A film proudly produced in Mbekweni and Wellington, entitled Life Happened, will première at MiniMax in Paarl from 4 to 6 March.
Locals are invited to enjoy the viewing pleasure of an intricate plot twist written and directed by Anele Geqiwe (32) from Mbekweni, who is also the film’s executive producer.
Life Happened is a touching story of Vincent “Vince” Mafila, a gardener in his mid-50s played by Anele Matoti. He buried his dreams and settled for a quiet life as a gay man “living in the closet”.
Vince firmly believes being a “good” person equates to getting all good things in life. That belief is destroyed when he is diagnosed with cancer and probably has a month to live.
Now he is haunted by his past and trapped by regrets for not living his truth. Each week he consults a therapist, played by Thaamir Moerat, to help him face his sudden reality of imminent death. Instead of opening up, he chooses to sleep for the entire session and dream of what his life could have been.
The next minute Vince is seen as a legendary best-selling gay author being interviewed on television. In scenes continually unfolding, the character is seen connecting the dots from his past. The plot development showcases Vince being confronted with existential questions: “Will they know I existed?” and “what would my legacy be?”
“Life Happened was originally written in 30 pages, intended to be a short film, while considering to make it into a feature film production. I called up a friend in the business who’s from America and I told him about it and he said he would send me something.
“The next day I received R15 000 and was able to continue the screen write. From then on the funding kept streaming in from different sources and the budget for the production grew to more than R80 000 simply by asking friends.”
He then started sourcing actors, most of whom were from Mbekweni and surrounding areas, and was led in the direction of a well-known and experienced actor from Jo’burg Anele Matoti.
“Anele was keen to take on the role because he too liked the plot so much. But since he would play a gay role he wanted to discuss the matter with his wife, which is understandable. He was very careful in his approach to the role since he highlighted concerns of ‘cancel culture’ potentially targeting him since he is not a LGBTQ+ person himself. He later agreed on the condition that his role be facilitated by an actual gay person.”
It was Geqiwe’s first time directing a film and elaborated on challenges faced while completing the shooting of the film in just seven days.
“It felt odd to direct experienced actors who have spent more time behind the scenes than I have. I was nervous, but was encouraged just to be myself.
“Since the film was based on storytelling, the dialogue is the most important thing and I wanted to give the actors their freedom to embody what they envision in their roles. I did not want to limit their expression and they did it so well… sometimes I could not believe it was my script.”
However, loadshedding plagued the set and production of the film while it was being filmed early in November 2021.
“If there was loadshedding in Mbekweni we’d pack up and move to Wellington, and it would terrorise us there too. And then we had to move to and fro to complete the scenes in time, since we did not have the budget to extend the filming dates.”
Geqiwe graduated with a degree in Film and Media Production from the University of Cape Town (UCT) on an achievement scholarship. He ended up producing marketing campaigns for certain brands and told Paarl Post how he soon grew bored of the industry.
“The interest in storytelling has been there since I can remember,” he said. “Nothing makes me feel more alive than bringing an idea to life, and nothing can be compared to filmmaking.”
However, this is not the first time Geqiwe’s talents have flickered on the silver screen. His short film This is No Funny Matter directed by Namhla Gqotso was nominated as the international Best Short Film in 2021 at the London Shorts film festival.
