#Thando Mgqolozana

[gregor-samsung]

Inxeba [The Wound] (John Trengove - 2017)

[alrederedmixedmedia]

Alredered Remembers Thando Mgqolozana, South African author, on his birthday.

"A book you read when you were a child will read differently when you pick it up later."

[jamesmurualiterary]

Press Statement: Diary of a Hangman by Siphiwo Mahala

Press Statement: Diary of a Hangman by Siphiwo Mahala

Writer and Imbiza Journal founder/editor Siphiwo Mahala has put out a statement on the ongoing turmoil brought about by the abuse allegations against writer and Abantu Book Festival Thando Mgqolozana. We reproduce it here in full. “Julius Caesar staggers towards his friend, appealing to him, but Brutus stabs him. Unbelieving, Caesar says, ‘Et tu Brute? Then fall, Caesar.’ They are the last words…

[blackfilm]

Issues with ‘Ixeba (The Wound)’

so in the discussion about Khethiwe & The Leopard and the film’s white filmmaker, midgetswallofshame brought up the film Inxeba (The Wound), another South African film centering about queer South African young men going through the Xhosa rite of passage and circumcision. the film has caused an uproar in South Africa for a few reasons, including its white director. 

here’s an excerpt from an article on SAHO (South African Film Online) about all the issues with the film:

“Thando Mgqolozana’s novel, “A Man Who Is Not a Man” was used as a reference for the film’s script. Mgqolozana’s novel sheds light on the experience of failed circumcision and the impact it has on the process of the initiation for ‘becoming a man’. The story of the film was written by John Trengrove, Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu. Trengrove has been the object of strong criticism for being a white director at the helm of a culturally  specific story. The criticism points to the fact that as a white, non Xhosa man, he cannot identify with the films content. Trengrove claims that he maintained awareness of his positionality whilst making the film and sort collaboration to ensure the film’s authenticity. Extensive research was undertaken by the film crew, including interviews over 6 months of Xhosa men, varying in sexual and class identity. Mthetho Tshemese, a clinical psychologist, was also brought on board the film to offer guidance on the depiction of the ulwaluko process. The film crew was also made up of non-actors who were given a degree of initiative and independence to drive the portrayal of ulwaluko in the film.

In 2014, as a run-up to Inxeba, John Trengrove, Batana Vundla and Elias Ribeiro produced IBhokwe: The Goat, which was a 13-minute long movie. The story illustrated the intersectionality of homosexuality and tradition through the narrative of a gay man, played by Nkosipendule Cengani, isolated from other initiates and abandoned by his elders as he undergoes ulwaluko.

John Trengrove and Batana Vundla were interested in making a queer film in South Africa 5 years ago, during a period in which “the media was quite saturated with statements of people like Robert Mugabe saying that homosexuality was un-African—a Western decadence, that it was against traditional African culture.” They wanted the film to go further than homosexual and queer identity, but explore masculinity and patriarchy and intersect it within a specific traditional context.

The criticism, anger and disrespect expressed by members of the Xhosa community are centred on accusations of cultural appropriation and the violation of the sanctity of ulwaluko. In response, the film’s crew has maintained that they expected the backlash against the film, but feel that there is also a large degree of homophobia underpinning the responses.

Media has reported that King Mpendulo Sigcawu wanted to file an interdict against the screening of Inxeba and he had written to the Eastern Cape Arts and Culture MEC and the Film and Publication Board asking them not to screen the film. However, the King clarified that he was approached by community members who were unhappy about the film and maintains: “We are saying after only seeing clips on YouTube, we would have liked to be educated about the film and what it aims to achieve. This is why we are asking the minister of arts and culture and his provincial counterpart, the Commission on Religious, Cultural and Linguistic Communities [CRL Commission] as well as Films and Publications Board [FPB] for assistance for a meeting.”“Our view is that we are not really happy with what we have seen, hence we thought it will be ideal to sit and share our concern. We would perhaps have an opportunity to watch the movie in that forum”

