thina Sobabili revolves around two
siblings – Thulas and his younger sister Zanele. The two live alone with no-one
to rely on but each other. As Zanele attends school, Thulas does what he has to
do to keep them fed and housed, driven by his obsessive need to protect his
sister. This is a tough neighbourhood where people with bleak future prospects
can do little but dream of their escape. Zanele fosters these dreams, which lead
her to pursue a relationship with a much older, well-heeled man. This enrages
Thulas, leading to tragedy.
The film’s story and delivery style is multifaceted. On one hand it comes across
as social realism at its most unembellished. On the other, there is a strong feel
of carefully constructed, self-reflective melodrama in the narrative and
performances that make one think that this is the kind of film that Rainer Werner
Fassbinder, enfant terrible of the New German Cinema of the 1960s and
1970s, might have made had he been born and raised in eKasi.
Beginnings
At the centre of the project is its director, co-producer and co-writer Ernest
Nkosi, a graduate of the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live
Performance (AFDA), where he is currently working towards his Masters degree,
and a maverick filmmaker who is almost militantly independent in his efforts to
tell his stories. While this is his first feature film, he is already a seasoned
operative in the corporate and advertising spheres and has created several
short films in his journey towards long form.
The movie, which Nkosi co-wrote with producer Mosibudi Pheeha, was woven
together from a number of inspirational threads. Firstly, the world of the story is
based on the environment in which Nkosi himself grew up. Secondly, the film’s
climactic moment (no spoilers here) came from an event that he himself
witnessed. Thirdly, at the time the story began to take shape, the news media
was full of stories about the sexual abuse of young children around the country.
Finally, hanging around in Melville, as all good students at AFDA Johannesburg
do, Nkosi noticed that there were quite a number of very young women walking
around with men many years older. While this bothered him, no one else
seemed to bat an eyelid.
A proudly independent production
Although it has been about four and half years since the story was first
conceived, it took only three months from the time the decision was made to go
ahead with production to completion of the edit. The shoot took place in a
record seven days. It was funded completely from the pockets of its producers
and made on their own time – and that’s exactly how they like it.
Thina Sobabili was produced through The Monarchy Group, a creative
agency that Nkosi founded with Pheeha and comedian Mpho Modikoane. “It’s
been a long journey,’ Nkosi says. “I decided that, if I really believe in this, I’m
going to put my money where my mouth is, so that’s what we all did.’ Nkosi and
his co-producers saved up a large part of their earnings for the best part of
those four years in order to be able to make the film, making this a 100 per cent
independent production.
Monarchy’s independent approach extends all the way to the distribution
process. For his Masters thesis, Nkosi is currently researching and developing an
experimental distribution model that uses a combination of traditional methods
and new ones. The model, which he is not ready to discuss fully until the thesis
has been completed, was tested on Monarchy’s previous release, a comedy film
called Triple O. The sales of the film were enough to sustain the
company’s partners and full-time employees as they saved up for Thina
Sobabili.
Nkosi is more than willing to share with other young filmmakers the knowledge
he has acquired in trying to get his projects made. He is the chairman of the
Young Producers’ Forum, an NGO that assists fledgling filmmakers in their
efforts. “We help them navigate all the bullshit – we don’t take a cut or
anything. We’ve walked that road, we’ve been burned a thousand times. Having
learned all of that, we are willing to share the necessary information.’ Thina
Sobabili is the first feature film to emerge from collective of the Young
Producers’ Forum.
A “big issues’ filmmaker
Nkosi’s desire to become a filmmaker stemmed from his first experience of South
African cinema – Darrell Roodt’s Sarafina. “I was so blown away. I had
watched movies before, but this was the first time I saw people that looked like
me and spoke like me in an environment that looked like mine. That experience
changed my life and since then, I have never wanted to be anything other than
this.’
Nkosi is a “big issues’ filmmaker who is not afraid to tackle weighty social
subjects in his work and feels that cinema is, by its nature, confrontational.
“There’s a school of thought now that South Africans are tired of hearing about
certain subjects. After 20 years, we shouldn’t be tired of talking about anything.
If anything, people aren’t talking enough about certain things. Because it’s
uncomfortable we think it’s okay to just look away. “Let’s make a musical, let’s
make a happy comedy about an interracial couple.’ I’ve got no time for singing
and dancing while the world is on fire. This is what’s happening. Some
filmmakers are just happy to play it safe, to make a movie because it’s
marketable, not because of a burning desire to tell a story, to hold a mirror up to
society and say, “are you okay with this? Because this is you, this is how you’re
living,’’ he says.
“I wear the label of an independent filmmaker proudly, I keep all my rejection
letters and regard them as a badge of honour. I can say what I want, however I
want to say it. One of the major themes in Thina Sobabili is this place
where people have no escape and they dream of getting out. Well I came from
there too and here I am with a film of which I own every frame. It’s been a long
road – and I’m not finished yet – but it has been worth it,’ he concludes.
The key crew on Thina Sobabili includes co-producer and art director
Enos Nhlane Mantata, cinematographer Motheo Moeng, composer and sound
designer Mpho Nthangeni and production designer Sarah Payne. The edit was
done by Warwick Allan of Mushroom Media. The lead roles of Thulas and Zanele
were played by Emmanuele Nkosinathi Gweva and Busisiwe Mtshali, with
supporting roles by Richard Lukunku, Zikhona Sodlaka, Thato Dhladla and Mpho
Modikoane. The film can be seen during DIFF at Suncoast on Saturday 19
July
