Artist-turned-filmmaker Milisuthando Bongela offers up a personal and visually striking self-portrait of a life that grapples with the legacy of South Africa’s past.
Set in past and present South Africa, Milisuthando is a poetic coming-of-age personal essay documentary on love and what it means to become human in the context of race, explored through the memories of Milisuthando herself – who grew up during apartheid but didn’t know it was happening until it was over.
Milisuthando Bongela is an award-winning writer, blogger and editor whose work pivots around the subject of the post-apartheid condition from the perspective of black middle-class South Africans and women. She has written extensively about the intersections of race, class and gender in South Africa for publications like the Mail and Guardian, City Press, W Magazine, Dazed and Confused, Aperture Magazine, Elle and Colours, as well as having worked across the arts in the fields of fashion, music, art, publishing and cultural activism.
In the film Milisuthando, Bongela’s first feature film, she is exploring the post-apartheid condition in South African society, focusing on the psychological effects of racism on Model C-educated black South Africans.
Event information
Running Time: 2hrs 8mins
Certificate: 12A
This film is part of T A P E Collectives programme ‘SNAPSHOT’, a 12-month long season launching in April 2024 which explores the SNAPSHOTS of Black Girlhood found in cinema. The season will include re-releases, archive work and new releases.
Supported by Exhibit 54, celebrating African & Caribbean brilliance in the UK.
