Thando Mgqolozana alongside John Trengrove and Malusi Bengu have won at the South African Film and Television Awards 2017 for Best Scriptwriting for controversial film Inxeba.
The South African Film and Television Awards or the SAFTAs are the annual South African awards ceremony hosted by the National Film and Video Foundation. The awards which honour creative excellence in the local film and television industry have been running since 2006.
This March 24, the latest awards were handed out with the biggest winner on the night being Inxeba. This movie which explored many sensitive topics had been doing well in the box office until the South African Film and Publications board changed its classification from 16 to 18. This effectively locked it out of the theatres to the joy of conservatives and the consternation of those who supported its run in the cinemas. The movie has since been reinstated to its previous rating allowing it back to continued its assault on box office numbers.
One of three writers of the movie is familiar to those who follow the South African literary scene; Thando Mgqolozana. Mgqolozana first came to our attention because of his really good writing of novels like A Man Is Not A Man, Here Me Alone (which we rated) and Unimportance (which we loved). He then upped his game when he first curated the Time of the Writer on his way to founding the Abantu Book Festival which is turning into the Mecca for black excellence in literature.
On the evening, the film in question would go on to win not just scriptwriting but Best Feature Film, Best Actor (Nakhane Touré), Best Achievement in Directing (John Trengrove), Best Supporting Actor (Bongile Mantsai) and Achievement in Editing (Matthew Swanepoel).
The movie has been getting recognition around the world and even got to be the South African entry to the Oscars.
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