Phumi Morare’s Lakuntshon’ Ilanga film wins big at the NAACP
South African film Lakutshon’ Ilanga by Phumi Morare bagged the coveted award for Image Award for Outstanding Short-Form (Live Action) at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
When the Sun Sets (originally titled Lakuntshon’ Ilanga) is a short film inspired by a woman whose brother was taken by the apartheid police in the 1980s.
Taking to Twitter, the based Los Angeles-based filmmaker said she was deeply honoured for the achievement.
“I am deeply deeply honored that my film based on my mother’s story in apartheid South Africa won Outstanding Live Action Short-Form at the NAACP. I feel so blessed to be in the company of my heroes,” she wrote.
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The film has received rave reviews across the world and has put Phumi Morare an SA film industry on a global scale. The film opens and closes with a song called Lakutshon’ Ilanga which was created by Miriam Makeba.
It is a poetic lament of someone waiting and searching for a loved one who’s disappeared during apartheid and never comes home.
The song is a tribute to those who remain disappeared after police kidnapping.
After spending some time working life in finance in the early parts of her life, Morare opted for a change of scenery and jumped back into studying and pursued her goal of becoming a film director.
Now, an award winning filmmaker with her debut student film, Lakutshon’ Ilanga, her star has risen to new heights.
Morare’s upcoming project, Why The Cattle Wait, was selected for the 2021 Berlinale Talents Durban program, and at the 2021 Tribeca Chanel ‘Through Her Lens’ Women’s Filmmaker Program.
