Named one of Diversity in Cannes' Top 10 Filmmakers of the Decade, Zanah is a filmmaker (producer+ director+ writer) from Chicago, IL.

Since launching her brand, Zanah Thirus Productions, Zanah has shifted her focus to merging arts and activism through documentary and narrative storytelling. Her films explore subjects such as reproductive justice, local politics,  intersectional feminism, and recovering from sexual trauma.

In 2020, Zanah’s documentary, ‘Unlearning Sex’, won Best Human Rights Film at the Toronto International Women's Film Festival and The Silver Award at the Spotlight Documentary Film Awards. Her documentary, ‘Black Feminist’, won Best Documentary at Coal City Film Festival (2021) in Nigeria, and the Jury Award for Best U.S. Documentary at the International Black & Diversity Film Festival (2021). Recently, Zanah branched into comedic storytelling with her romantic comedy short, ‘The Love You Want Exists’, which premiered at three Academy Award Qualifying Festivals in 2021 (Bronze Lens, Reel Sisters of the Diaspora, and St Louis International Film Fest). Zanah’s current project ‘New Santa’ is slated to film in February 2022. The comedic short is set in the North Pole during a diversity, equity and inclusion overhaul, and a Black woman is appointed to the position of Santa Claus.

 Outside of film festivals, Zanah’s projects have been distributed to over 20 academic libraries including Harvard University, and screened with various organisations including the American Public Health Association's national conference.  Zanah continues to write, produce, and direct projects that align with her overall mission of using film as a medium to drive social change. 

Zanah’s response when we requested to have an interview with her was a prompt one. I was intrigued by her eagerness but it was also quite true to who she is as a creative- at least from what I know of her. I have been following Zanah’s career for a while now so you can imagine my anticipation for this interview. Zanah joins the Google Meet. She asked to keep her video off prior to the interview. It is 07:00 am in LA so I understand. Google Meet beeps to usher her in and she excitedly says “Hi!” An instant energy of confidence trickles down making me both nervous and excited- mostly excited. After the introduction, she briefly tells me that in LA, they actually celebrate Women’s Day in March- “ “interesting” I say- then we begin the interview…

1.   Who is Zanah? How would you describe yourself?

My passion is using films as a vehicle to drive social change. At the core of it all, that is who I am as a filmmaker. I don’t make films just for the sake of making films, I like my films to have a purpose , to have a specific message and I like my films to start conversations.  It is more specifically to address subjects that folks might be apprehensive to address and doing that in ways that are digestible. That can be through Education, for example, my Educational Documentaries:  Black Feminist or Daughters of Eve.

I got into film by way of acting. I love acting but I wanted to be in the driver’s seat so I went to get my Master’s Degree in Cinema Production to learn about Budgets, schedules, timing and executing an entire production. After doing all that and producing some film for other people, I realised that I had stories of my own that I wanted to tell and that is when I started directing and writing so the main hats that I wear within the scope of the Film and Television industry are Producer, Director and Writer.

2.   How would you describe where you are right now as a creative?

I think that I am in my renegade or menace era of filmmaking. I am realizing that I am having success with creating films that have such taboo subjects such as recovering from sexual trauma or black feminism or patriarchy free weddings or dismantling misogyny within Christianity. I have taken the leap to make these bold films and they were not only received well but they are really successful in the Festival circuit and in terms of Awards. Now, I am in a place where I feel unstoppable and I feel like anything that I want to create, I should go ahead and create that no matter what the subject is. Even with the next project that I am working on, I have never seen anyone tackle this kind of subject in the way that I plan to so I am in a very bold era of filmmaking.

3.   A lot of your work explores themes about Black Women (be it feminism, trauma, identity etc) what important aspects do you think should be considered when it comes to representing black women on screen?

If black women are the ones creating the films, I think that that is going to be told from a lens of authenticity because they are speaking from the lens of lived experience. I cannot sit here and say, to another black woman, that there is a right way to portray black women on film because a lot of times we are making films from our personal experiences so there is no wrong way to have a lived experience.

