MILISUTHANDO is a coming-of-age essay documentary set in past, present, and future South Africa. It is an invitation into a poetic, memory-driven exploration of love, intimacy, race, and belonging by the filmmaker, who grew up during apartheid but didn't know it was happening until it was over.  

Filmmaker, writer and poet Milisuthando Bongela’s youth in South Africa was untouched by the horrors, violence, or even the presence of white occupiers to her land. At least that’s how it seemed.  

The Transkei, an unrecognized Black independent region established by the apartheid regime, created the illusion for Black South Africans that separate could be equal. And paradoxically for Bongela, life in The Transkei proved as idyllic as the propaganda claimed. Until it was over.  

The fall of apartheid ushered in a new life, one that included – for the first time – whiteness. MILISUTHANDO is a deeply intimate portrait of South Africa, blending poetry, film, and photography into a striking cinematic essay. Bongela explores love, friendship and belonging in a South Africa stratified by racism – proving that only if we understand its tentacles, can we begin to extricate ourselves from its clutches.  

Tickets for the screening can be found on Cinemateket's website, and the trailer can be watched here.

Milisuthando Bongela-Davis (1985) is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, cultural worker, and artist from South Africa. She began her career in the fashion industry and has since worked in music, art, media, and film—often with a focus on Indigenous peoples and African spirituality. She has been the culture editor at Mail & Guardian and co-hosted the podcast Umoya: On African Spirituality. Her debut film, the personal documentary MILISUTHANDO, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and has won multiple international awards. She is a former recipient of the Adobe Women at Sundance Fellowship and is currently working on her next film—an experimental silent film project in collaboration with Hankyeol Lee and musician Daphne Zar. 
 

About the film:

Milisuthando, dir. Milisuthando Bongela,  
South Africa/Colombia 2023, 128 min.,  
English and Xhosa with English subtitles