GOING PLACES: Filmmaker Nokuzola Mntwapi’s moving feature-film script is taking her to the Toronto International Film Festival
Moving script secures place in SA delegation
GOING against her mother’s advice to take up a traditional career has paid off for a young filmmaker from the Eastern Cape who will be the province’s only delegate at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
Nokuzola Mntwapi, 29, is one of 20 South African delegates chosen to attend the festival next month, her script-writing skills having landed her a spot.
“In October last year I sent in a script I had been working on for quite a while, and I got a response from the Association of Transformation in Film and Television [ATFT] around June,” she said.
Mntwapi’s script, Ndone Bani, Phi – which is Xhosa and can be loosely translated to “who have I wronged, where?” – is a complex and emotional story of a young woman who finds out that she is the product of incest.
“It is a story about looking for social integration after finding out that the fact of your existence is sinful,” she said. The script is based on a true story that captured Mntwapi’s interest.
ATFT director of international relations Mayenzeke Baza said working with the Department of Trade and Industry afforded the organisation the opportunity to reach out to people in the media and film industry.
“Mntwapi met the criteria. She has a history within the industry and her product [script] has a market, so this is a chance to give [her] financial support and connect her to the people who will consume her craft,” he said.
Born and raised in East London, Mntwapi matriculated from Greenpoint High School in 2001, then left to study at the University of the Western Cape.
She now lives in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Beginning her media journey at now-defunct Monti FM in 2002, she started a small student television programme called BushTV at UWC where she studied language and communications.
She found her interest in film when she studied film and television at Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking in Johannesburg in 2012.
Although her mother thought she should find a more traditional and stable work choice, “like teaching or nursing”, Mntwapi always felt the need to write.
“I always felt I needed to be in Johannesburg, but my mother wasn’t happy about that idea. In any case, she didn’t think journalism was a safe career choice.”
Moving to Johannesburg was driven by a strong passion for writing and the media industry.
“Although this script is for a feature film, my introduction to visual media was through television and then documentary-making.
“These past few days have been crazy. I need to organise sponsors as well, so that I can have the relevant equipment to work with at the festival.”
Mntwapi said the South African film industry was quite small and women made up an even smaller part of it. “I’m planning to work with a Port Elizabeth-based female director as well.”
-Siphosethu Jim
The post Bay filmmaker off to Toronto appeared first on HeraldLIVE.