If other people are trying to portray black women’s experience on screen, I would just say it is really important to be delicate and accurate with that. Include black women in the room in key roles whether that be in directing or writing. Having black women as a part of telling our stories is incredibly important for the sake of authenticity

4.   You seem to have created your own template for creating- one that works for you and has come to shape all the work that you have done. Why was it important for you to create a space where you can explore your creative voice to its fullest and do what you do with as much freedom as possible?

I didn’t wait for other people’s permission to tell my story. I think a lot of storytelling is stalled because filmmakers can’t find the money so for me Micro-budget Filmmaking was a way that I could continuously create on my own terms because I was doing it within the means that I had.  That method came from me simply just wanting to be the captain of my own destiny and not wait for permission from other people to tell my stories.

My stories are not everyone’s cup of tea, not everyone is going to want to get behind a story that is about an anti-capitalist Santa or a patriarchy-free commitment ceremony, not everyone is going to believe that, not everyone is going to want to see that out in the world but I do and some filmmakers do. I wanted to be the person that guaranteed that it did get made and the way to do that was to look at the resources that I have available to me, doing it on a small budget scale and after I did that a few times, with 15/16 films in now, it definitely came out as a necessity for me and not wanting to put my creative freedom in the hands of other people.

5.   Have you always been confident in your creative voice or is it something that you had to grow into?

I have always been confident! A lot of people ask me this question and they ask “how do you find confidence?” I have always been this way. Even when I was a kid, I just didn’t like when people told me that I was not capable of doing things because I was a girl or because I was too young. I think my first and biggest pet peeve was people telling me that I could not do something or I was not capable of doing anything, that made me want to learn and prove them wrong and made me want to dive head first into the things that I really was passionate about.  I have always been this way and I have taken that into every area of my life, not just filmmaking. It is definitely not something that I had to grow into.

6.   Seeing as you are a multi-hyphenated creative, do you have a favourite role/job description amongst the many hats that you wear? And why that specific role?

I don’t think I have a favourite because I think they are all weaved into each other. For me, producing is the most stressful. I can’t say that I enjoy producing but it is the reason why I am a successful filmmaker. If I handed over the schedules, the budgets, the timelines and the contracts over to other people and just waited for them to mitigate and manage all of that then my projects would not get completed in the way that I want them to get completed. If I am putting my time and energy into something, I want to know “where is this going”, “what is the marketing and distribution plan”. Producing, for me, was vital in managing and overseeing my creative process and protect my intellectual property and my creative process as a whole.

Writing and Directing, for me, is just really really freeing. I am very limitless with my writing and my subjects. Yes, I write from a micro-budget lens and a micro-budget landscape- like, I won’t write a script that will cost a hundred thousand dollars to make- I am writing the scripts that can take place in one location with minimal characters. I have parameters that I adhere to but as a whole writing is very freeing. Directing is just, again, going back to protecting my overall vision. There are a lot of stories that I just can’t trust other people to tell in a way that I want them to be told so for me directing was seeing my creative vision through all the way into the edit room and even beyond that.

I think Writing, Directing and Producing all go hand-in-hand and I would not feel comfortable if I was just doing one of those things in any of my projects.

7.   What was your “AHA!” moment when it came to pursuing a career in Film and Television?

I don’t have a career in Filmmaking. Filmmaking, for me, is an outlet. I have a full-time job. Personally, I know that the day that I am depending on my films for my income is when I will lose the control that I have. Making a film because I am trying to pay my mortgage or because I have bills to pay is a completely different story than making a film because I want to tell the story. I am not keen to sell it or licence it to the highest bidder because I am trying to turn a profit but rather I want to take the time to see exactly where I want this film to go. Maybe that is with a small distributor, maybe it is with a very niche audience- I have that flexibility and I always want to maintain that flexibility and I can do that because I am not relying on my film to sustain me financially.

While I was in graduate school and being taught that you write these scripts, go out to Hollywood and try to pitch, try to break into rooms, try to meet these executives. To me, that didn’t seem sustainable, it seemed like a rat-race and something incredibly overwhelming in a market that was already over-saturated with a bunch of filmmakers trying to do the same thing. I just didn’t want to do that.

