Muchaneta Manyengavana is 2014’s Emerging Film Maker.
FAIRLAND – Muchaneta Manyengavana was recognised as the emerging film maker in 2014.
Local resident Muchaneta Manyengavana won the prestigious award for 2014’s Emerging Film Maker at Silicon Valley Film Festival in California US recently.
The short film that got her recognised is called My Zulu Lessons.
The short film traces the exploration of a young man Alpha Mthembu’s Zulu heritage and his attempts to learn isiZulu after being abandoned by his mother and growing up in the Abraham Kriel Children’s home where only Afrikaans was spoken.
“I never imagined the film being nominated and moreover winning an international award at all,” said Manyengavana.
She added that knowing that your hard work had been rewarded and recognised meant much more.
The film is a humorous and engaging portrayal of Alpha’s deep desire to learn more about his culture, she informed.
It was nominated in two categories, Best Short Film and Emerging Film Maker 2014.
I was the director of the film and Alpha Mthembu was the producer – I worked with a team of young professional women who are hungry in film making, Nwabisa Bota the camera person and Anrie Valerie Roman who was the editor, she said.
“I am inspired by real life stories, stories that tell of human struggles and the journey they make to triumph because I relate to such stories.”
The film took the team four weeks to complete under the mentorship of Wessel van Huystein.
Manyangavana stated that she has always admired film making from a distance.”When I got the opportunity to study at Big Fish I fell deeply in love with film making – this shows that indeed dreams do not have a deadline,” she said.
Manyengavana studied Film and Television production, at Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking. She is also a trained journalist at Harare Polytechnic College and a television producer at Africa News Network (ANN).
For the youngsters who wish to follow the film-making route, Manyengavana advises that they should approach training institutions like the non-profit making organisation such as Big Fish School of Digital Film. “It has made dreams come into reality for young disadvantaged people in South Africa,” concluded Manyengavana.