In relation to this, Asandiswa Jali’s article that calls for banning the film concedes that the themes of the film are important and need to be discussed and addressed in Xhosa communities, but in doing so disrespect must not be promoted against the amaXhosa culture itself. She calls for communities to hold conversations about the exclusion and discrimination of the LGBTIQ community in ulwaluko and maintains that releasing a movie which will only be seen by the privileged and not by the villages where these problems exist is not constructive at all: “The Xhosa speaking people in the movie should be holding these conversations in villages where these problems are.”

The historical contextual reality of the amaXhosa in South Africa is the theft of the land by European colonialists, disintegration of indigenous communities and the subjugation of the people under the western imperialism and capitalism that crafted bodies of labour to serve the enrichment of an imperialist economy that does not benefit their communities. More so, there is a history of disciplines treating and depicting amaXhosa culture as an exotic other and ahistorical – largely from a colonial and modernist lens, which is very limited in its scope of truth and comprehension. In this light, the frustration and concern emanating from the Xhosa community about their stories being told is comprehensive.

However, despite the secrecy and sanctity that ulwaluko is shrouded i, there is significant research about the initiation that exists outside of the film. For example, in 2015 Richard Bullock wrote an article titled “A month with three initiates during the Xhosa circumcision ritual” and included details and images. In 2009, Andile P. Mhlahlo wrote a Master’s thesis for Stellenbosch University, titled “What is manhood? The significance of traditional circumcision in the Xhosa initiation ritual”.

[thelowdownunder]

The Wound Trailer

The official entry into the Best Foreign Language Film race for South Africa is John Trengove’s multi-award winning The Wound (Inxeba). The film just swooped Best First Feature at the BFI London Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize at Mumbai Film Festival.

Synopsis: Brimming with sex and violence, The Woundis an exploration of tradition and sexuality set amid South Africa’s Xhosa culture. Every…

[movielovtrailers-blog]

The Wound (2017) Official Trailer

The Wound (2017) Official Trailer

The Wound trailer #1 starring Nakhane Touré, Bongile Mantsai, Niza Jay. Xolani, a lonely factory worker, travels to the rural mountains with the men of his community to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When a defiant initiate from the city discovers his best-kept secret,...

[asras-archive]

March 2022 - RG

What I want to/ need to read so far this month

Rape: A SA Nightmare - Pumla Dineo Gqola

And They Didn’t Die - Lauretta Ngcobo

A man who is not a man - Thando Mgqolozana These three are for one of my uni modules

The Little Friend - Donna Tart (need to finish this one)

Theories of Personality (???) (it's a psych text(?)book)

Unfinished Tales of ME - Tolkien (started this already)

[dentelladas]

Carta abierta: Escritores africanos en solidaridad con los Afroamericanos

Un centenar de escritores africanos, entre los que se encuentran reconocidos nombres, ha firmado esta carta abierta en solidaridad con la población afroamericana en todo el continente. Apoyando el movimiento Black Lives Matter, exhortan a los gobiernos de EEUU a acabar con la violencia institucional y a los africanos a garantizar que las poblaciones de la diáspora puedan ser acogidas en sus territorios en un gesto panafricanista.

Como escritores africanos sin fronteras, que estamos conectados más allá de la geografía con los que viven en los Estados Unidos de América y otras partes de la diáspora africana, declaramos nuestra condena de los actos de violencia contra las personas negras en los Estados Unidos de América.

Observamos con consternación que aquello que Malcolm X dijo en Ghana en 1964, que «para los veinte millones de los nuestros en América que somos de ascendencia africana, no se trata de un sueño americano: es una pesadilla americana» sigue siendo cierto para 37 millones en 2020.

