Aydelotte Foundation at Swarthmore College Just Art Spring 2025 Film Series
Milisuthando (2023, 128 min.)
Q&A with filmmaker Milisuthando Bongela
Set in past and present South Africa, Milisuthando is a poetic coming-of-age personal essay documentary on love and what it means to become human in the context of race, explored through the memories of Milisuthando – who grew up during apartheid but didn’t know it was happening until it was over.
“A personal interrogation into the lingering horrors of South African apartheid, Milisuthando Bongela’s remarkable documentary examines the history of South African apartheid through the lens of her childhood in the Transkei, a segregated South African state reserved for Black people.” Kambole Campbell, Sight and Sound
“Milisuthando Bongela’s artful, idiosyncratic debut documentary avoids bullet-point history to instead focus on complex feelings of intermediate identity and nostalgia for a bitter past.” Guy Lodge, Variety
About the Director
Milisuthando Bongela-Davis (b.1985, South Africa) is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, cultural worker and artist. Her career began in the fashion industry but the last 16 years have seen her traverse the worlds of music, art, media and film – continually turning towards indigenous knowledge systems. She was Arts Editor for the Mail & Guardian’s Friday section and was host and co-producer of the podcast Umoya: On African Spirituality with Dr. Athambile Masola. Milisuthando had its in competition world premier at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was selected for MoMA’s New Directors / New Films programme 2023.
Program is free and open to the public.
This event is co-sponsored by the Aydelotte Foundation, the Cooper Serendipity Fund, Black Studies, and Film and Media Studies
