Mama Marikana follows the 2014screening by GIPCA of Rehad Desai’s Miners Shot Down. Mama Marikana gives a voice to the women of Marikana: the widows, mothers, sisters and community members in the aftermath of the 2012 killings at the Lonmin mine near Rustenburg.
The Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA) in association with UCT’s Centre for Film and Media Studies will present Mama Marikana by documentary filmmaker Aliki Saragas on Wednesday, 20 May at 18:00. This free screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.
The women living in Marikana, almost forgotten by society, struggle to pick up the pieces and move on with theirlives. The sixty minute long documentary explores the women’s struggle to move from a space of oppression to one of empowerment. Mama Marikana takes a look behind the miners’ narrative and follows the stories of five women: Primrose Nokulunga Sonti and Thumeka Magwangqana, leaders in Sikhala Sonke the Marikana Women’s group, Evelyn Seipati Mmekwa a God-fearing mother of the community and Zameka Nungu and Nonkululeko Ngxande widows of the slain miners, Jackson “Ace” Lehopa and Mphumezi Ngxande.
Saragas shot the documentary as part of her thesis towards her masters in Documentary Arts at the Centre for Film and Media Studies at UCT.
“From the beginning, I wanted this film to be an intimate portrait of the women that occupy the space of Marikana as well as their story over the past three years,” Saragas says. The women provide a powerful voice to others in their community through strength, agency and protest, as they continue to struggle through a never-ending commission, the debilitating mineworker strike and a commemorative play. The documentary tracks their struggle from the day of the massacre to 16 August 2014 showing the growth of Sikhala Sonke women’s group, their presence in Parliament, personal sacrifice and ultimately their empowerment.
Aliki Saragas completed her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts Dramatic Arts degree cum laude, at the University of the Witwatersrand, majoring in screenwriting and film studies. At Wits she was chosen as one of two students to be a part of the North South South Exchange Programme with students from South African film institutions, NAFTI (Ghana) and Arcada (Finland), to produce two documentaries, one in South Africa, Jozi: No Brakes and one in Finland, Tyttärelleni Taika Kukalle (To My Daughter Taika Kuka), where she lived on exchange for three months. It was here that she realised her passion for telling real stories.
She is currently co-producer of a feature film version of Mama Marikana, with multiple award-winning creators of Miners Shot Down, Uhuru Productions.
The screening, followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, will take place at Hiddingh Hall, University of Cape Town (UCT) Hiddingh Campus, Orange Street, Cape Town on Wednesday 20 May 2015. Refreshments will be served from 17:30.
No booking is necessary and all are welcome.
INFO: GIPCA office on +27 21 480 7156 or sam.saevitzon@uct.ac.za
