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Muti murder on the big screen
27/09/2005 14:42 - (SA)
Kulani Mavunda
Cape Town - Limpopo writer Maanda Ntsandeni has made his first short film, Shouting Spirits, which was screened in Cape Town last week.
The film deals with the repercussions of the ritualistic murder of a young woman called Mutshinyalo Grace Nephawe.
Nephawe was found beheaded in the Thathevondo plantations in the Limpopo's VhaVenda area in 2000.
"I made this film to try find justice for Grace and her mother," he says.
"Since 2001, her mother has been waiting for the results of tests on a skull found in a dam. She believes it's her daughter's skull, but nothing is forthcoming."
The film, which he produced with filmmaker Mohau Memeza, also interrogates the possible motives for ritualistic killings.
It questions who in South Africa would still commit such murders to appease their ancestors, and why.
As the story unfolds, unpleasant events pan out, including the death of prominent youth leader Tendani Lukhwareni who was shot dead while campaigning for justice in Grace's case.
"I am happy that I was given a chance to make this film because I gave both Tendani's mother and Grace's mother a platform to tell their side of the story," he said.
Ntsandeni, 27, grew up in Sibasa township outside Thohoyandou at studied at the University of Venda.
He has been a freelance journalist and environmental activist before joining the Newtown Film and Television School.
He is a member of the Black Filmmakers Association of South Africa and is currently being mentored by the Monash Film and TV Unit of Australia's Monash University, which has a campus in South Africa.
The National Film and Video Foundation financed Shouting Spirits, while Rehad Desai of Uhuru Productions produced it.
- African Eye
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South Africa
