By Estrella Sendra
South Africa has a strong young female face – Ayanda. This 21 year-old Afro-hipster is a creative youth fun character, determined to revive her father’s prized garage business, eight years after his tragic death. The film is set in Yeoville, a vibrant community in Johannesburg that hosts African migrants from across the continent, searching for a better life. Set in this district, Ayanda is a coming-of-age story of a young woman who embarks on a journey of self-discovery when she’s thrown into a world of greasy overalls, gender stereotypes and abandoned vintage cars once loved, now in need of a young woman’s re-inventive touch to bring them back to life again. In order to achieve her goal, Ayanda will persuade her brother and the mechanic David, interpreted by the Nigerian acclaimed actor OC Ukeje, who starred in Gone Too Far, a British-Nigerian comedy directed by Destiny Ekaragha which was part of last year Cambridge African Film Festival.
Ayanda, directed by multi-awarded South African filmmaker Sara Blecher, opened the 36th Durban International Film Festival earlier this year, four years after her previous film Otelo Burning also opened this festival in 2011. While the latter draw on masculinity, Ayanda focuses on women, and very particularly on a young South African woman who presents new horizons for audiences in the country. The debut actress, Fulu Mugovhani, dominates the screen by an overwhelming energetic performance, whose creations are coherently complemented by the aesthetical choices of the filmmakers. With the photos of photographer The Expressionist, who plays himself in the film in an attempt to ‘portray a country reinventing itself’, and the animation that translates Ayanda’s imagination, the director successfully manages to present an optimistic world view, which is, in this case, led by a young South African woman.
Entertainment blog Indiewire called the film “an important and fascinating piece that is absolutely worth seeing for its representation of a modern African story, which is uniquely, distinctively African, but also urban, fresh, and contemporary in a way that is far too rare. Anchored by a standout performance by the magnetic Fulu Mugovahni, the vibe and milieu of Ayanda is as refreshing as a light summer breeze.”
The director, who was recently in the BFI London Film Festival presenting the film, defined it as a “love letter to Joburg” a place where the world merges. Ayana does indeed place us in a vibrant and diverse Johannesburg where the youth cannot really move forward until they grapple with the past. This intertwined connection between the past and the present, after 21 years of freedom in the country, is embodied in Ayanda’s commitment to keep her dead father’s garage alive.
Following the last edition of the Cambridge African Film Festival, celebrating the 20 years of freedom in South Africa, Ayanda is an illustrative film of this festival’s mission, counter-balancing the stereotypical representation of the continent, with a focus on the work by women filmmakers and bringing to the UK some of the best contemporary African films – a unique opportunity for the city of Cambridge to watch this film.
The screening will take place on Tuesday 20 October at 6 PM at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse, and will be followed by a Q&A with South African film scholar Dr Litheko Modisane (University of Cape Town), in conversation with festival director, Estrella Sendra. Tickets can be booked here.
“If Africans do not tell their own stories, Africa will soon disappear” This is arguably Sembène’s most notable quote and how the film opens, in a biographical style, remarkable for its coherence. Inheriting the legacy of his master and “tonton” (the Wolof word for “uncle”), Gadjigo tells the story of how self-revealing was his encounter with Sembène’s work – ‘I grew up in a village with no TV or radio. All I had was the stories of my grandmother (…) When I was 14, I dreamed of becoming French, like the characters in the books I read (…) When I was 17, I discovered Sembène’s stories, with characters like my grandmother, my friends and me. For the first time, I wanted and was proud to be an African’.
evelops, bizarre occurrences and magical lurid scenes from another world punctuate the narrative, blurring the line between fantasy and reality. The film seems to be asking something universal, but also specifically South African: how do we think and act in this gulf between the expectations we have - of happiness, success, truth, equality - and the reality we live? Drawing together honest storytelling, playful cinematography and compelling performances, Bass conjures up a world both familiar and bizarre.
