As a musician, lover of music, and confessed cinephile, I cannot resist a film that brings these together. One film that has caught my eye is a South African documentary currently making waves in South Africa and abroad, and it involves music, as well as students and staff from Fezeka School.
The film Fezeka’s Voice, a documentary that follows choimaster Phumi Tsewu and his students from their lives in the community of Gugulethu, to their success singing abroad in the United Kingdom, is not just an uplifting story, it is also a musical work in its own right.
Phumi Tsewu has been a teacher at Fezeka School for 15 years. As a teacher and choir master, Tsewu not only teaches his students how to make music, he also teaches them how to be good citizens. As Archbishop Tutu says, “Fezeka’s Voice is an important South African film. Its value is immeasurable…Fezeka’s Voice needs to be shared with as wide an audience as possible. The power of mentorship as demonstrated in this film is extraordinary…”
With Vancouver’s South African Film Festival coming in 2012, let’s keep our fingers crossed that this wonderful film will make it to the shores of the Pacific.
Ubuntu 