You have surely missed the South African short film The Letter Reader written and directed by Sibusiso Khuzwayo, available on Netflix since 2019. In the province of KwaZulu-Natal, Siyabonga, a young man from Johannesburg will stay with his grandmother in a hamlet. He then began to read letters for illiterate villagers and fell in love with a young woman waiting for news of her husband who had migrated to Joburg to work. The content of her husband's letter is not what she expects, so the young boy will read to her what she would have liked to hear. Sibusiso Khuzwayo signs a short film mastered and in love with poetry. We had the chance to meet him and support a work that deserves much more visibility in France.
Sibusiso Khuzwayo: "Beyond the blatant themes of The Letter Reader, the film implicitly shows the invisible traces left by labour migration."
Nomalanga Shabane, Promotional poster of The Letter Reader / Netflix
Nomalanga Shabane, Promotional poster of The Letter Reader / Netflix
First of all, how are you? The situation in South Africa seems to be evolving positively, what are your feelings on the ground?
I thank God for being alive and well in these difficult times. We are just coming out of a second wave of the pandemic where we lost a lot of our loved ones. We try to get used to a daily life that has returned to more or less normal.
The Letter Reader is a peaceful film that still carries with it many themes such as the evolution of South African modernity in the face of tradition, a certain otherness between generations and the shadow of Johannesburg hovering over this small village. Was it one of your first intentions to paint a portrait of South Africa and this region in particular?
Apartheid is long over, but its fallout is still visible in this modern South Africa. Beyond the blatant themes of The Letter Reader, the film implicitly shows the invisible traces left by labour migration. Even today, many men can be found absent from their villages leaving for the cities, especially Johannesburg, to work and support their families. Johannesburg still has that attractive power that distances some men from their wives and children. So of course it was intentional to focus on a small village in South Africa but it was also important to focus the plot in the heart of a region reflecting major problems of the country. It was also essential that the film be imbued with universal themes so that it could resonate with many people around the world.
The film is written and filmed as a tale, a traditional fable. What were your references for creating a story like this?
I was inspired by The Dream Deferred biography of our former president, Thabo Mbeki. When he was 8 years old, Thabo Mbeki read and wrote letters for illiterate villagers and this part of his childhood inspired me to write The Letter Reader. It was important for me to write this short film as authentically African as possible using references that I found in films that had a similar tone and the emotion I was looking for. The first reference is a 1998 short film titled The Storekeeper by Gavin Hood who also directed My Name Is Tsotsi in 2005, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. There's also Darrell Roodt's Yesterday, also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 2005. These are important films made by influential South African filmmakers when they were still fledgling directors.
Let's talk about production and photography, the film is really impressive in technical terms for a film of this scale and your directing style is very accomplished. This is your first film, in addition to being a neat short film, it has won many national awards and it is broadcast on Netflix all over the world. What was your background in the world of cinema? Was it difficult to finance your inspirations?
Most people who read the script at the time found it very successful, but the funding was a real ordeal. It took me three years to get the project off the ground. It was so exhausting that I thought I was giving up. Surely through the power of God, everything came together. We managed to raise almost €25,000 thanks to grants from the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, the National Film and the Video Foundation. We were also fortunate to be sponsored by Panavision-Panalux and to use state-of-the-art equipment while we were shooting. I must say that I was blessed to have been able to work with renowned producers like Catharina Weinek and Dumi Gumbi. The elaborate imagery and photography goes to Lance Gewer, who was also director of photography on the film My Name Is Tsotsi. As a filmmaker in the middle of an apprenticeship, it was a particularly exciting experience to learn from highly skilled personalities in the field. Indeed, we shot the film in three days and it was very laborious because it rained all day during the last day. We were forced to shoot the film during the time allotted to us, the budget of the film did not allow us to extend the shooting or to make pick-ups. In terms of its international distribution, this was made possible by the relationship my producers had with Indigenous Film Distribution that allowed the film to land on Netflix. I must confess that I never imagined that the film could achieve such fame; whether through the many awards he has won but also through his international success especially in the United States, England and Brazil.
Finally, your cast is really strong on a lot of points. The actors carry on their shoulders many themes for a thirty-minute film, especially this young boy, played by Bahle Mashinini, who is amazing in the film. How did you go about casting and how did you bring your themes to life through the choice of actors and actresses?
The story stayed in my mind for a very long time until every element came to life. In this, the type of actors I was looking for was very clear to me. We did auditions and beyond the performance, it was very important to me that each actor seemed destined to bring his character to the screen. We met a lot of good actors who brought us sincere and very beautiful interpretations of the different characters but who, in my opinion, did not fit this spirit of predestination. The budget of the film could not allow us to do rehearsals, so it was just as important to choose actors able to carry the story and the different themes without much effort. At the end of the casting phase, I was particularly pleased with the actors we had chosen. They all brought memorable performances that made The Letter Reader what it is today. In reality, the biggest casting challenge was finding the young actor who would play the boy who reads the letters. The film is very minimalist in terms of pure dialogue, so it was difficult for so many of the children we auditioned to bring any acting due to the almost absence of dialogue for the key scenes of the film. Bahle Mashinini is a child who has totally stood out for his talent and understanding of the character. I can't talk about the casting without mentioning Andile Gumbi in honor of his memory. Andile played the role of Menzi with such gentleness that left an indelible mark on my heart. It was very sad for me when I heard the news of his passing. The film had just been released and he never got to see the final result.
Thank you for your time. Are you working on a new project despite this painful context?
I am currently working on the script of a feature film also set in a small village. It tells the story of a white boy raised by a black couple in a black community. https://vimeo.com/368782889