8.   In your opinion, seeing as you have a lot of accolades under your belt and definitely more to go, what kind of impact do you think comes from having platforms that showcase, celebrate and teach about micro-budget filmmaking?

When I started making micro-budget films consistently and working a full-time job, I just got a lot of questions. A lot of filmmakers were asking me, “How are you doing this? How do you maintain all of this? How do you consistently create?”  So I started having one-on-one consultations but that got really overwhelming because I was overbooked. Filmmakers from all over were trying to book me for consultations. I started hosting workshops with film festivals but that also became overwhelming so I decided to just put it in podcast format. A very simple 15 episode podcast – I wanted it to be three seasons, 5 episodes each for Pre-production, Production and Post & Distribution. By the time filmmakers go to the end of the episode, it would have taken them through the entire production process. Now, the podcast has helped over thirteen thousand listeners from across the globe

Platforms, like the Micro-budget Filmmaking Independent Podcast, that give filmmakers the hope that they can do this practically have really set out a positive impact. It shows them that you don’t have to run off to L.A and be a starving artist just to be a filmmaker. You can be a filmmaker and still have a roof over your head, sustain yourself and work a full-time job. I think because of that, the market and audience for micro-budget filmmaking is really broad and because of that it has a really positive impact.

9.   Collaboration is great but I realise that when you find yourself within a collaborative space, a lot of your ideas can get sucked into what other people think looks better/feels better/works better so I want to know- how do you, personally, create a balance between collaborative thinking but also keeping the integrity and authenticity of your idea?

First and foremost, by making sure that I am in the key roles. I am the producer in all of my projects which means that the majority of the time, I am funding my projects. In this way, the decision-making inevitably falls on me because I am paying for it.  Also putting myself in the director role, at the end of the day the creative decisions fall on the director. In the writer role too, I am dictating the script so putting myself in those key roles is a way for me to, again, protect my overall vision.

I think when it comes to collaboration; I really like collaborating with people that I actually like as people. People suggest cinematographers all the time or they say “Oh, you know, you should work with this person” or people will reach out to me all of the time but I need to get to know you as a person and I need to like you outside of filmmaking in general. This is because if we have an established rapport then we’re going to have mutual respect for one another and we’re going to respect what we’re each bringing to the table creatively.

10.   I think we talk a lot about the hardships that black women face within the film and television industry, which are important aspects to discuss, but I want to know- what, in your opinion, is the best thing about being a black woman in the film and television industry?

It is just very nuanced. It is really cool being able to create stories from the lens of my own lived experience which is very layered. It could be through the lens of blackness, the lens of womanhood or through the lens of queerness. Basically through the lens of all of the elements and I think that that makes storytelling, for me, a lot more exciting.  I think that my identity is definitely a wonderful addition to my storytelling and it might also, arguably, be the basis of my storytelling.

11.   What’s the biggest take away that you want people to grasp from your catalogue of work?

Well I hope that they watch the films, first and foremost. My goal is for my films to start a conversation and change perspective whether that be about intersectionality, black feminism or body autonomy- I am hoping that they take away something that inevitably starts conversations and slowly starts to make the world a better place.  Outside of that, I hope that they are encouraged to create what the heck they want to create, how they want to create it and in the way that they want to create it.

12.   Which one of your films is your most favourite and why?

I think that “Unlearning Sex” is just always going to have a special place in my heart. It took a lot of courage to put that in front of the world and after I did that, it was like a catalyst for me feeling like I really could make anything that I wanted to make. “Unlearning Sex” snowballed a lot of my very controversial films and because that was the catalyst for it, that is always going to be the film that just has a special place in my heart. 

Women in Motion Spotlight: Sikelelwa Vuyelani interview by Mbali Mashaba

(she/her)

Sikelelwa Vuyeleni is a South African actress best known for her role Owami Kwena, in Mzansi Magic’s soccer drama series, Vula Vala. She comes from a small village of Mtsheko, near Komani (formerly Queenstown). She attended Eersterivier Secondary School in Cape Town and she broke into the industry in 2014 while she was in grade 10, making her debut as Zen on e.tv police drama Traffic. In 2018 she landed her first starring role in television when she was cast as Thando in Hope, the first scripted show to air on new DStv channel Moja Love. In 2021, Sikelelwa joined the cast of eTV's daily show, House Of Zwide as Nambitha. She has also appeared in shows like Isikizi, Umalume, Ukuphila Kabili, and Ingozi yothando and is the founder of Siks Lense. 

