AFDA is proud to announce that students in the 2023/2024 Master’s programme at AFDA have produced two feature films that will be screened at the MFA Graduation Festival – Monday 20th January 2025 at Ster Kinekor V&A Waterfront.
The factual film, “Waar is Joshlin?”, is directed and produced by journalist and AFDA MFA student Ernusta Maralack while the fiction film, “When the Gospel Speaks”, is made by 9 MFA students combining their talents, resources and research objectives.
In the factual film “Waar is Joshlin?” Ernusta Maralack interviews an investigative journalist that covered the Joshlin Smith case, a top detective, and a missing persons expert to uncover why a mother might have sold her daughter and what lurks beneath the surface.
The fiction film, “When the Gospel Speaks”, directed by Vincent Moloi & Motheo Madisa and produced by Abbey Kgetse & Thato Akoonyatse, is a thriller with a Nietzschean twist. When Lerato, an investigative journalist about to publish an article on corruption is kidnapped her three ex-boyfriend’s spring to her rescue, but they need to overcome their own inflated ego’s before they can work together to rescue her.
AFDA Cape Town dean Leopold Senekal says: “It is my privilege to invite you to the final MFA Graduating Projects Screening and Exit Exams. This event is a celebration of the hard work, creativity, and commitment that our Master of Fine Arts students have poured into their final MFA projects.
Over the last two years, these students have faced the challenges of creating meaningful, original work with determination, focus, and passion. Each project represents countless hours of research, collaboration, and careful crafting to bring their current, bold, and compelling stories to life.
These screenings are more than an academic milestone; they are a glimpse into the future of South African storytelling. Each project reflects the resilience, innovation, and courage of our students as they push the boundaries of filmmaking and live performance.”
The Master of Fine Arts programme at AFDA is a part-time two-year programme. The students are on campus for one intense week each term. Each student develops a research proposal and works with a supervisor for the duration of their studies. MFA supervisors are PhD lecturers from external universities and AFDA. The student completes a thesis/dissertation that is linked through practice-based research to a practical project, which is a feature length factual or fiction film. The project thus becomes part of the overall academic programme for the MFA and compliments the written research.
Bookings are online at the Ster Kinekor Website @ R50 for each screening:
Waar is Joshlin – 71mins @ 5:30 pm
https://www.sterkinekor.com/details/HO00003430/joshlin-ff
When the Gospel Speaks – 74mins @ 8pm.
https://www.sterkinekor.com/details/HO00003431/when-the-gospel-speaks-who-lives-who-dies-ff