Condenamos los asesinatos de:

George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Amadou Diallo, Ahmaud Arbery, Aiyana Mo’Nay Stanly-Jones, Tony McDade, Pamela Turner, Matthew Ajibade, Rekia Boyd, Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Shelly Frey, Ezelll Ford, Dante Parker, Michelle Casseaux, Yvette Smith, Darnesha Harris, Laquan Mcdonald, Atatiana Jefferson, George Mann, Tanisha Anderson, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Rumain Brisbon, Jerame Reid, Frank Smart, Natasha Mckenna, Tony Robinson, Anthony Hill, William Chapman II, Alberta Spruill, Walter Scott, Shantell Davis, Eric Harris, Philip White, Mya Hall, Alexia Christian, Brendon Glenn, Victor Manuel Larosa, Jonathan Sanders, Salvado Ellswood, Joseph Mann, Freddie Blue, Albert Joseph Davis, Darrius Stewart, Billy Ray Davis, Samuel Dubose, Troy Robinson, Christian Taylor, Sean Bell, Brian Keith Day, Michael Sabbie, Asshams Pharoah Manley, Felix Kumi, Keith Harrison McLeod, Junior Prosper, Anthony Ashford, Dominic Hutchinson, Paterson Brown, Lamontez Jones, Bettie Jones, Alonzo Smith, Tyree Crawford India Kager, Janet Wilson, Sylville Smith, Benni Lee Tignor, Yvonne Smallwood, Kayla Moore y todos los demás nombres, conocidos y desconocidos, que representan a seres humanos que son nuestros parientes.

Nuestra sangre.

Apoyamos las protestas en los Estados Unidos y en todo el mundo, mientras nuestra gente exige justicia por todos y cada uno de los asesinatos raciales, ya sean cometidos por la policía o por civiles. Somos conscientes de que no son protestas apacibles. No lo esperamos y tampoco deberían hacerlo los Estados Unidos de América. Los asesinatos no se efectuaron de forma apacible. La brutalidad policial y los asesinatos sancionados por el Estado se hicieron en voz alta, sin temor a las consecuencias por parte de quienes los perpetraron.

Reconocemos la condena de la Unión Africana al constante terrorismo del gobierno de los Estados Unidos hacia los afroamericanos. Creemos que la Unión Africana puede y debe hacerlo mejor.

Pedimos a los gobiernos africanos que reconozcan nuestra alianza y conexiones con nuestros hermanos y hermanas a través de las fronteras, desde América hasta Brasil y a través del resto de la diáspora. Que ofrezcan a quienes lo elijan: refugio, hogares y ciudadanía en nombre del panafricanismo.

Exhortamos a las instituciones legales americanas a que investiguen de forma independiente cada asesinato policial, así como a que investiguen cualquier denuncia contra la violencia policial.

Exigimos que los acusados sean suspendidos de sus puestos sin sueldo hasta que un juicio justo los libere de los cargos. En esencia, pedimos a los Estados Unidos de América que sean lo suficientemente valientes para adherirse a su propia carta de derechos, para poder ser la tierra de la libertad para TODOS los americanos sin importar su color, credo u orientación sexual.

Reivindicamos que las Vidas Negras importan. Como escritores, levantamos nuestros puños en solidaridad con aquellos que se niegan a ser silenciados. A nuestros hermanos y hermanas de los Estados Unidos, estamos con ustedes.

Pedimos a todos los seres humanos honrados que se unan a nosotros para ser los guardianes de nuestros hermanos y hermanas. Mientras protestan en los Estados Unidos, por favor den cualquier donación que puedan a #BlackLivesMatter.

