August 2025 was such a beautiful month! Far too short. Here are some highlights with no trending audio.
Category: General
Home Movie 3: Father’s Day, reading for fun and seeing pretty things at Decorex 2025
34 going on 65
My youth is firmly in the rearview mirror and a part of me is relieved.
Today is Youth Day in South Africa, a public holiday which commemorates the 1976 Soweto Uprising. The day is often marked by both loud and quiet acknowledgements of just how much freedom cost this country. My reflections this Youth Day were far less weighty, instead, I was struck by the fact that this would officially be the last one I would be able to celebrate as a “youth”. When the next one rolls around, I will be a real, full, card-carrying adult.
I will no longer be able to run for a leadership position in the ANC Youth League (dammit), forms will start grouping me with people who are 40+ (yikes), opportunities for the sprightly will consider my submissions with some disdain (“give the young ones a chance” or “make way” they’ll say) and to top it all off, my bone density is about to start an inevitable freefall which can only be quelled by lifting heavier weights.
But, there is a silver lining, this jumping of an invisible line into middle age also means I get to let go of so much. Past mistakes, past versions of myself, relationships and situations that have run their course. Turning 30 at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic meant that I didn’t quite feel I had aged because time was so warped by lockdowns and isolation, which significantly shrunk our lives. I remember blowing out my candles in my childhood home with just my mother, brother and father – extremely thankful to be alive, but rueful of what I had imagined that the moment would be like. Not just thankful that at that point none of us had the virus at the time or had succumbed to it yet, but to truly be alive, that wasn’t something my 27, 28 and 29-year-old self even wanted. To want to be alive was new.
So, I guess growing older has brought with it the will to live, which I am thankful for. It has provided me with what now seems like unabashed joy since. The certainty in who I am and what I want out of life has been more than just a second breath. The practice of patience, presence and rest has helped me become and feel like a real person again. And to that, I thank and am eternally indebted to time.
“I have never regretted walking out of a movie, I have many times regretted not walking out of a movie. Not finishing things is one of the great joys of life.”
– Marie Phillips, on This American Life, 791: Math or Magic?
So much so that I am almost militant about how I spend it (bar for when procrastination pays its languid visits). If something sucks for even 30 minutes, I’ll dip – no seriously, what are we doing? Not to say that I’m not tolerant of difficult or uncomfortable situations, especially those that are necessary (work, a funeral, a workout etc), but now, when I stray closer towards the edge of betraying myself to sustain being in a moment, I will always choose myself. Sometimes that looks like physically leaving, sometimes it is saying nothing further and other times it is just closing my laptop. Enduring anything for the sake of others is exhausting; real winners quit. Do I believe fundamentally that human beings owe each other things, absolutely, it just needn’t be everything, all the time. I have this one precious life and where possible, I am guarding it with my life, because not doing so previously nearly cost me, me. Is it selfish, yes. Is it right, also, yes.
**First appeared on my Substack.
“Hello, I come back!”
“Me I am Thato…” If you haven’t giggled yet, you suck and should probably be more chronically online like the rest of us. Jk jk.
But no, I am not Thato, I am the lady from the url.
Unfortunately, that also means I am the person who has been neglecting this wee blog for a very long time. I was reminded of just how by one of my students last year during his interview and made an internal promise to fix that before they stepped into my classroom, but dear reader they have been in the said classroom for five months already and still. Side eyes self.
In my defence, I have had a lot going on, from teaching to embarking on my own research journey and just trying to be an okay human – kuningi. I hope to use this space to better document the kunigi-ness.
Watch this space 🙂
Thirty days of creative fervour
It was a random Tuesday, the 16th of January to be precise. I was scrolling on my IG timeline when I bumped into a post on New Comma’s page about a creative challenge, in which participants would have to create something, anything, based off of a daily prompt for 30 days. I immediately shared the post and typed in ‘let’s’, and then proceeded to do just that.
For thirty days, my days were filled with turning over a single word or phrase, looking to my immediate surroundings but mostly inside myself for the ‘thing’ I could create that day. Some days were harder than others, with what I considered a ‘boring’ idea only come to me mere hours before the midnight deadline. But some days I could write something, take a photo or shoot and edit a video within hours of seeing the daily prompt. From ‘Play for keeps’ to ‘Jaws of life’ the people from The Rule of Thirds Podcast sure did keep us on our toes.
I would say my favourite part of the process was how intentional I became about carving out to time in my day to plan and execute whatever came to mind; and the knowledge that everything I did end up posting was a first draft that was just given a little love. I hope to carry the patience, confidence and capacity to create doing this challenge has left me with. The daily pressure sometimes drove me to the corner of Give Up and This is Too Hard but so proud of myself for moving through those moments.
Most of my submissions are in the slideshow below, videos excluded because I don’t have a premium account and cannot share the originals as my account is private (let me add that having a public account again was a nightmare – spent half the time blocking porn and Bitcoin accounts).
Day 1 – Playing for keeps 
Day 2 – (Green) Flag(s) 
Day 3 – On cloud nine 
Day 5 – What comes up must go down 
Day 6 – Anticipate 
Day 8 – Cook 
Day 9 – Guide 
Day 10 – Down to the wire 
Day 11 – Urgency 
Day 12 – A shot in the dark 
Day 16 – Repetition 
Day 17 – Plug 
Day 19 – Foaming at the mouth 
Day 20 – Element 
Day 21 – The plot thickens 
Day 23 – Mountain out of a molehill 
Day 24 – Reputation 
Day 25 – Situate 
Day 27 – Fool’s gold 
Day 28 – Minimise 
Day 29 – Rehearsal 
Day 30 – Jaws of life
Special shout out to my girls Premiere Pro and Rush, Photoshop, Audition, VSCO, Canva and the Notes App for making all of this stuff with me 🙂
Podcasting and Stories from Katlehong Township
A couple of months ago I consulted on a project that would see me meet and work with a group of interesting and interested young people from Katlehong on an experimental podcast project.
