The local horror film “Mlungu Wam” will send shivers down the spines of viewers in Cape Town and Johannesburg when it premieres shortly.
“Mlungu Wam” will premiere in South Africa on October 20, 2022, still riding high on its recent victory at the Toronto International Film Festival 2022.
This terrifying post-apartheid psychological thriller follows Tsidi (Chumisa Cosa), a single mother who is forced to move in with her estranged mother Mavis (Nosipho Mtebe), a live-in domestic maid caring compulsively for her “catatonic white Madam.”
Tsidi, still grieving the death of her grandmother, leaves her Gugulethu house due to a quarrel with her family.
Tsidi and her nine-year-old daughter Winnie (Kamvalethu Jonas Raziya) are forced to approach her estranged mother since they have nowhere else to go.
Tsidi’s already tenuous relationship with Mavis is on the verge of breaking, so she turns to her grandmother’s ghost for assistance in uncovering the shocking truth about Madam’s horrible ancestry.
Chumisa Cosa as Tsidi in Mlungu Wam. Photograph: Gray Kotze
As Tsidi attempts to repair her family, the specter of “Madam” starts to manifest.
Jenna Cato Bass, the film’s director and co-producer, said, “After seeing a large number of horror films, I was struck by how few of them address the daily tragedies of our society.
“I allude to the atrocities of poverty, sickness, homelessness, landlessness, racism, disempowerment, and oppression. Both societal criticism and thought-provoking entertainment may be very effective applications of the horror genre.
Babalwa Baartman, co-writer and producer of the film, echoed Bass’s comments by stating that the crew picked the genre to emphasize the persistent inequality in South Africa and its effect on our family structures.
Tsidi’s purposeful attempts to break patterns of generational traumas while crafting a brighter future for her daughter with the few resources she has are the focus of the narrative.
“Despite her knowledge, awareness, and action plan, Tsidi feels trapped, as if she is sliding into the same loop despite her attempts. “Finding herself in a precarious position, she is compelled to confront these concerns head-on at the risk of her mental health and life,” explains Baartman.
Beginning on October 20th, “Mlungu Wam” will be shown at many places in Cape Town.
This will coincide with the Johannesburg showing at The Bioscope Independent Cinema in Milpark.
The Johannesburg screenings are only accessible for a short time. Times and dates have not yet been confirmed.