Firmado por:

1. Chris Abani2. Kelvin Nonvignon Adantchede3. Ali J Ahmed4. Abdilatif Abdalla5. Yasmin Abdel-Magied6. Leila Aboulela7. Leye Adenle8. Bisi Adjapon9. Jose Eduardo Agualusa10. Ali J Ahmed11. Julio de Almeida12. Ayesha Harruna Attah13. Sefi Atta14. Meti Birabiro15. Tanella Boni16. Nana Brew-Hammond17. Noviolet Bulawayo18. Shadreck Chikoti19. Nana Awere Damoah20. Tolu Daniel21. Ibrahim El Khalil Diallo22. Boubacar Boris Diop23. Raoul Djimeli24. Edwige Dro25. Ainehi Edoro-Glines26. Chike Frankie Edozien27. Filinto Elisio28. Kalaf Epalanga29. Amir Tag Elsir30. Mona Eltahawy31. Ubah Cristina Ali Farah32. Virgilia Ferrao33. Aminatta Forna34. Chimeka Garricks35. Kadija George36. Laurence Gnaro37. Hawa Jande Golakai38. Isatou Alwar Graham39. Francisco Guita Jr40. Helon Habila41. Osman Ahmed Hassan42. Suad Sadig Hassan43. Pede Hollist44. Abdelmoumin Ibrahim45. Abubakar Adam Ibrahim46. Tsitsi Ella Jaji47. Nozizwe Cynthia Jele48. Mamle Kabu49. Mubanga Kalimamukwento50. Tamanda Kanjaye51. Precious Colette Kemigisha52. Grada Kilomba53. Moses Kilolo54. David Lukudu55. Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse56. Angela Makholwa57. Nick Makoha58. Jennifer Makumbi59. Napo Masheane60. Mohale Mashigo61. Makanaka Mavengere62. Eusebius Mckaiser63. Jose Luis Mendonca64. Maaza Mengiste65. Thando Mgqolozana66. Niq Mhlongo67. Amna Mirghani68. Nadifa Mohamed69. Natalia Molebatsi70. Yara Monteiro71. Merdi Mukore72. Marie-Louise Mumbu73. Richard Ali Mutu74. Kevin Mwachiro75. Remy Ngamije76. Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu77. Mukoma wa Ngugi78. Nducu Wa Ngugi79. Natasha Omokhodion-Banda80. Ondjaki81. Troy Onyango82. Tochi Onyebuchi83. Chinelo Okparanta84. Gabriel Adil Osman85. Ladan Osman86. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor87. Nii Ayikwei Parkes88. Abreu Paxe89. Mbate Pedro90. Pepetela91. Yovanka Paquete Perdigao92. Hannah Azieb Pool93. Jorge Querido94. Sanaa Abu Qussasa95. Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin96. Mohamedou Ould Salahi97. Hassan Ghedi Santur98. Malebo Sephodi99. Lemya Shammat100. Lola Shoneyin101. Lemn Sissay102. Kola Tubosun103. Chika Unigwe104. Abdourahman Waberi105. Zukiswa Wanner

[booksoftheyear]

Novels about academia

Amongst the love advice requests on Valentines’ Day, someone asked Minor Lits for ideas about novels set in, or about, academia. I’ve finally collected all the responses into a list. (Some of these might also just be about school, I think? Still, same deal, I guess...). They’re pretty much all in the western canon, though, so if anyone has any suggestions from further afield, please let me know and I’ll update the list!

Stoner – John Williams

Hallucinating Foucault – Patricia Duncker

On Beauty – Zadie Smith

Pale Fire – Vlad Nab

Pnin – Vlad Nab

Herzog – Saul Bellow

White Noise – Don ‘the Don’ DeLillo

First Novel – Nicholas Royle (includes dogging, woo hoo)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie –Muriel Spark

The Lesser Bohemians – Eimear McBride

The Diary of a Short-Sighted Adolescent – Mircea Eliade 

Giles Goat-Boy – John Barth

Hangsaman – Shirley Jackson

Disgrace – JM Coetzee

The Wife – Meg Wolitzer

The Human Stain – Philip Roth

Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis

The Gate of Angels – Penelope Fitzgerald (this is wonderful, read this)

The Secret History – Donna Tartt

Elegy for a Revolutionary – CJ Driver

Paulina and Fran – Rachel B. Glaser

Unimportance – Thando Mgqolozana

Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 

Possession – AS Byatt

Making History – Stephen Fry

Wonder Boys – Michael Chabon

Old School – Tobias Wolff

Second Generation – Raymond Williams

And the ultimate novel about someone grappling with the impossibility of academia – and therefore buggering off far, far away from academia – is, of course, Norman Rush's 'Mating'. 

