Honoured last night by her fellow South African’s at the swanky Emoyeni Restaurant, the outspoken Masebe clad in a beautiful red-dress said she was overwhelmed by the appreciation shown by her fellows but also hinted that films in SA still lag support.
“Winning the award was too hard because I was faced with stiff competition from other worthy contenders,” she said much to applause and ululations from guests.
Elelwani is about a young university –educated woman who has been brought up in a traditional village. As one would expect in such conditions, her parents wants her to marry a Vhenda king.
But to fulfil her dreams, she abandons the marriage, travels and also pursues her studies.
The film -to be shown in August –is a romantic dark comedy directed by Ntshavheni waLuruli.
The key message behind is to show how important education is in changing attitude towards Venda women in the community.
“Despite the hardships we face in the film industry in this country, we still manage to open doors in other countries and the recognition it comes with.”
“Hopefully, this would award would be a sign of bigger things to come and the respect thereof for our actress/actors,” she said.
Host MEC for Sport and Arts, and Culture in GP Lebogang Maile said in his opening but brief speech, Gauteng as the Economical Hub of the country, should invest heavily in the film projects which would in turn help to resuscitate the lives of our stars.
“Yes, funding is not an isolated problem which can go away tomorrow. We need the private sector to join this bandwagon to reap benefits which the likes of Florence emulate towards the development of film industry in SA.”
Livid Penny Lebyane said instead of moaning about our films not receiving the kind of recognition it deserves from film and movie houses, we should go back to hey-days when ‘bioskop’ in locations was popular.
“This would help to generate that much needed income and also encourage youth’s to venture into film projects from their respective communities,” she said vociferously.
Deputy Minister of Arts & Culture Joe Phaahla, said symbols such as Masebe should be lauded for they would take this baton further and act as catalyst within the industry which looks divided.
Asked why would it be only produced in August, Masebe said because of lack of funding and other logistics, this is the kind of treatment they’re faced with.
Masebe also co-produced 1h43min film.
