Against the Current

Meet Zulu surfer girl, Samukelisiwe Cele who is heading to go far in the surfing world. She grapples with her circumstances, family pressures and the need to be a typical teenager.
As the South African Championship surfing competition in Cape Town looms, Samukelisiwe knows she needs to train for the competition, but the outcome is uncertain as she tries to balance her love for her friends, her future education and her desire to be a world champion.
As the first and only black female competing in South Africa at the moment, her struggles are far from over and her story illuminates the difficulties of being one of a kind in a competitive and sometimes alienating sporting world.

Production by Kayleigh Tuck, Aphile-Aphile Sololo & Sebastian Burger

iNtombi Nto

iNtombi Nto is a story about family bonds and heritage in South Africa. We enter the world of Nompilo Ngubane as she prepares for a traditional Zulu coming-of-age ceremony, uMemulo. Outspoken and university-educated, Nompilo must live a life of balance between Western ‘modernity’ and African tradition while maintaining her quirky and cheerful demeanour. This film is a must-see for anyone curious about other cultures, and anyone who knows that, at the end of the day, life is full of nuance and compromise.

Production by Nontobeko Gumede, Sarah Knight & Kellan Botha

Eina!

Eina! is about a Rhodes University television student who sets out to make a film about the effects of corporal punishment as he has experienced them first hand. He takes us on a journey with three other students who have experienced a similar ordeal.
The film by Michael Dorfling is based on a personal experience he went through in high school. The beating he took in class emotionally scarred him and he finally decided to come out and talk about his story. Along with his television crew he finds three other intriguing survivors of corporal punishment and together they begin a cathartic process of healing.

Production by Michael Dorfling, Stephanie Shumba, Smangaliso Ngwenya & Zizipho Majavu

‘Amakwerekwere”

“They’re taking our jobs” and “corrupting our country”, are some of the statements foreign nationals in South Africa are all too familiar with. They hear these statements daily along with titles such as “kwerekwere”.

For foreign nationals living in Port Elizabeth, each day is a struggle, where they are robbed, killed or denied basic services simply because they are not South Africans. ‘Amakwerekwere” is a film that shares the stories of victims of xenophobia.

Production by Tebo Ramosili & Siyavuya Makubalo

Soweto Rising

Production by Lilian Magari & Noxolo Mafu

“Soweto Rising” explores the amalgamation of street culture in Johannesburg. We look at the influence of Soweto and how it has come to inspire some of the most well-known street culture collectives and township youth movements such as Isikhothane. This film delves into the intricacies of this urban culture and tracks the journey of three sub-jects who have all made their start from the township’s emerging creative space.

Skin Deep

Production by Deneesha Pillay & Megan Flemmitt

Colourism is an issue which is particularly prevalent amongst the youth in South Africa and has shown to privilege some and not others in many ways. It is a topic which is discussed on social networking platforms, but these discussions rarely show the impact of this phenomenon on the individual who has experienced discrimination. Skin Deep looks at how this issue affects two women of the same ethnic group, within the South African context.