[connectza]

Trailer - The Wound @ Sundance

Yesterday, 'The Wound', a South African film directed by award-winning director, John Trengove, premiered at The Sundance Film Festival. The film is co-written by Trengove, Malusi Bengu, and Thando Mgqolozana - the author of 'A Man Who is Not a Man', the book which inspired the film.

Click to Read more

The film, which is bound to rouse conversation, stars musician and novelist, Nakhane Toure as an initiation school facilitator, alongside actors Niza Jay Ncoyini and Bongile Mantsai.

The South African premiere of 'The Wound' will be in July at the Durban International Film Festival.

[gregor-samsung]

Inxeba [The Wound] (John Trengove - 2017)

[artsvark]

SA films shine in global arena

Triggerfish – Revolting Rhymes

South Africa has scored an Oscar nomination at the 90th Academy Awards for the animation film ��Revolting Rhymes’, produced by Triggerfish, which received a nomination in the category Best Animated Short Film. The film is an adaptation of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake’s classic book of fairytales.

The nominations in all 24 Oscar® categories were announced in a live presentation which took place in Hollywood on 23 January. Johannesburg audiences will be able to see Revolting Rhymes at The Bioscope in Maboneng on 16 February.

In the same week controversial South African film ‘Inxeba’ (‘The Wound’), which made it to the Oscar® shortlist after it was submitted in the category of Best Foreign Language Film, has been nominated for an award in the category of Outstanding Film – Limited Release, by the GLAAD Media Awards, which recognizes fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and the issues that affect their lives. This is the first time that a foreign language film has received a nomination.

Six public screenings of ‘Inxeba’ are being held in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Durban on 24 January whereby local audiences will be given the opportunity to vote on whether it should have won an Oscar ®. To date ‘Inxeba’ has earned 19 Best of Category Awards around the world.

‘Inxeba’ is an international co-production between South Africa, Germany, The Netherlands and France, and was produced by Elias Ribeiro and Cait Pansegrouw of Urucu Media, directed by John Trengove and co-written by Trengove, Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu. It was co-produced by Batana Vundla of Cool Take Pictures with local support from the Department of Trade and Industry, M-Net, Indigenous Film Distribution and the National Film and Video Foundation. The film stars Nakhane, Bongile Mantsai and Niza Jay.

The debut feature from director John Trengove, ‘Inxeba’ is a critically acclaimed drama, which explores tradition and sexuality and is set amid the Xhosa rites of passage into manhood.

The film, which will be released countrywide on 2 February, is being distributed in South Africa by Indigenous Film Distribution. “We are exceptionally proud of ‘Inxeba’ and the impressive journey it has been on, winning 19 global awards since it first appeared at Sundance last year January.”

Also on the Indigenous Films slate for the first quarter of the year is ‘Loving Vincent’, which has just been nominated for the Oscar ® in the category of Best Animated Feature, alongside ‘Coco’, ‘The Breadwinner’, ‘Ferdinand’ and ‘Boss Baby’.

‘Loving Vincent’ was first shot as a live action film with actors, and then hand-painted over frame-by-frame in oils. The final effect is an interaction of the performance of the actors playing Vincent’s famous portraits, and the performance of the painting animators, bringing these characters alive through the medium of paint.

“We are delighted to be bringing a ground-breaking film of this calibre to South African audiences,” says Helen Kuun, of Indigenous Film Distribution, that will be releasing the film in South Africa on 23 February.

