Films in shooting or post-production
LAUNDRY
Synopsis
South Africa, 1968. Khuthala hates the family laundry owned by his father and dreams of a life in music. But, as the apartheid government cracks down on Black business ownership, Khuthala is torn between chasing his dream of becoming a musician and fighting the injustice that threatens the business that is his family’s only means of support, and that is the glue that holds them together.
Gabriel Lobos
Christine Hoffet
Ntobeko Sishi, Siyabonga Shibe, Bukamina Cebekhulu, Zekhethelo Zondi, Tracy September
Director’s statement
This story was inspired by real-life events experienced by my mother's family in the 1950s. While this filmed account—including its timeline—is almost entirely fictional, my maternal grandfather was, in fact, the owner of a successful laundry in Durban before the apartheid government instituted large-scale forced removals. For me, it is very important, both personally and artistically, to tell the history of apartheid from the point of view of ordinary people, as opposed to relying on heroic figures and historic turning points. I believe that the destruction of an entire people takes place in individual increments. I further believe there is no greater injustice than the eradication of human potential. This not only robs individuals of the opportunity to become their best selves but also deprives the greater world of the full contribution of any person due to entirely arbitrary qualities such as gender, nationality, or class.
Biographies
Zamo Mkhwanazi was born in Durban and grew up in the township of Umlazi before graduating from the University of Cape Town. In 2011, she wrote, directed, and produced her first short film, Philia. Her second short, The Call (2015), had its premiere at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and went on to screen at the TIFF. Her next short, Red Rooster (2016), premiered in Cannes Directors' Fortnight. She is an alum of the 2016 TIFF Filmmaker Lab and Berlinale Talents 2017. Her most recent short, Sadla (2019), premiered at TIFF and was selected for the Sundance Film Festival. .
Based in Geneva, Philippe Coeytaux has held successive positions in the television and film industry since 1998. After spending seven years at Saatchi & Saatchi as Head of TV, in 2014 he returned to fiction and documentary film production. Since 2014, he has been a managing partner of Akka Films. He has since produced more than twenty documentaries, fiction films, and television series
