Unconventional socialites Zodwa Wabantu and Material Don Dada became the focus of a docu-film, The People vs The People, that interrogates young South Africans’ stand on black love, oppression, sexuality and other complex issues that affect black youth.
On Thursday night Jozi’s media personalities flocked to the premier of the third instalment of the much-loved The People versus... series at Newtown Junction’s Ster Kinekor.
The film documents candid discussions of focus groups. The first two parts of the trilogy, namely, The People vs The Rainbow Nation and The People vs Patriarchy, became a success due to the frank views expressed by those featured in the films.
The film candidly shares views of black youth who see beauty from a Western premise, how black Twitter represents black love and black hate.
The film’s director, Lebogang Rasethaba, said he wanted to explore the idea that black people were at war with themselves and were anti-black.
This is explored under the sub-themes of internalised oppression, mental health, trauma and healing.
“I had a very specific idea of the kind of film I wanted to make, which was essentially rooted in the philosophy of black love, which expresses itself in a lot of different ways like love of self, love of community, romantic love, loving black,” Rasethaba said.
“So anything that helped me get closer to that idea got priority.
I value every sentence in the film. The sentences are chosen from hours of transcripts that I went through.”
While the focus groups in the previous doccies have included the likes of Phil Mpahlela, Thalitha Ndima and Kalo Dollahz, this season’s one-on-one subjects zoomed into the lives of skhothane superstar Material Don Dada and controversial reality TV star Zodwa Wabantu.
“These two are favourite characters for a lot of people because of how subversive they are,” explained Rasethaba.
“There’s a lot of ways in which they subvert certain ideas of black love, self-affirmation, feminism and all those kinds of ideas that are very particular. Reintroducing them to people is also a process where people can start to form a new set of associations.”
The People vs The People will screen across selected Ster-Kinekor cinemas and later premiere on MTV Africa (DStv channel 130) on Thursday August 3 at 21:00 CAT.