Making the voices of black African women and the queer community heard is the goal of film director and producer Godisamang Khunou, 32. Her award-winning documentary feature, Black Women and Sex, won her international acclaim and pushed her into the limelight. It focused on controversial topics and exposed the negative influences of patriarchy in Africa, as did her follow-up, Sharp End of a Knife, which details the lives of women who were imprisoned for killing their abusive partners. Godisamang was inspired by her grandmother, Mologadi Fatima Khoza, who raised her from the age of eight when her mother died. She learned to believe in herself and, together with the help of her strength coach Julia Makhubela, gained the confidence she needed to start her own film company, Mogale Pictures. The next big step was learning to collaborate with others to create films and raise funds for future projects that she believes will contribute to the growth of African film. The young filmmaker will study in the US and do community service as part of being a Mandela Washington Fellow, where she will also network and grow Mogale Pictures. “I will be in a business track at Rodgers University, to grow my business for the American market.”
Bachelor of Arts in Motion Picture Medium, AFDA Film School
Mandela Washington Fellow, majoring in Business Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey, US
Creative Producers Indaba, Professional Development Programme, Realness Institute
The United Nations Development Programme, Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct
SAICA Enterprise Development Flagship Coaching Programme, South African Institute of Chartered Accountants
The Hub @Goethe, Cultural Entrepreneurship Programme, Goethe Institute South Africa
A specific project that I am really proud of is my documentary feature Black Women and Sex, a film that forced me out of my comfort zone, to present myself and my thoughts and ideas to the world. It’s about three African women who relate to sex in different ways — a South African transgender woman, a Nigerian woman born from a polygamous home, and a Zambian woman jailed for a sex tape.
I’ve always loved the idea of connecting African politics in a beautiful layered cinematic way, and the making of my first film really birthed the storyteller in me. The film was selected for the 2022 Encounters Rough Cut Lab, and was also developed into a virtual reality experience. It won the XR prize at the 2021 Digital Lab Africa, which then made me participate in XR at the 2022 Electric South: New Dimensions Lab. It won the Best Director Prize and the Zonta Elster Female Talent Prize at DOK Leipzig, the oldest Documentary festival in the world.
My biggest and most influential mentor is my late grandmother Mologadi Fatima Khoza. She raised me from the age of eight after my mother passed away. I am the youngest of three girls that my mother had, and we were all minors when she had to take over. My grandmother treated me like a real person even when I was a child, and that went a long way when it came to the validation of my own experiences and emotions. She had such a profound respect and trust in my own decisions that it helped me to trust myself as I grew into an adult. I have been able to finish my studies, create a career that I love and am proud of, become independent and travel the world because of the core values that she taught me. I have not gone around looking for acceptance, as I always felt heard and understood by her. This was such a long-term gift, and it influenced many of the decisions in my life.
In 2021 I was selected for an entrepreneurial programme at the Goethe Institute of South Africa, and through this programme I was offered strength coaching mentorship and business coaching for a period of six months. Learning about my strengths as a person has completely changed the way that I relate to my work and the way that I relate to myself. My strength coach Julia Makhubela volunteered to stay on board to help me with my journey for another year after the programme was over. This was a very transitional time in my life because I had just resigned from my job at the Multichoice Group, after working there for all my adult life, and I began working full time in my production company Mogale Pictures. I learned that I needed to be okay in order for my company to be okay which altered my journey as a full-time entrepreneur.
I look up to Spike Lee, who has made black stories that live forever because they are of great quality. I love his longevity and I am inspired by that, and want to create such stories with care and intention for young black filmmakers, so that they know what is possible for them.