The Write Stuff 1000 Hugs Films

Welcome to the Write Stuff - Festival edition! In this limited edition, we will be speaking to filmmakers at various festivals and spotlighting their films. We kick off the series with a brief interview with Kateryna Gornostai, a talented director from the Ukraine where she speaks about the motivation and process around her incredible debut film, Stop Zemlia. We talk teenage angst, doubting yourself as a director and how documentary directing prepares you for all sort of unexpected things!

This interview was conducted during the European Film Festival in South Africa.

Stop Zemlia Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CU2V4Yt38g


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We're back! 

And in this first episode of the new year, we speak to award-wining filmmaker, visionary and self-taught, self-promoted film educator Amil Shivji. I met Amil in New York as part of our Africa First win many years ago and at some point in our trip, we were 2 starry-eyed Africans, stuck in a Halloween Parade in the middle of Greenwich Village, listening to Swedish House Mafia amazed at how many people don't mind walking around half naked in freezing weather, just to celebrate Halloween! We have both grown since then and we speak about the idea of African cinema; What is it? Does anyone even know...? We discuss how the process of cinema can be so extractive, contracting the overall experience and how we can make it more collaborative as Africans. There are on set stories stories about disrupting communities, ginger tea and ostentatious African weddings and having a proud and solid African identity.

Amil's new period love story, Vuta N'Kuvute or Tug of War is set to be release in the last half of 2021!

https://www.dohafilminstitute.com/financing/projects/grants/tug-of-war



Links to some of Amil's work can be found below:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5065217/

https://www.kijiweniproductions.com/films

And on KWELI TV!






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This week I speak to producer, storyteller and businesswoman Deshuna Spencer! Deshuna is the brains and brawn behind Kweli TV, a streaming platform which celebrates global black culture through curated, undiscovered and award-winning indie films, documentaries, web series, children’s programming and events. If you were once told that you can't make money from short films, well clearly you haven't found the right platform as yet and for me, Kweli TV has been it!

We talk about failing and pivoting,  biblical "Job" moments, paralysed dogs, long awaited breakthroughs and one day building a "Disney" one curated film at a time.

Check out KweliTv and subscribe!

https://www.kweli.tv

More about Deshuna in the articles below:

https://www.theringer.com/2020/11/19/21575015/kwelitv-founder-deshuna-spencer-on-creating-a-home-for-black-content-and-running-a-streaming-service

https://medium.com/authority-magazine/deshuna-spencer-of-kwelitv-optimal-performance-before-high-pressure-moments-how-to-relieve-cc25fe63e4b5






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This week I speak to award winning filmmaker and a multi-degree earner, Sihle Hlophe .  Sihle has written and directed two short films that have been screened at over 30 international film festivals. She is an alumni of the IDFAcademy (the Netherlands), the North-South-South Student Exchange Program (Finland) and the Hot Docs Blue Ice Group Story Lab (Canada).  She is also the producer/director of a feature length documentary, Lobola, A Bride’s True Price. Sihle has worked as a scriptwriter and story-liner for episodic drama series on SABC, eTV and DSTV. 

Amongst some very serious things, like making films that matter, Sihle and I talk about out-of-body experiences that lead you down a rabbit hole, the ark of the covenant being in Africa, Southern Africa to be specific, and why everybody is supposed to give you a chance after your first successful short film, I mean hello...! 

Links to some of the works mentioned are below:

Nomfundo Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePr-iiLv22Q

Follow the development of Lobola: a bride's True Price on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/lobola_brideprice_documentary/

Work Readiness for emerging filmmakers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF-wmittq6s






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This week, we speak to award winning artist and commercials director, Nare Mokgotho. Nare has won major awards for both his fine art work and his leap into the world of film rewarded his bravery with 2 Cannes Lions Gold-Screen awards for his very first 2 ads - Ever! How is that?! Some think he has a charmed life. Others think he's lucky. I think he is just a regular (very talented) oke with a lot of curiosity in his pocket! In this episode we speak about what happens after success, the imposter syndrome and the hope that is creating a work of art. See some of Nare's award winning work below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVJN9HvUCUA&feature=emb_title

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUTtSELY0b0&feature=emb_title

https://foundwork.art/guest-curators/madeyoulook


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This week we speak to award winning cinematographer Motheo Moeng. His work ranges from commercials to music videos to award winning feature films and of course, Africa's first Netflix original. We first met Motheo on our film set for Hair That Moves and he would be such a supportive collaborator and visionary. In this frank interview, he tells us about his first big break, how playing professional soccer helped him navigate his approach to a sustainable film career and how on earth he got Christian Epps - the gaffer on Beyonce's Black is King and Ava DuVernay's Selma to work with him!

The trailers to some of the work mentioned:

Skyf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXiCZKqomx4

Thina Sobabili: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv0y8n0Pu0E

Catching Feelings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BagGDvbVK9A

Queen Sono: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zgxDFEifyI&list=PLRNUgRphSKZsirT_duz7e05KseCKyVZgh


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