Mmabatho Montsho’s film goes international

Filmmaker and visual artist Mmabatho Montsho is well on her way to being internationally acclaimed after her latest film, Joko Ya Hao, was selected for screening at the Africa Film Festival in New York next month.

Aimed at offering a diverse platform for the wide distribution of African media through its flagship annual film festival and complementary year-round programming, the awards state their commitment to increasing visibility and recognition for African media artists.

This will be done by introducing African film and culture to a broad range of audiences in the Americas and the world at large.

Feeling chuffed that her film, which stars award-winning songstress Simphiwe Dana, has made a huge impact in the movie industry, Mmabatho took to Twitter to share how excited she was about it being selected.

With the filmmaking industry male-dominated field, in 2018 Mmabatho spoke out about the challenges female filmmakers are confronted with, which are often fuelled by patriarchy.

On Twitter the actress-turned-director and producer shared issues women in film production are confronted with in their daily business.

She said it was rare to find women fairly represented in a production team.

“Broadcasters and producers like to have about three men and one woman as their directing team. If it’s a smaller team, two men and one woman. One of the men will be the head director. When it’s time to do PR they send the woman director to be the face of the show to fake transformation.

“The woman director must then decide if she will do the PR thing for visibility and encouragement for girls to show 'you can be directors too'.”