SA films shine in global arena was originally published on Artsvark

[cheekynatives-blog]

“This is the story of how I came to have an abnormal penis. So there you have it: my genital organ is not the normal type.” And so begins Thando Mgqolozana’s brave and poignant ‘A man who is not a man’. Every year during the winter season, we are inundated with reports of the deaths of young men who succumb to cold, dehydration and sepsis in their quest to attain manhood. But what of the young men who don't die? Who are left to function, disfigured and changed in unimaginable ways by the horrors of botched circumcisions? ‘A man who is not a man’ is a powerful account from one such initiate. Told with such honesty and poignancy, it was impossible for us not sit and unpack the themes of manhood, patriarchy and culture explored in this novel. The Cheeky Natives aims to be archivists of black literature and so who better to interview than the co-founder of ‘Abantu Book Festival’, a festival for black writers and readers set in Soweto. A festival for the celebration and recording of black stories outside of the white gaze and the performative expectations accompanying this. Thando Mgqolozana has always broken frontiers, confronting the difficult and uncomfortable. Be it in writing or the practice of taking uncomfortable decisions to celebrate and give platforms to black literature unapologetically. Chinua Achebe says: “until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” How fitting then that on this episode, as literary archivists we have the inimitable Thando Mgqolozana. Award winning author of three novels, ‘ A man who is not a man’, ‘Unimportance’ and ‘Hear me alone’, Mandela Rhodes Scholar, literary decolonist and all round black boy magic. This episode is a celebration of the power of black literature is the project of redefining ourselves.

[jamesmurualiterary]

Thando Mgqolozana makes statement on abuse allegations.

Thando Mgqolozana makes statement on abuse allegations.

South African Writer and Abantu Book Festival writer Thando Mgqolozana has come out with a statement regarding abuse allegations leveled against him by his ex-partner. On Saturday, August 23 tweets that alleged that Thando Mgqolozana was involved with intimate partner violence by his partner of many years were posted. They were deleted on the same day. There were many statements made by those…

[amo-hlabaman]

I am an Afrikan Son of the Azanian soil who is passionate about Afrika and its native people. I subscribe completely to the philosophy of pan-Afrikanism and the ideology of Socialism (NOT Marxism). Afrika is my beginning and it is my ending.I cannot imagine any place i would rather be,whether to study or to take permanent residence. I will work for NGOs that seek to transform the lives of Afrikans.My strength lies in activist writing,which i believe is a powerful tool of conscientisation (Marxists are living proof of that).I live and breath politics.Pan-Afrikanism flows in my blood and i’m sure that if you were to stab me,a fusion of the Afrikan gods’ blood would spill out.I have this strange belief that i’m related to Mbuya Nehanda,a Zimbabwean spiritual medium who led the first Chimurenga and perhaps,even Thomas Sankara,the former leader of Burkina Faso. I draw my inspiration from great Afrikan leaders and writers.I particularly admire the founder of the Pan Afrikanist Congress of Azania (PAC),Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe; former Angolan leader Augustinho Neto; former president of Mozambique and leader of FRELIMO,Samora Machel,of whom i’m named after; Black Panther activists Assata Shakur and Mutulu Shakur; former ANCYL president Anton Lembede; Former Prime Minister of Congo,Patrice Emery Lumumba; Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA) generals,Gen Romero Daniels and Gen Fihla to name but a few. The sculptures of Azanian-born Pitika Ntuli are my favourite works of expressionistic arts. When it comes to literature,Afrikan literature tops my list.Chimamanda Ngozi Ardichie,Ayi Kwei Ama,Tsitsi Dangarembga,Michael Ngila Muendane,Mariama Ba,Chinua Achebe,Lesego Rampolokeng,Ngugi wa Thiong'o,Thando Mgqolozana,Zakes Mda,Dambudzo Marechera,Sello K Duiker,Onkgopotse Tiro,Bessie Head and Thabo Lehlongwa are my crème-de-la-crème. I am a very understanding person who rarely takes umbrage to anything.However,i am extremely impatient and easily frustrated by ignorant people who undermine the importance of knowledge on Afrikan history,economics,arts and politics. Although i am often branded a “racist”,i am merely an honest and unapologetic pan-Afrikanist belonging to no political party or student formation.I believe that party politics are counter-revolutionary.I am an independent thinker who refuses to subscribe to popular view or conform to blind-loyalty that is nurtured by parties that adhere to IEC rules and laws.My views will never be sponsored and they are uncensored. I laugh a lot and don’t easily become hurt.I am a people’s person who strangely,loves her solitude.I don’t go to parties,clubs,weddings and all such occasions and i’m not fond of the outdoors.I prefer being in the confinements of my home,in my own room,reading or writing down my most intimate thoughts.I think better when i am on my own.In as much as i like people,the truth is,i work better on my own. I am generally a sweet person even if i must say so myself.I am very open too.I just hate ignorance and apathy,particularly in regards to the Black condition.

