When a film is described as a passion project, know that a lot of love and hard work went into bringing it to fruition.
And that certainly rings true for filmmakers Salamina Mosese and Stephina Zwane-Groenewald, who started their own production company, Sorele Media, about eight years ago.
Talented actresses in their own right, the two are hungry to leave their mark in the industry and, in so doing, the world.
In a recent interview with Mosese and Zwane-Groenewald, the sisterly bond between the two was unmistakable. The same could be said of their passion as storytellers, vision as directors and resolve as producers.
Their foray into filmmaking kicked off with the 2016 release of “Love and Kwaito”.
Mosese said: “That was very much self-funded by our company and we were really trying to figure out what our voice was as filmmakers and trying to figure out how to get into this space.
“We were fortunate enough to produce ‘Love and Kwaito’, a small independent film. But the story was very compelling and we ended up travelling to Toronto with the film.
“We were invited to TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), not to show the film. We got a letter saying we see great potential; come see us a TIFF, immerse yourself in the film industry, enjoy the experience and then, hopefully, one day you guys will open at TIFF. And that really changed everything for us.
“And soon after that ‘Baby Mamas’ came, which was funded through Emerging Black Filmmakers.”
Earlier this month, their third film, “Home Wrecker”, was released on Netflix. Aside from trending as the most-watched film, it attracted eyeballs for its delicious storyline of betrayal, dark desires and ruthless ambition.
That it was anchored by two of South Africa’s respected actresses – Letoya Makhene-Pulumo and Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa – fuelled interest further.
For those who haven’t caught the film yet, it centres on Tamara Oliphant (Mlotshwa), a high-flying lawyer on the cusp of making partner at the law firm she works at, and her new colleague, Kenzie Miyeni (Makhene-Pulumo), who, despite her friendly facade, envies Tamara’s picture-perfect life.
Not only is Tamara dating Kenzie’s past crush but she has her dream job, too. Jealousy doesn’t just make Kenzie green with envy, it makes her dangerous, too.
On the storyline, which was penned by Zwane-Groenewald, she explained: “So this story was important for us to tell, especially after the exercise of telling ‘Baby Mamas’, which was a comedy-drama with four female leads.
“It was an important story to share where single moms are living their lives and figuring life and love out. After doing ‘Baby Mamas’, we wanted to tell this story.
“We wanted to challenge ourselves and tell another story in a similar way we did with ‘Baby Mamas’. Our stakeholders wanted us to tell ‘Baby Mamas 2’.”
However, the two filmmakers eventually swayed their stakeholders with their vision for the movie they wanted to make.
Mosese added: “The thing with Steph when she writes her stories, it is very much what is inspiring her at the moment and what she was trying to explain was the hurdles we had to go through justifying ‘Home Wrecker’ and why we needed to tell this story.
“As filmmakers, you don’t want to be boxed into only being able to tell one type of story. Because, yes, we are young women living in contemporary Johannesburg who have friends who are single moms, who know single moms, who were raised by single moms, it doesn’t mean that that is the only type of story we should tell.
“I know Steph wanted to prove to herself, firstly, and to her fans and those who support her and our stakeholders that she is a writer-director who can also tell a darker story.
“Also, in the conversations we were having with different women after Steph also experienced something similar to what we see play out with Kenzi and Tamara even in the work space.”
This project has been in production since before Covid-19 disrupted the industry. So having it finally released is a feat in itself.
As for bagging two phenomenal actresses for the film, which was filmed on a tight budget, Zwane-Groenewald explained: “We like to go through auditions, we believe you never know what you will find even if we have someone in particular that we think might work for the role. We still want to audition them.
“When we went on the audition trail for this film, we saw Letoya in 2019. We were going to shoot the film in early 2020. And we just never forgot her performance. She just did something in her audition that brought the script to life in such an amazing way.
“So when we were in prep for the next round when we were about to shoot, we knew she was busy, she was on another soapie and we just thought, she wouldn’t be available for us.
“So we held other auditions for the role of Kenzi. Saw a lot of other amazing girls but we just never forgot her performance. Eventually, a couple of weeks before shooting, we said, let’s just see, let’s just call and find out if she might still be interested.”
Strings had to be pulled and schedules had to be co-ordinated but it came together.
Mosese added: “With Enhle, we found her the second time we were holding auditions. Enhle is a very beautiful woman. A lot of actresses who are that good-looking almost rely on their good looks and don’t push themselves performance-wise.
“And what we really loved about her is that she was really willing to do the work and the magic between her and Letoya speaks for itself.”
With the two filmmakers completing each others sentences (it’s a Gemini thing, Mosese let me know), Zwane-Groenewald summed up their trailblazing journey so far.
She said: “Having to go behind the scenes and starting our own business as writers, directors and producers is something we always wanted to do. It doesn’t mean that it didn’t shock our systems a bit.
“You have people you have to look after, not just paying salaries… But it was the one thing that allowed Sal and myself to grow, professionally and also as individuals.
“To get to the point we had got to, there are leadership skills that we have had to nurture over the years. It forces you to be many things all at once.
“It’s a huge task but it is also a rewarding task when the dream has been fulfilled and the film has been delivered. We have grown in ways I don’t think we would have ever imagined.
“With every film it pushes us one step further to the kind of woman and the kind of producers and filmmakers we want to be. We just become better in different ways.”
∎“Home Wrecker” is streaming on Netflix.