Mthunzi

  • Mthunzi
Genre : Drama
Type : Fiction
Original title :
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Year of production : 2019
Format : Short
Running time : 9 (in minutes)
http://www.theelephantvanished.com/mthunzishort

Mthunzi gets distracted on his way back from the store.

Mthunzir returns home when he sees a woman convulsing in an alley. Her niece then asked him to help to take her home and he found himself involved in a world to which he did not belong.

starring
Nala Khumalo, Jamie-Lee Money, Inge Beckmann, Russell Crous

a film by Tebogo MALEBOGO

South Africa, 2019 | NARRATIVE | 9' | 4:3 | ENGLISH LANGUAGE | SUBTITLES: ENGLISH / FRANÇAIS / ESPAÑOL / 中文

3rd short film

Based on real facts.



Title: MTHUNZI
Year:2019
Type: NARRATIVE
Duration: 9'
Ratio: 4:3
Language: ENGLISH
Subtitles: ENGLISH / FRANÇAIS / ESPAÑOL / 中文

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
The working title for our film was "Proviso". A proviso is an addition or qualification attached to a statement, gesture or agreement. I feel all people have provisos attached to how they live. How they should act, talk, stand, dress, etc in order to be accepted in certain environments. A woman in an all-male workplace. A homosexual man who'd have to hide his orientation. A mixed-race person depending on what side of family they're with. Mthunzi, our protagonist, is being reminded of his proviso. Despite being in this home to help, his race takes a forefront. Partially autobiographical, it's a young man's reminder of society's snap-judgement of people who look like him.
The idea first came to me when I was walking through a suburban neighborhood and saw a lady faint in her doorway. I helped her grandson carry her inside and on my way out, one of her other family members questioned why I was in the house. I had to explain to him what had happened to his own family member. Even after explaining, there was an unease that stayed in the air, it clouded the whole scene and prevented us from seeing each other as anything more than society had conditioned us to see. He appeared ready to defend his family from me, a cue their dog took as it snarled at my feet on my way out.
As I sat on that moment, I began to think about the real fears we face in a country like South Africa. How we are conditioned, without it being our fault. I became interested in exploring those spaces, finding the limit. What happens if someone who looks like this enters this space? What are the stakes? How much explaining needs to be done?
We hope this project will be a way to interrogate these ideas. To use a form as malleable as filmmaking to interrogate a small part of our own place in the world, not only so that we can understand others, but for others to look into themselves and reconsider their own surroundings.

CAST
Nala Khumalo
Jamie-Lee Money
Inge Beckmann
Russell Crous

Executive Producers
Tebogo Malebogo, Petrus van Staden

Screenwriter & Director
Tebogo Malebogo

Producer: Petrus van Staden
Co-Producer: Jamie Petersen
​​
1st AD: Walter Mzengi
Production Assistants: Hannah Innacio, Suné Burger

Director of Photography: Pierre De Villiers
1st AC: Fuad Casker
2nd AC: Alexandre Ortscheit
3rd AC: Nicolas Faure
Loader: Chantelle Potgieter
Gaffer: Warrick le Sueur
Grip: Justin Vallay
DIT: Emile van Straaten
Script Supervisors: Adam Hansen, Amy Stohrer
On-Set Sound: Ruan Pienaar, Juandré Viljoen

Art Director: Lara Hattingh
Art Dept. Assistant: Danielle Erlank
Make-up: Hiroshi Adaniya, Sune Burger, Hannah Inacio

BTS Photographer: Gabriella Achadinha
Poster Design: Matthew Bradley

Editor: Petrus van Staden
Composer: Elu Eboka
Sound Editors/Mixers: Edward King, Greg Albert, Alex Smillie
Grade: Franscesca Verveckken at Priest Post​

Special Thanks
Panavision
Panalux
GIB Insurance
Phillip & Nicholas Doble

PRODUCTION
Vanishing Elephant

LINKS
* www.theelephantvanished.com/mthunzishort
* https://imagineindiafestival.com/2020/04/18/mthunzi-tebogo-malebogo-south-africa/
* www.lecinemaclub.com/archives/mthunzi/

FESTIVALS SELECTIONS
* Oscar Qualifying Film Festivals

2019
Locarno Film Festival 72 *
Festival Internacional de Cine Rengo 15
New York Film Festival 57
MikroFAF International Festival 10
Thess International Short Film Festival 13
Chicago International Film Festival 55 *
Uppsala International Short Film Festival 38 *
ACT Shorts in the Museum
San Jose International Short Film Festival 11
Carthage Film Festival 30
Lobo Fest: Part 1 11
AFI Fest 33 *
Hainan Island International Film Festival 2
Bogoshorts 17 *
Tapiales International Film Festival 16
Lobo Fest: Part 2 11

2020
Arthouse Asia 4
Flickerfest 29 *
Le Cinéma Club
Minimalen Short Film Festival 32
Yountville International Short Film Festival 3
Santander Independent Film Festival 3
Carta Blanca: Felipe Montoya at Tabakalera
Palencia International Film Festival 29
Tampere Film Festival 50 *
SXSW 32 *
ImagineIndia 19
Ramsgate International Film Festival 4
Palm Springs International ShortFest 26 *
Seattle Black Film Festival 17
Gimli Film Festival 20
International Festival Signs of the Night 18
San Francisco Black Film Festival 22
Bengaluru International Short Film Festival 9 *
Black Community Foundation Nuremberg
Afrika Film Festival Köln 27
Silwerskermfees Webinar
Quibdó África Film Festival 3
Encounters Film Festival 25 *
Arizona International Film Festival 29
Drunken Film Fest Oakland
Shnit Film Festival 18
El Paso Film Festival 3
Adelaide Film Festival 7
Hollyshorts Film Festival 17*
Interfilm Berlin 36*
Uruguay International Film Festival 38
Griot Film Festival
Russian Indie Film Festival 3

2021
Dakar Court Short Film Festival (Senegal, Dec)
Vilnius International Short Film Festival 14
Mecal Pro 23
Film O'Clock International Film Festival 1
Black Diaspora Short Film Festival
Borrego Springs Film Festival 6
Humans of Film 2

AWARDS
* Best Actor Award (Prix de la Meilleure interprétation masculine) - Nala Khumalo /// Dakar Court (Senegal, 2021)
* Special Jury Prize: Live Action Short Film /// AFI Fest
* Bronze Award : Best Short Film /// Carthage Film Festival - JCC 2019 (Tunisia)
* Best International Short Film Jury Prize /// Gimli Film Festival
* Best International Short Film /// Quibdó África Film Festival
* Best World Narrative /// Drunken Film Fest Oakland
* Best Editing /// Russian Indie Film Festival
* Silver Award : Best Short Film - Social Awareness /// Queen Palms International Film Festival
* Nominated : Best Actor - Nala Khumalo /// Queen Palms International Film Festival
* Best Short Cinematography (Sept'19): Pierre De Villiers /// European Cinematography Awards

Articles

2 files

Organizations

1 files

Partners

  • Arterial network
  • Media, Sports and Entertainment Group (MSE)
  • Gens de la Caraïbe
  • Groupe 30 Afrique
  • Alliance Française VANUATU
  • PACIFIC ARTS ALLIANCE
  • FURTHER ARTS
  • Zimbabwe : Culture Fund Of Zimbabwe Trust
  • RDC : Groupe TACCEMS
  • Rwanda : Positive Production
  • Togo : Kadam Kadam
  • Niger : ONG Culture Art Humanité
  • Collectif 2004 Images
  • Africultures Burkina-Faso
  • Bénincultures / Editions Plurielles
  • Africiné
  • Afrilivres

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