His other offerings include e. tv’ s Musangwe, SABC2’ s I Had it All, M-Net’ s Walk Like a Man and Homesick, a Chinese-South African collaboration that aired at Fespaco( Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou).
This is Mathaba’ s first contribution to eKasi. But he had a very out-of-the-box approach with e. tv when he pitched his three offerings: MuPorofita, which is about a false prophet, Tenderpreneurs, centred on kickbacks and corruption by the mayor of Thulamela, and Black Widow, about a skirt chaser who gets his just desserts.
He explains:“ You know, there are a lot of stereotypes where I come from. You hear a lot of stories about witchcraft, for example. As a film-maker, I’ ve never tried sci-fi. And, when I spoke to e. tv, I said I wanted to tell those stories from my backyard.”
Mathaba says townships are all over South Africa, so, from a film-making perspective, Jozi shouldn’ t be exploited as the only outlet by filmmakers.
“ We are in pre-production and will begin shooting at the end of the month. This is the first time eKasi: Our Stories is being shot outside Gauteng. I wanted to shoot in Shayandima, where I grew up, to show my version of township stories.”
And Mathaba is adamant about keeping the shoot patriotic to Limpopo, from the cast to the crew.
Though he says:“ I might have one to two bigname actors from the soaps. There will be very experienced people on the crew. And Zwo Farifani is a young director who will helm one of the stories.”
He says, especially in view of the supernatural and witchcraft tales that surface in community papers, he wants to explore that dark side of storytelling while also demysti- fying stereotypes and old wives’ tales.
South Africans love comic therapy. It could be in the form of a stage production, live stand-up comedy or a home-grown small screen offering.
And so, to relieve the weightiness of some of the dramas this year, Diprente Films have decided to make a few rib-tickling offerings.
Lediga( comedian Kagiso’ s sister), as content producer, sheds light on what they are bringing to the table.
“ We have already shot One Day is One Day. It is a very quirky tale about Harry, a guy who runs this donkey-drawn carriage coal business.
“ As it is 2013, where we have electricity, he becomes the laughing stock of the town. Then he wins the Lotto, after playing for years, and his life changes … for better or worse,” she laughs.
The lead is played by a professional young actor named Thulasizwe Khubeka.
Lediga says:“ A lot of the script is him talking to his horse.” With the production house working with a lot of stand-up comedians and also behind e. tv’ s Late Night News with Loyiso Gola, it was an obvious pitch for them. This is their forte, after all.
One Day is One Day
She expands:“ To be given this opportunity is a great pat on the back. It is also a challenge as we will be setting the benchmark for eKasi. The challenge then becomes to take the brand and add something in a positive way. We are using voices of our young writers. Most are in their mid-20s. They bring an interesting freshness.”
The other four Diprente Film contributions are: Your Girl“ D”, about an aspirant TV presenter à la Bonang Matheba, and Mr Soshanguve, which homes in on the comic trials of one male model’ s exposure to the superficial industry. The other two offerings are tentatively titled: Stan and Vusi Get Married and Skhot So Hard.
Lediga says they are shooting in Soweto and around Joburg.
Interestingly, her brother Kagiso also contributed to the brain- storming sessions.
She shares:“ He loved the whole idea. And he helped us with the storyboarding.”
Comic chaos meets supernatural intrigue and disbelief – now that’ s not a bad mix for the other social issue-driven content found in season five of eKasi: Our Stories.
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