I’m just an ordinary guy from Meadowlands in Soweto. I’ve been privileged and blessed with being able to do what I truly believe in and love. I’ve always found myself at the right place at the right time, meeting the right people.
I started working for the Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival five years ago, with my partner Nhlanhla Ndaba. My passion for film made me want to explore all avenues and, seeing that not too many black directors were interested in making movies about gays and lesbians, I had no choice but to exploit the niche that existed.
It took a bit of patience and nagging before my first project saw the light of day — it was a public service announcement made for the Vuka Awards, a project to introduce and broadcast small, meaningful adverts made by new filmmakers in aid of charity. When I was nominated for the raw talent category for the 2003 awards, which I won, my confidence grew. All I needed at the time was the opportunity to explore and Out in Africa, which runs development projects that get shown at the festival, gave me that.
Three years ago my partner and I started a small production house we called Doti-Producxionz. We began producing a 48-minute documentary called Black Beulahs for SABC1, which explores the gay township sub-culture. After two years on this project I am optimistic that it will hit the small screen before the end of the year.
In 2005, I had the opportunity to work with entertainer and choreographer Somizi Mhlongo on the first black, gay talk show on South African television.
Intimate Connexionz, which was produced by my company, was hosted by Mhlongo and his drag alter ego Madam Gigi. I was the creative director and the series director on the production. Mhlongo is an incredibly popular star and the favourable ratings he garnered proved that straight South Africans are able to digest and enjoy gay humour. This could usher in more gay fare on the box.
At this year’s Out in Africa I will be showing my short film Mountain Shade, which charts the challenging journey of a 20-year old trying to make sense of his life, his sexuality and his existence as he navigates circumcision, morality, homophobia and family values. I’m also working on two projects in development. One is an experimental, autobiographical work for the Double Take Filmmaking workshop which is produced by Out in Africa and is titled Intellectualise my Sexuality.
My other project will be a feature titled Rewind. Like so many other filmmakers I’m raising funds so I can realise a life-long dream. Rewind will be a psychological thriller about a youth’s turbulent journey into his past, fraught with crime and uncertainty. Obviously the gay anti-hero’s relationship with family and religion will play a big part.
I explore diverse issues of identity, culture and sexuality in my films and am not afraid to express my feelings through my work. I also challenge people’s consciences by posing questions about what we believe to be the norm. In my life, I constantly have to answer the question about what it means to be African and homosexual. Opposition to homosexuals is almost uniform and, in our environment, unfortunately still allied to the fervent position that it is un-African. People genuinely believe it is a white man’s disease brought with colonialism.
I don’t take or look at myself as an activist of any sort. I hate being boxed in as a ‘gay director†when there are so many aspirant heterosexual filmmakers who are never ghettoised in this way. It takes away one’s right to be human first, then homosexual. We should not be stigmatised for something we have no control over.
The beauty of our festival is that we get to showcase genres that never make it into mainstream cinema. This said, our opening-night feature Brokeback Mountain has received three Oscars, showing that, in Hollywood at any rate, some of the old prejudices are dying.
But the festival is not all about gay and lesbian sex — it showcases relevant issues too. This year the focus is on gender and there will be a panel discussion on transgender and intersex people. There is also a discussion about how traditional societies cope with difference, as seen in the Israeli film Keep Not Silent, which is about an ultra-Orthodox Jewish lesbian couple.
In the past two years Out in Africa has produced three separate workshops that have been supported by the British Council, the National Film and Video Foundation and Pro Helvetia. I was one of the few fortunates who got a chance to attend two of these. It gave participants the opportunity to voice our views on issues that affect us as homosexuals and as filmmakers.
The purpose of these workshops was to tell our stories in our own way and to introduce more gays and lesbians to the film industry.
The details
Out in Africa is making 3 000 complimentary tickets available in our township outreach project, funded by Conference Workshop and Cultural Initiative. Transport will be provided to bring people from townships around Johannesburg and Cape Town. For more information about the outreach contact Nhlanhla Ndaba (in Johannesburg) on (011) 880 0995 and Debbie Bond (in Cape Town) on (021) 461 4027