Dimakatso’s big screen debut
“This is a difficult business where you have to love it to crack it, not just a passion project.”
NATURENA’S Dimakatso Tloubatla (22) is over the moon after her short film, Home, premiered at Ster-Kinekor Cinema Nouveau in Rosebank on November 24.
The third-year AFDA (SA School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance) student wrote and directed the 12-minute suspense drama. The film was shot in Eldorado Park and focuses on child-headed families.
“My film’s main characters are two teenagers (a boy and girl) who live with their sick mother,” Dimakatso explained. “The girl goes to the city to seek help while the disabled son stays and looks after their mother. She encounters various challenges while in the city and then she races against the time to come back home and take care of their dying mother.”
Dimakatso said her film highlights the fact that you cannot run away from circumstances.
When asked about her journey so far in the film industry, Dimakatso said some people don’t take the craft of film-making seriously. “This is a difficult business where you have to love it to crack it, not just a passion project. I remember how I would spend time crying, I wanted to quit, however at the end I managed to do my best because I care a lot about this craft.
“Although at first I studied something else, I realised that this is my calling,” Dimakatso said. “It is like in a military where you train in order to perfect the outcome. The more we train, the more we master this craft.”
Dimakatso’s future plans include writing a 90- to 200-page (about one-hour) feature film, as well as branching into advertising and the commercial space. “My role model is film director Thabang Moleya (Happiness Is a Four-letter Word, 2016). I look up to him. He is my inspiration. I also want to familiarise myself with different ad agencies to harness my craft.”
When it comes to family, Dimakatso has five siblings and draws strength mainly from her mom and dad. “My father is a big fan of telling stories,” she said. “We grew up in the cities and they grew up in the rural areas. I always imagine what life was like for them growing up.”
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