Sikelelwa joins me virtually with her mic off and I immediately hear the sound of sizzling oil in the background. We exchange greetings and she asks if she can turn her video mode off because she is making supper. I laugh and we share a brief conversation about how I’m scheduled to have loadshedding very soon after the interview and understand that cooking has to be scheduled to acclimatise to these strange times. She tells me that she is making a wrap before we jump into our interview.

How did your love for acting begin and when did you know you could make a solid career out of it?

My first gig was the defining moment. In 2013, I was in grade 10, taking dramatic arts in school and I was enjoying it. So I knew that there was a love in acting at the time and there was potential in terms of the talent itself. However it was defined as a career for me after I stepped on set for the first time, playing a street kid in an eTV drama. It was just seeing the people I’ve been looking up to in the same space as me that defined it so much more, especially as a livelihood I could have. 

You mentioned that you did drama in high school and when I was doing my research on this, I learnt that you went to art focused high schools. I’m curious to know what role do you think schools play in shaping creative/performers career trajectory? Do you think you would have pursued acting to the extent that you did had you not gone to the schools you did? 

Definitely not, (laughs) Definitely not. My primary school gave me a glimpse of my love of performance but it wasn't to the extent where I knew I could dive into it fully. Schools really play a big role in helping you see your potential. Especially if scholars are allowed to play, discover and explore themselves. The schools that I went to allowed the creative part of me to reveal itself, find itself, play and be. To fully immerse myself in performance. If I had gone to any other high school, no one would have even mentioned drama or acting. I probably would've had other interests, so I do believe this was all meant to be. A blessing in disguise. 

You’re touching on some very key points there. Your educational background and its access to things can really shape your tangible aspirations, goals and dreams. 

 How did you land your first tv role? (Traffic! 2014)

I got into an agency in grade 9 after seeing my friends in magazines and I had a curiosity about that. I waited a year before I got an audition for a role and luckily at that time my training in dramatic arts had deepened in terms of analysing a script and the basics of performance. So I got this audition, went to it and prepped for the role. I was in line and a director came out of the audition room and asked me to try for another role. She asked me if I could prep in about 10 minutes for this new role and I did not hesitate. I stepped outside with the script, went through it and in about 5 minutes, I told her that I’m ready. She was like huh? (We both laugh) I thought, girl who are you talking to, I got this! and I killed the audition. Afterwards we had a conversation and she asked me what I was studying at school, my interests and so on. (Pause) You know, there are audition rooms that feel like they were meant for you. And that audition room was meant for me. I could have auditioned and left straight after but I made sure that I had a conversation with the director and let her know that I really am interested and I’m also studying dramatic arts at school so I can handle a script too. So about a week later, I came back from school and my mom told me that they received an email from the agency about the audition and I've been shortlisted. I was so happy and shortly after that my mom told me that they got ANOTHER email from my agency and that next email was stating that I actually got the role. I couldn't believe it. The journey has continued since then. 

Wow, that's amazing and so organic.

Yes, it's just timing and God honestly. Those are God moments. 

So you mentioned that role for Traffic! was one in which you played a street kid. I’m curious to know how you navigate playing difficult characters on screen? What is your own character development process?

I don’t think I have a specific process. People always ask me what my process is and the truth is that I don't think I have one set in stone. And maybe that itself is a process, like not actually having one. I think that with every character you play, the first thing you have to do is get to the human level of that character. That helps you see them as a person and take yourself through their journey. There are story arcs and things to help you get to know them, especially in films- where the story has an end. That helps you create a backstory for the character. Also giving reasons for the decisions the character makes helps with humanising them. This helps you understand the values of your character and that human element helps you navigate playing them. Never judge your character, that's a rule for every actor. The minute you pass judgement on them you've already crippled yourself and will not be able to execute them to the best of your ability because you have reservations about this person. 

