Born in 1985 in the Transkei, director Milisuthando Bongela grew up in the midst of apartheid without knowing anything of its existence until its fall. The supposedly independent state that emerged as a dream of the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Transkei was a racially segregated area in south-eastern South Africa that was dissolved in 1994 after the fall of the regime. MILISUTHANDO is a deeply personal documentary essay. Using archival footage, interviews with her relatives, personal reflections and her relationship with her grandmother and ancestors, the filmmaker explores the structures in which she grew up.
Milisuthando Bongela tells us here about MILISUTHANDO on the occasion of the 20th edition of the Africa Film Festival in Cologne.