South African film "Losing Lerato" scooped six awards at the Idyllwild Film Awards (IIFC 2020) in California, US.
Kagiso Modupe's debut film premiered in September on South African cinemas, hit the number one spot in around major theatres in the first week of its official release, grossing over R4.1 million in five weeks. A first for an independent film.
Sharing the exciting news on Twitter, Modupe - who doubles as the executive producer and lead actor - shared the prestigious awards, accompanied by a list of accolades his film has received which includes his daughter Tshimollo Modupe who bagged the Best Child Performance.
Other awards included Modupe winning Best Actor Feature, while Samela Tyelbooi won Best Actress Feature.
The film also won the coveted Golden Era Humanitarian Narrative Award, Best Original Score composed by local musician Brian Temba and Festival Favourite.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/briantemba?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@briantemba
· Festival Favourite – Losing Lerato pic.twitter.com/cicM6APEEM
— Kagiso Modupe (@KagisoModupe)
The local star also shared some of the memorable moments at the festival, including the audience reaction after the screening.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/losinglerato?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#losingleratoscreening at the @IdyFest with @SamelaTyelbooi @ThatoMolamu #TshimolloModupe #grateful🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/Ogg951UTzI
— Kagiso Modupe (@KagisoModupe)
Video produced by Nkosazana Sithole
"Losing Lerato" tells a painful story of a successful young father who, after losing everything, takes matters into his own hands to get back the one thing that matters to him most, his daughter.
In a desperate attempt to gain access to his daughter, Thami kidnaps Lerato from school, hoping to flee by bus. Thami’s actions put his life, Lerato's and their fellow passengers in danger and leads to a high-stakes hostage situation on the bus.
Modupe plays Thami alongside his own daughter Tshimollo Modupe (the newcomer who steals the show).
“Working with my daughter is something that we spoken about for three and a half years, so for is a dream come true to work together,” Modupe previously told IOL.