Food for thought: New doccie by local film maker to air tonight

Local documentary filmmaker Enver Samuel has made quite a name for himself working in various behind-the-scenes roles on some of the country’s favourite talk shows, magazine progammes, entertainment, and reality television shows.

However, he has always felt the need to produce content that is thoughtful, impactful, and that makes a real difference.

Seven years ago, after many years in the industry and with many accolades to his name, Enver decided that it was time to do that which he has always yearned to do.

“I’ve done what I set out to do initially and I’ve reached many milestones in the process,” he says. “It was time to move on to the next thing, and I knew that it had to be something of some significance. Not just for me, but for everyone in this country.

“I think part of it is that you get older and you get to thinking about things like the legacy you are going to leave behind one day.”

Enver, not one to sit on his laurels, started his own production company and dived headlong into research for his chosen first project, Indians Can’t Fly (2015), a documentary that tells the story of Ahmed Timol, a 29-year-old Roodepoort teacher who ‘fell’ from the 10th floor of the police station at John Forster Square.

The documentary was critically acclaimed and nominated for three SAFTAs, winning the award for Best Achievement in Directing, among others. When the Ahmed Timol case was reopened in 2017, Samuel followed up with Someone to Blame – The Ahmed Timol Inquest, which won Best Documentary Short at the SAFTAs, and many more awards.

Samuel’s next effort, Murder in Paris, an examination into the murder of anti-apartheid activist Dulcie September, that attempts to expose the truth of the as yet unsolved murder, was selected at over 50 film festivals, winning 14 awards both locally and abroad, including Best Documentary at the prestigious Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). It was nominated for four SAFTAs, winning one. In addition, Enver won the inaugural Humanitarian Award for DIFF in 2021.

His latest docuseries, entitled Truth to be Told, leans heavily on the critically acclaimed work by legendary writer, poet and journalist, Antjie Krog’s Country of my Skull.

It places South Africa’s famed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) under the microscope, telling the heart-wrenching stories of the children and surviving family members of activists slain under apartheid rule, in their own words.

According to Enver, the series aims to highlight the lasting impact of the gross human rights violations committed during apartheid on the children and families of victims in a meaningful way, by placing the children and family members of murdered activists front and centre, hearing their very personal accounts, and showing the extent of the transgenerational trauma that they are experiencing.

Each episode of the six-part series explores a different case, and in addition to the searing testimony from the now adult children and surviving family members, it asks why the National Prosecuting Authority did not investigate and prosecute those cases in which the TRC did not grant amnesty, or those who did not bother to apply for amnesty.

The first episode, airing on Monday, March 4 at 21:00 on SABC 3, focuses on the brutal murder of then 23-year-old Phila Portia Ndwandwe as experienced through the eyes of her son, Thabang Mabuza, now a chartered accountant in his 30s. Phila was brutally tortured and murdered by security police in KZN in 1988.

“A lot of work has gone into the presentation of these cases in such a way that people get to see the very real trauma experienced by children and surviving family members.

“While the facts are confronting, we tell the stories in a very factual, yet gentle way, since the aim is not to traumatise, but to expose the fact that, as a nation, we cannot afford to allow these crimes to be forgotten.”