HOBBIES: - Collecting teeth from a live tiger, - Catching bullets with bare hands, - Assassination, - Jogging up & down Mount Everest & - Collecting rock particles from the moon MY RECORD: - Fought with an elephant and broke its neck. - Skinned a crocodile alive. - Played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded clip and survived. - Killed Superman. - Held my breath under water for 2 months, 3 weeks, 6 hours, 51 minutes, 45 seconds! - Assassinated Adolf Hitler, John F. Kennedy, Tupac, B.I.G (the list is too long). GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT: - Surfed on hot lava while the volcano was still erupting - Outran a cheetah. - Fluent in 10,598 languages. - Killed twitter bird.. - First man to land on the sun. - Carried the pyramid of Giza for 2 days straight! SILLY THING DONE: - Surfing on a tsunami and hurricane Katrina. - Snow boarding on Mount Everest. - Sky diving from outer space. EMBARRASSING MOMENT: - Couldn’t kill 100 bears with a single punch, only 99 died instantly and the one that was left went to join the circus. PROUDEST MOMENTS: - when a cobra died after biting me. - When I saved the planet by diverting an asteroid with just one kick. SOMETHING ABOUT ME: - I really don’t like to brag.

MY FAVOURITE QUOTES

1.i do it how she ask nd i come later 2. She came 1st, came twice. I came last, no regrets by B.I.G 3.I am proud of my heart. Its played, cheated, burned and broken. But somehow still works.♥ jvoxo Political 1. “Afrika is one,but Afrika is not for everyone.Afrika belongs to Afrikans.” ~ Patrice Lumumba 2. “The internal problems of Afrika will be solved by Afrikans themselves and not by any external forces.” ~ Thabo Mbeki 3. “Afrika my beginning Afrika my ending. Azania here i come From apartheid in tatters…” ~ Ingoapele Madingoane 4. “Let Bush keep his United States of America,and Blair keep his Britain.I will keep my Zimbabwe.” ~ Robert Mugabe 5. “From Cape to Cairo,Morocco to Madagascar…iAfrika izwe lethu!” ~ Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe 6. “My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruit of freedom.Mama,tell my people that they must continue with the struggle.” ~ Solomon Mahlangu 7. “Democracy is just a word when the people are starving.” ~ Immortal Technique 8. “Aluta continua!” ~ Samora Machel (FRELIMO) 9. “History will absolve me.” ~ Fidel Castro 10. “Those in power use violence to oppress us.Why can’t we use violence to free ourselves?” ~ Ernesto Che Guevara 11. “You have a Black male,living a third of his life in a jail cell because the world is controled by a White male.” ~ Dead Prez 12. “So long as the state exists there is no freedom.When there is freedom there will be no state.” ~ Vladimir Lenin 13. “For the Black man there is only one destiny.And it is White.” ~ Frantz Fanon 14. “I have one fear in my heart,that some day when Whites are turned to loving,they will find we Blacks are turned to hating.” ~ Alan Paton 15. “None dare challenge me when i say i am an Afrikan.” ~ Thabo Mbeki 16. “Political freedom without land and without economic freedom is no freedom.” ~ Robert Sobukwe 17. “When imperialists and colonisers want to collapse your government,they use NGOs.” ~ Julius Malema 18. “People do not eat votes.” ~ Moeletsi Mbeki 19. “Amanyoronyo azayi phuta phuta” (Dishonesty to the cause will never see light 20. “The hardest lesson of my life has come to me late. It is that a nation can win freedom without its people becoming free.” - Joshua Nkomo

