Qula Kwedini | Encounters Mega Archive/Library
Short
African

World Premiere
2003

2003-film-poster Poster
Film Poster

Close Encounters

Encounters is proud to present two films resulting from the Close Encounters / SABC1 Laboratory 2002, where 4 films were commissioned. They will be shown on SABC1’s Monday popular 10pm documentary slot.

The Laboratory was supported by Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council, the European Union’s CWCI Fund, the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the British Council and the Jan Vrijman Fund.

Ndipiwe Mjekula grew up in the privileged environment of Johannesburg’s leafy suburbs. Educated at a posh school, he’s more at home cruising around in his dad’s flashy Audi and sipping beers around a high-society braai than leading the rural life of his forebears. But now Ndipiwe must go to the bush to be circumcised. The film follows this city boy on his journey to manhood, the traditional way. After a mishap, which lands him in hospital, Ndipiwe spends three weeks in a seclusion hut in the Eastern Cape, which ends with a celebratory cricket match. An exuberant ceremony back in the ‘burbs, witnessed by amazed neighbours, completes this warm and revealing account of the melding of two traditions into one cultural reality.

Courtesy of SABC1 and Bonggoe Productions.