company with Robbie Thorpe and Kgomotso Matsunyane. Our first film Gums and Noses won Best SA Film at the New York Film Festival in 2004 and I directed Rifle Road which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. I also made a documentary in tribute to my mother called Gathering the Scattered Cousins shot in her country of birth Barbados. We produced Material recently which did very well on the big screen and DSTV’s box office. Hakeem Kae-Kazim with whom you have worked on a number of projects is now a Hollywood based actor and has appeared on well known productions such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Wolverine, Law and Order and Hotel Rwanda. Is that where you aspire to be in a few years time? I met Hakeem when he accepted the starring role in God is African and we have remained close friends. You don’t have to be based in Hollywood to be cast in American movies; I have acted in a number of them including Lord of War and Blood Diamond. I also played a leading role as Paul Kagame in Shake Hands with the Devil. I don’t place my focus on Hollywood because if you start thinking too much about those things, you lose focus on what you are doing. I am only aiming to be the best I can be by dedicating myself to each project so that I can make a difference. Is there a role you wouldn’t play? I would never act as a Nigerian drug lord because that would just feed the stereotype. - CAROL MALONZA 30
EXPATRIATE
“We actually shot the film in the Alexandra Township where incidences of xenophobic violence began and the discussions that are coming out of the film reveal that this is a disturbing issue globally not just in SA......”
Ade (Hakeem Kae-Kazim)
Timothi (Fana Mokoena)