THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: From where South African director Madoda Ncayiyana comes from, there used to be a strange custom; when people died, they were buried only on Saturdays.
Madoda has a story to explain the custom that “stems from the time of the apartheid.’’ Black people were not allowed to visit the priest at the place where the white men were buried. So, they had to wait for days until the priest could visit them to perform the funeral rites.
There were a lot of struggles centred in townships in the fight against the apartheid regime. It is from one such township that Tembi and her brother Khwezi come from, in Madoda’s movie ‘My Secret Sky’, which is being featured in IFFK 2009. The movie has seven children from slums and streets acting in it.
And though some called the film ‘The Zulu Slumdog Millionaire’, Madode will tell you that it’s not that at all. “Everyone wants children in their films now ‘cause they are great actors,’’ Madode said at the meet-the-director programme here on Monday.
He said that even as people watched American films in his country, it was difficult to get audience “for films about ourselves’’. Even then, his movie got good response “which happens when you put your heart on a movie.’’
“What I do, I do ‘cause of where I come from’’, said Madode, who grew up in a township.
He said that things are changing now, because of the spread of the HIV virus. “Now people are buried everyday, be it Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.’’
Malayalam movie director Priyanandanan, who has bagged national awards for two of his feature films, has his latest movie ‘Sufi Paranja Katha’ (What the Sufi Said) featured in the competition section of the IFFK.
He said that one of the biggest problems that those in the industry face was the prejudice that people form about a movie, even before seeing it. “They decide that the movie does not communicate to the people well,’’ he said.
And how does he overcome it? “By proceeding anyway. You get up and walk even if you fall on the way.’’
trivandrum@expressbuzz.com