Great points. Moving onto Vula Vala by Black Brain Pictures.  I read that you landed that role via IG live. That's so unconventional!How did that come about and how different was that experience from other auditions you've done? 

I mean, sheesh-It's entirely different. It's different from self tapes and that was something we were used to at the time. We have an idea of auditioning in our own space but this is different because there's a director in the room and so many other people watching the live. It actually is a performance and feels like you’re already on set with an audience. There's no intimacy in it at all so you need to prepare on a different level. You need to calm your nerves because you know that people are watching. The scrutiny is on another level. Especially if people have already seen you act on screen, the pressure is much more and a different feeling from what it would've been in another room. It honestly was a challenge to myself and I felt like I conquered it. I conquered the anxiety despite being nervous as hell. You just have to let the nerves drive you as people say (laughs). It was breathtaking. It also revealed how much as an industry we have to cover in terms of evolving auditions. I think it's something extraordinary that Mandla N started. It gave light to so many people that would not have access in any other circumstance. But it also has another side of it, a bad side too especially in terms of regulating the industry. So there's good and bad sides to it but mostly good I’d say. 

What would you say is the bad side?

The bad is that it shows us that we still have a long way to go in terms of regulating the industry. In terms of standards too. There are people that have no idea what it's like to be on set. It can be hard to teach them technical things on set. There should have been a space where they learnt that beforehand. It also means that we can be vulnerable to being exploited. You are new, hungry and don't know much. That makes you more exploitable. You can be underpaid. Because there's no agency involved to negotiate on your behalf and that makes a huge difference. 

That's an interesting point. Did that audition specifically land you that role?

Yes, a few weeks later they wanted another tape and shortlisted me thereafter. 

What is your favourite character you've played thus far? and why? 

Hmmmh. Wow. What a question. My criteria on liking a character is how they make me feel and how they move me in my ability as an actor. I've done quite a number of Mzansi magic movies and the long form characters are great in knowing that you can sustain a character for long. One that I can remember is a character I played in Hope (aired on Moja Love) called Thando. She was young, a pastor's child and very rebellious but she gained redemption. She went through a whole arc and also realised that she needs God to ground her. I was young when I played her. In terms of films, I enjoyed characters I played who can be considered ugly girls, from a morality point of view.  Like bad girls. One could be considered a hoe and the other backstabbed her friend. This was in Ingozi Yothando and Ukuphila Ka bili. Those two films were defining in my growth as an actor and they were similar characters. 

What advice can you give young performers/actors as they navigate the transition from school to screen?

Hmm! What a question. Just be a blank canvas and always be willing to learn. Someone said to me, not so long ago, that you should go to set with a notepad in your head. See and observe and learn. This isn't necessarily about acting alone but also learning the set, the crew and its departments. Especially if you don't have formal education or experience on set, make it your duty to learn and respect every person on set. And on an actor level, be patient and keep playing, even when you don't have a role. There's so many platforms to play with on social media. The likes of Tiktok, Instagram and Youtube allow this. I used to have something called Shoot your Shot Mondays on my Instagram just to keep playing and challenging myself. It fed me and grew me even if it did not amount to any roles. So keep playing. Do an improv, post it and tag production companies.

Let's talk about entrepreneurship and Sikslense. What inspired you to pursue Siks Lens and what do you hope to achieve through it?  

What inspired me to start it was seeing the same stories told. There isn't this inclusivity they [the media] claims to have. There also aren't enough spaces for alternative media. Our lives are stories and I don't think we see them enough on our screens. As young creators, we can create these platforms for ourselves, our peers and people that seek something different.I We hope that we are able to give people a 6th sense through the lens. Hence Sikslense. We want to have an impact on Africa through storytelling through these different forms. 

Congratulations on starting!

She compliments Behind Her Lens Visuals and the work we are doing. It's important to give glory to your testimony and how far you've come. Claim that you're doing well. It's important that we shift how we perceive our wins and own them.