Filmmaker Mlingane Dube on upcoming film: 'It is not make-believe, it's realistic'

Thirty-year-old Soweto-born filmmaker Mlingane Dube says he is excited to share his latest work, a film titled Umalusi (the herd man), which was shot in  rural KwaZulu-Natal.

It delves into the life of a young man, Sphamandla, who wants more for himself than being a herdsman. Sphamandla discovers his ancestral gift to communicate with the afterlife and, excited at the prospect of helping people and doing more with his life, he shares the news with his family, who reject his pursuit of this gift.

Dube says the film is realistic, which viewers will love. He says he always strives for this with his films - to do away with “the make-believe” and “unrealistic” storytelling. 

Dube is a former video journalist, who worked with local media house eNCA before he decided to focus his energy and time on filmmaking. He attributes his witty storytelling to the experience he gained as a video journalist.

“Being a video journalist has definitely fed a lot into my transition to filmmaking and the content that I am interested in. Although I have worked as a video journalist for almost four years, I have always been interested in filmmaking.

“Working in news brought me closer to people, real people’s journeys and stories, and that is the biggest effect. It has also helped me to have a good balance of a technical mind, as well as content story mind.”

 Dube has a YouTube channel to which he uploads his movie trailers. This enables him to establish, grow and maintain an audience. He is fast making a name for himself - he has 2000 subscribers, and while he acknowledges he needs way more, he is thrilled.

“It’s not a lot, but it’s not little either. It is in between having and not having. This is my way of taking people through my journey.”

His journey is a mixed bag of good and bad. As an independent filmmaker who sells his content to local broadcasters through his company, Artistry Media, he laments being at the bottom of the barrel, with not enough options. 

“It is a very small industry. There aren’t a lot of platforms to offer content to and the very few we have are almost monopolised by the few companies that are already successful. Even the broadcasters and new platforms go for already-successful production companies to build and maintain their credibility.”

However, earlier this year, his film, Isidima, was featured at the RapidLion film festival, which he says was a dream come true. "As an upcoming filmmaker, that is the path your career has to take. You make a film, it gets selected to feature at the show and, from then, possibilities are endless."

Dube, who looks up to award-winning television director Tebogo Malope, says there is a lot more in store for him.