South Africa / 2003 / 57mins / Documentary / English and Xhosa

Ndipiwe lives a privileged and carefree life in Johannesburg until he decides to undergo a traditional initiation that includes going to the bush to be circumcised. After a mishap, which lands him in hospital, an exuberant ceremony back in the suburbs completes this warm and revealing account of the molding of two traditions into one cultural reality.

Mandilakhe Mjekula

Mandilakhe Mjekula is a Johannesburg-based filmmaker exploding with youthful ambitions to revolutionize the local industry. Mjekula’s collaborations with Jahmil X.T. Qubeka have yielded an interesting body of work, from documentaries to TV dramas, commercials and corporate videos. They directed the feature film Qula Kwedini - A Rite of Passage in 2003. Learn More

Jahmil X.T. Qubeka

Jahmil X.T. Qubeka was born in South Africa and grew up in London. He was born in a Xhosa family in what used to be the nominally independent state of Ciskei. His fiction films and documentaries have been screened at international festivals, including at Cannes, Busan, Dubai and Rotterdam. Qubeka’s collaborations with Mandilakhe Mjekula have yielded an interesting body of work, from documentaries to TV dramas, commercials and corporate videos. They directed the 57 minute film Qula Kwedini – A Rite of Passage in 2003. In 2005, Qubeka won the American Peabody Award for a documentary about AIDS which he made for Sesame Street. He made his feature directing debut with A Small Town Called Descent (2010). Quebeka's controversial 2013 film, Of Good Report won the 2014 Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Film. He also won the award for Best Director for his action thriller Sew the Winter to My Skin at the 15th Africa Movie Academy Awards hosted in Lagos, Nigeria. Learn More