Khabonina Qubeka crowned best actress at Boston International Film Festival

Mzansi actress, choreographer and yoga guru Khabonina Qubeka bagged the Indie Spirit Best Actress Award for her character Dora, a Hillbrow prostitute, in the movie Dora’s Peace at the prestigious Boston International Film Festival, which was held from April 13-17 2017.

Kosta Kalarytis, the director of the film also won the Indie Spirit Special Recognition Award. In a statement Kalarytis says,“Dora is emotionally complex. Qubeka broke the mould of the typical ageing prostitute so often seen in films. She’s not anyone’s sidekick, and her character is memorable, authentic and deeply human. She reflects the reality lived by many women, in South African and elsewhere around the world. We are thrilled that her performance and the film itself have been singled out for the jury in Boston. It’s a great honour.”

CEO of the company which distributed the film throughout South Africa,  Helen Kuun of Indigenous Film Distribution, shares,“Khabonina Qubeka is an actress to watch and we congratulate her and Kosta Kalarytis for their well-deserved wins.

Khabonina could not contain her excitement and sheer joy! She openly chats to us,”Bridge, I’ve always known deep down inside that Dora’s Peace is a GREAT project. It was appreciated locally and film critics wrote beautifully about it. What I love most is the fact that the Dora’s Peace was selected at the Boston International Film Festival and the Beijing International Film Festival, that alone is HUGE for me – it’s a BIG deal. Now that we actually have two wins from the Boston International Film Festival is absolutely AMAZING. I love the fact that no one knows me at  the Boston International Film Festival so there was no politics involved since they don’t even know my involvement with Isidingo or any other projects so they literally judged what they saw and that was it.”

We love how Khabo mentions that her mother has been her support system throughout her career and was most encouraging on days when Khabo felt her work was not getting the recognition it deserved. Her mom mentioned that somewhere, somehow it will happen someday and that day has FINALLY come. The leading lady of Dora’s Peace is currently busy with Khabonina’s  Health And Fitness Show which will air every Tuesdays online on her Youtube channel as of next month.

Congratulations to Khabonina Qubeka, Kosta Kalarytis and the entire cast of the spectacular local film Dora’s Peace! #peoplelovesyou

For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.