From Ekazi to the Global Stage

It’s only 12:30 midday, and already the streets are astir. In the middling sun, the cacophonous streets are engulfed with music playing from a river of cars. It is hard to ignore the greasy food smell and the circulating smoke from burning wood. The small crowd moves in different directions.

This is Thokoza, a township in the City of Ekurhuleni, about 35 minutes away from Johannesburg inner city.

It is a home to 15 young filmmakers, who are gearing up to make history on an international stage. They gather in their high school, in a colorfully yellow painted tiny room. In between them lies a long wooden table, with a laptop and books on top.

It is in this nanoscopic room where their dreams are realized. It is where they carefully craft their ideas about cinema, and the type of filmmakers they want to be. On this Saturday afternoon, they gather to view a documentary that they have produced, which will be viewed at Cinéma cent ans de jeunesse, an international education program and festival for filmmakers between the ages of 6 to 18 from all over the world. It’s a platform where these youngsters view, analyze films, and also make their own.

This year South Africa has been called to take part in Cinéma cent ans de jeunesse festival taking place in Lisbon, Portugal from the 3rd to the 7th of June. 20 countries are represented in this festival.  This is the first time South Africa is being called to participate since the inception of this program in 1995. In addition, South Africa is the first African country to be invited.

“I feel more than excited. I feel like I could explode,” says 16-year-old  Lehlohonolo Sekaba, as she quivers with joy.

Sekaba says that through their work, they are ready to show the world how they live their life in Thokoza.

“They ( young filmmakers)  are so proud. I also think they really…  took it as a big responsibility to be the first ever African country to be part of this. They were like we need to show them that Africa is not the way they think it is,” says Muriel Huet.

But all of this was done through a project called Cinema TAKE, a program designed  to promote cinema in the city of Johannesburg, and also use cinema as an educational tool. Huet, along with Emillie Demon, and Mpumelelo Mcata created Cinema TAKE to screen films that are rarely shown in traditional cinemas, and further train young filmmakers on how to use a camera, tell a story, and produce a film.

“When we started the project with them, they were a bit confused with what they were doing. They were not sure. Then their voices started to rise, they started to have a real vision, their dreams started to grow. They realized today that they are proper filmmakers,” explains Huet.

Ikasi lama Kasi, is the name the young filmmakers collectively decided to call their short documentary, which will be broadcasted during the festival. The bustling streets of Thokoza inspired these youngsters to film a documentary giving the world a birdie’s-eye-view of this historic township. They claim they want to show the world the positive side of Thokoza, especially how it is now, post-apartheid.

“People in Thokoza hustle in different ways, some are street vendors, some own Kota places, there are a lot of things in Thokoza,” says 15-year-old Siyabonga Mhlanga.

The aim of the documentary is to celebrate the community, the chefs and the musicians who bring life to the township. It features young music producers, and entrepreneurs who make a living from selling french fries, and kota, which is a quarter-loaf bread stuffed with different fillings like french polony, cheese, and mango atchar.

“The vibe that we have in this community, it’s what unites us…making us a family. In Thokoza, music connects us as a community, food always connects us, and dancing, says Sekaba.

The French Institute of South Africa has partnered with Cinema TAKE, and also offered support in the process of implementing the Cinéma cent ans de jeunesse program.

“Without our partners nothing will be possible,” Huet empathizes.

Out of all the 15 filmmakers, it’s only Sekaba and Mhlanga who are going to Portugal for the festival. I would rephrase this, maybe Sekaba and Mhlanga will be representing the group of 15 filmmakers at the Festival in Portugal

“We are looking for even more partners if we want this program to grow, because now we have strong partners and we have a strong project, but I feel it’s only the beginning. This should become a center where these kids one day will run this project for other kids in Thokoza, and we will bring more abroad to the festival,” Huet concludes.

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