Life behind the camera with Eliyah
Eliyah Kiasto Papole, is a well-known film producer in South Africa and is the director of successful hit films such as 7 Women 1 Man, Nyiko (The Gift) and Dikeledi.
POLOKWANE –Â All of these films were shot in Limpopo and in 2016 he also assisted a Venda film production called Vule Media Group to shoot their action film, Evil of Man as the first assistant director and director of photography.
Born and bred in Makgodu Ga-Ramongoana village in Limpopo outside Polokwane, Kiasto attended primary school at Ramongoana Primary School and matriculated from Kgakoa Secondary School in Makgodu in 2000.
“I was a pioneer in music and church programme video productions from 2013 to 2014 and I joined the film industry in 2015,” he said. He served as a cameraman and editor for various Nigerian churches in Johannesburg where he edited their videos for submission to Christian DStv channel, GNTV.
“Although most of my focus has recently been on the film industry, I still shoot and direct some local music videos in my spare time while I visit various churches on Sunday to shoot their services.”
Kiasto has completed a short practical course in film and television production operations which includes directing, camerawork, lighting and editing. His most recent accomplishments merge his life-long interest in the healing arts with film-making. He has so far under his fast-growing film production company, Maxisky Media, managed to shoot, direct and edit five documentaries, four of them for local Limpopo kings and chiefs and one for ANC veteran, former MK commander and liberation icon, Isaac Lesiba Maphoto, in December 2016, courtesy of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.
He has also shot, directed and edited corporate videos courtesy of the City of Polokwane for the fifth annual Polokwane Literary Fair which ran for five consecutive days at Library Gardens, Ngwako Ramatlhodi Hall in Seshego and Peter Mokaba Stadium in September last year. He was also the facilitator during the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) local film screenings and film industry workshops last year.
He also held auditions for aspiring boxers for his film, Lady Champ, at Jeppe College in Polokwane on 30 September this year.
