MTV picks SA director for youth drama

He made his name in the gritty school drama series Yizo Yizo.

Now acclaimed SA director Teboho Mahlatsi has been hired to mentor a young Kenyan film team during production of a hard-hitting youth drama series for MTV.

Shuga: Love, Sex and Money , which will be screened in 72 countries, will focus on the risks associated with unprotected sex and the party lifestyles of urban youth in Kenya.

It was commissioned by the youth network's Staying Alive Foundation in collaboration with the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, an initiative to promote awareness about HIV among youth around the world.

"We chose to work with Teboho because of his highly professional yet refreshingly youthful perspective," said Alex Okosi, a senior vice-president and MD of MTV Networks Africa.

"Teboho lives the culture we are dealing with in Shuga, he understands the nuances that make a story like this believable," said Okosi.

Mahlatsi, 39, who lives in Johannesburg, has already set up shop in Nairobi for the six-week project.

His reputation for directing edgy dramas about urban youth is exactly what MTV was looking for. "Although we had other options, his extensive experience in creating non-factual TV drama relevant to youth audiences, and his extensive experience of creating lifelike and believable dramatic worlds, [made] it no contest," added Okosi.

Mahlatsi's work on Yizo Yizo, which tackled a wide variety of issues confronting today's youth - including gender violence, drug abuse and crime - established him as one of the country's leading talents in the field.

The series, which achieved record audiences, was mentioned in parliament and won several local and international awards. In its third season the series achieved a remarkable feat when it was screened at the Venice film festival, which is usually reserved for feature films.

Mahlatsi, who was born in Kroonstad in the Free State, studied Third World cinema at the African Culture Centre in Newtown, Johannesburg. His early work includes another award-winning series, the documentary Ghetto Diaries, about township life in South Africa.

Mahlatsi won the coveted Silver Lion award at the Venice film festival for his short film Portrait of a Young Man Drowning in 1999.

He has also worked on the SABC drama series Zone 14 and the M-Net drama series Jacob's Cross, which starred Hlomla Dandala.

Mahlatsi said he would draw inspiration from one of his favourite filmmakers, Hong Kong director Won Kar Wai, in producing Shuga.

"A lot of stuff that he shoots at night in Hong Kong is similar to what Nairobi looks like at night, the different colour textures and neon lights," said Mahlatsi.