Milisuthando
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XTR is Trying to Solve the Crisis in Documentary Film, but Some Filmmakers Feel Betrayed
On November 15, at a DOC NYC panel called “Balancing Storytelling and Financial Stability,” South African filmmaker Milisuthando Bongela, director of the acclaimed 2023 Sundance film Milisuthando, recounted her unfortunate story of funding gone wrong—and how powerhouse nonfiction studio XTR offered her production hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money last November to help her deliver her documentary for its Sundance premiere, and then, five weeks later and after repeated attempts to follow up, the company responded that they were withdrawing the offer. “When she told this story, I was shocked,” says prominent Oscar-winning documentary producer and Story Syndicate […]
by Anthony Kaufman on Dec 20, 2023 -
“We Would Light a Candle and Some Impepho at the Start of the Work Day”: Editor Hankyeol Lee on Milisuthando
Milisuthando, the five-part personal essay film from first-time director Milisuthando Bongela, utilizes a trove of unseen archival images of South Africa during apartheid, particularly the all-Black Transkei community that Bongela grew up in. As such, editor Hankyeol Lee had a lot of material to sift through while remaining attentive to the intimate and oft-sensitive details of Bongela’s—and an entire nation’s—traumatic reckoning. Lee tells Filmmaker about how they went about editing the film, including a ritual she and the director would practice in the cutting room. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
Sundance 2023: 5 Seasons of Revolution, My Animal, Selected Shorts, The Tuba Thieves and Milisuthando
Before it started, one question about this year’s Sundance concerned attendance: what happens when a more-expensive-to-attend-than-most festival, held in a cold place during winter’s peak at a high altitude, offers the option to stream the bulk of its titles online days later? Brand presence on Main Street appeared to be down (one out of five awnings rather than every single one), and P&I attendance seemed to be as well—but, for many there, the answer was jamming out endless viewings on their tablet or laptop between venturing out for select IRL screenings. Whatever those combined, not-yet-disclosed industry-plus-public streaming numbers were, they […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 27, 2023 -
“The Sociohistorical Significance of a Black African Woman Holding the Camera in Her Hands”: DP Hankyeol Lee on Milisuthando
As both the editor and cinematographer of Milisuthando, the debut feature by Milisuthando Bongela, multimedia artist Hankyeol Lee confronted a unique set of challenges. In a film that blends a large quantity of archival material with material shot by the director herself, Lee’s footage was one of many types of footage in the mix. Below, Lee discusses her work on the film as a cinematographer. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? Lee: I first came onto the project as an editor. Milisuthando Bongela, the director, was looking for someone to edit a trailer for […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2023 -
“I Wanted To Face History So That I Could Understand It” | Milisuthando Bongela, Milisuthando
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Our film has a lot of rare, never-before-seen propaganda footage of apartheid that we were given, kind of in secret, by people who had access to it and wanted to share it with “the right people.” The footage itself was emotionally very challenging, as this was hours of footage of the planning and execution of apartheid by its masterminds. What […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2023 -
“I Was Blind to My Own Blackness by Apartheid’s Design”: Milisuthando Bongela on Milisuthando
The self-described South African “writer, editor, cultural worker and artist”—and now debut feature filmmaker—Milisuthando Bongela grew up under apartheid. Yet she also didn’t, at least not within the straightforward narrative of having witnessed a racist colonial regime heroically toppled by Black liberator Nelson Mandela. Indeed, the young Bongela wasn’t aware of her fellow Black countrymen’s struggle in cities like Soweto. But neither were most of the residents of The Transkei, an unrecognized Black independent region established by the oppressors to conjure the illusion that being “separate but equal” not only worked, but could provide Black people with a wonderfully blissful […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jan 22, 2023 -
Field of Vision’s Charlotte Cook on Criteria for New Partners, Preventing Staff Burnout and Their 2023 Sundance Slate
Last month, a letter from Field of Vision’s co-founder and executive director Charlotte Cook announced that the non-profit organization would be splitting from its parent company First Look Media and become an independent studio. Formed in 2015, Field of Vision has been behind documentaries like Hale County This Morning, This Evening, American Factory and Riotsville, USA among others. They’ve also had their hand in producing several films made by 25 New Faces of Film alums, with Alison O’Daniel’s The Tuba Thieves and Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s King Coal premiering at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. As part of the split, First Look […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jan 21, 2023