[newstwitter-blog]

New Post has been published on News Twitter

New Post has been published on http://www.news-twitter.com/2017/02/10/huffington-post-the-berlinale-2017-diaries-django-music-at-the-heart-of-it-and-the-wound-7/

Huffington Post: The Berlinale 2017 Diaries: "Django', Music at the Heart of It and 'The Wound'

How do you fight the madness? The kind that makes your heart ache and goes against everything you’ve ever been taught to believe about humanity? If you’re me, and you can’t stand any of it, you turn to cinema. Cinema with a conscience that is.

Berlinale, it turns out, is a great place to be and do that this year. Film after film, including the opening oeuvre Django by Etienne Comar, is fraught with references from the past, present and future about what we are experiencing right now. And how we could try to change it, perhaps.

Django stars one of the most charismatic actor in world cinema at the moment Reda Kateb, as Django Reinhardt, a figure we may find both problematic and inspiring today. Problematic because people who are bestowed with great gifts often remain untouched in dire situations because their talent makes them different from others, from commoners hailing from their same race or having experienced their upbringing. Inspiring because Reinhardt shows us that courage can be a very quiet thing, not a shouting match but a gentle gesture of survival. And with his survival, he somehow managed to save most of those around him at a time when the Roma people were persecuted for being different, by Hitler’s goons. See a parallel with today’s world? Yup, me too.

Watch an excerpt from their press conference, where Kateb talks about art changing the world… And sometimes not always for the better. Starts around 1.20 minutes into it.

Comar’s film is a perfect tribute to the legendary Gyspy guitarist, languid but bubbling with endless possibilities as Reinhardt himself must have been. And his ending, a haunting last image the filmmaker leaves the audience with, tore me to pieces, allowing me the good cry that was badly needed in these uncertain times. Kateb is mesmerizing of course, as he was in Venice in Wim Wenders’ The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez, which incidentally is screening in German cinemas at the moment.

Another gem at this year’s Berlinale is John Trengove’s The Wound starring South African singer, songwriter and novelist Nakhane Touré as Xolani, a star all around. Having premiered at Sundance, to audiences that both appreciated and inquired about it intelligently to the filmmaker’s delight, I was fascinated by the film’s haunting feel. There isn’t a moment that goes by during The Wound where things turn out as expected, and this idea that some traditions in the Xhosa culture allow for a thin line to be drawn between virility and sexual vulnerability was truly mesmerizing to watch. It was in large part due to a fantastic script, co-written by Trengove, writer Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu, and his brilliant choice of casting, Touré flanked by Bongile Mantsai as Vija and Niza Jay Ncoyini as Kwanda. The film opened the Panorama section at Berlinale.

Music and the wonderful personalities that make up that world are turning out to be a primary focus in this year’s line-up at Berlinale. Or perhaps in search of respite, I’ve been drawn to films that offer that. Insight into how art, and artists, can change the world for the better.

More on the interviews with the filmmakers and their stars in the next “Diaries”, but for now, I leave you with Django’s beloved “Nuages”, a song which during WWII became an unofficial anthem in occupied Paris for those yearning for liberation.

Still from ‘Django’ by © Roger Arpajou, ‘The Wound’ by © Urucu Media, all used with permission.

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