Alpha Mthembu of Red Pepper Productions has recently won the Best Emerging Filmmaker Award at The Silicon Valley African Film Festival from 17 to 19 October.
Alpha Mthembu attended the Abraham Kriel Childcare facility from 2003.
He got an opportunity to shadow the production team of the Powerball Show in his matric year which sparked his interest in the film-making industry. Mthembu was overjoyed when he received an invitation to attend the Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF) in California for his short film titled My Zulu Lessons.
The categories that the film was nominated for was the Best Short Film Award and Emerging Filmmaker Award.
Mthembu commented, ”I am truly humbled by this accomplishment and it is still so surreal. I am now more inspired to continue with my studies and to also broaden my skills and knowledge in all disciplines within the film industry. The industry is very competitive and I feel that I still have so much more to learn.”
In 2013 Alpha received a bursary to study cinematography at Big Fish School of Digital Film Making and at the same time worked part-time at Red Pepper Productions. The film, My Zulu Lessons was inspired by Alpha’s own life.
Throughout his childhood, Alpha was able to only speak English and Afrikaans and as a young man he embarked on this journey back to his Zulu roots to fulfil a lifelong desire to learn his culture and language.
Details: Kavitha Kalicharan, kavitha@tauruscommunications.co.za or 010 222 0559.