In collaboration with the African Centre for Migration at Wits University and Frame45, the project used podcast training and production as a means to achieve authentic storytelling. From start to finish we only had about three weeks to fit in the training, pre and post-production – not helped by the daily load-shedding schedule we had to work around throughout.
As an educator, it was a challenging and exciting exercise, as I was teaching a group that had to be taught the basics of storytelling and writing from scratch, introduced to podcasting as a form and then a few days later produce one of their own. In some instances this made for much more robust engagement and I appreciated that. The story ideas and themes that came out of our sessions were really interesting, although not all of our participants managed to produce a full episode by the end of it, I am still very chuffed with what this group was able to produce in a very short space of time.
Read and listen to the work produced on Frame45 or simply use the QR code below.
Women in mining
A couple of months ago I went to the very first premiere of something I made. It was a real premiere replete with a red carpet, popcorn and a screen big enough to have to tilt your head back slightly to watch the documentary film.
The untitled project is a short documentary that attempts to tell a the brief yet compelling story of women who work in the mining industry. It was a commission for Women in Mining South Africa (WiMSA), a non-governmental organisation that through policy, lobbying and mentorship fights for for the inclusivity and empowerment of women in the sector.
The very short trailer is glimpse into what we cover in the 30 minute runtime and has more information where to watch the full version in the caption.
Being a two person crew was both challenging and deceptively easy. For this project I worked with a friend and colleague, Lesedi Molefi. I think we got a lot more done and done quicker because of this dynamic but we were both keenly aware of how much better work we would have been able to produce if we had more resources. That said, starting with what you have, where you are remained the guiding principle.
What I can say about this first little documentary of mine is that it tested me in ways I have grown to appreciate. It is my first and I have to constantly remind myself of the fact that it is an experiment, one I will learn and grow from. Am I proud, absolutely! Do I have a way to go, absolutely! It’s taken me a while to share because I had to work my up to believing this myself.
Listen.
One of the coolest things I had the opportunity to do in 2021 was produce and sound engineer podcasts for actual money.
Podcasting was one of my elective subjects while reading for my masters in digital documentary. I chose it because I had never had the opportunity to work in radio at that point in my journalism career and figured if I was going to focus on working on more longform multimedia work, podcasts may be the best way to upskill on the audio side of things. From studying podcasts back in 2019, I now teach it to postgraduate students at Wits University and produce/edit for private clients.
I was lucky enough to work on two independent projects last year, which helped me put my newly minted skills to the test as I helped the podcast host’s launch the first season of their respective shows. It was a real treat to work with people who first and foremost where friends. The trust that already existed between us, helped in fostering working relations that were respectful, vulnerable and enriching. Having clients who truly trust your creative vision is unmatched.
The shows were very different in their subject matter, but the post-production processes were very similar. From coaching the hosts on how to record clear audio, set up interviews and create promos; it was an educational experience all around. The content of both shows also made for easy listening when I had to listen to hours and hours of ‘tape’ while editing and re-editing.
Show Me Your Friends and The Mindful and Messy Podcast, will always hold a special place in my heart as being my ‘firsts’ and I cannot wait to work on others which are just as interesting and meaningful in the near future.
I made a thing (and will probably keep making things)
So if you had asked me a month ago what a desktop documentary is, I probably would have said “um, I don’t know – a PC based doc?”. I wouldn’t have been entirely wrong but it’s a lot more than that.
In the middle of January, I attended a virtual workshop hosted by Bertha DocHouse on desktop documentaries as a genre and mode to be explored in an upcoming competition they would be running. The session, hosted by Kevin B. Lee , was not only informative but he gave us great tips on how to get started with this particular documentary genre. My understanding after the tutorial had expanded some, essentially this emerging genre uses desktops, mobile phones and tablets as the sole source of all the material used to tell a story. Screen recordings and screengrabs of things found on the internet or in personal libraries are one’s visual anchors in these documentaries. Many desktop documentaries are research-heavy investigations that let viewers journey along with the filmmaker as they discover things in their searches.
Some of the useful tips shared by Kevin for those who want to make such films:
- Study screen stories – watch as many desktop documentaries as you can, while watching think of possible themes and forms you want to explore.
- Turn your own screen life into a story – record your daily online interactions and habits, analyse them and see what they say about you (or others). Try the Pecha Kucha method of telling the story of a day in your life with just 20 shots that are 6 seconds each.
- Use online your own resources – just by looking at your own search history, usage patterns, emails, texts etc you can begin to critically analyse this data and make a story of it.
- Technical tools – screen capturing software, editing software and interface simulation tools will not only help you source material but will aid your creative process when you begin assembling everything.
- Use questions to stay on track – in telling your story or a story, show a process that answers the who, what, when, where and how questions that viewers may ask.
After some research, watching most of the films he had recommended and quite a bit of procrastination, I decided I could give it a go. The competition deadline helped in lighting a fire under my ass and I managed to make and submit, i miss everything. I was hesitant to share it publically when I was done, because it was my first try and I was sure it sucked and and and. Then I saw the tweet on the left by a photog I follow and admire, which gave me the confidence I needed to just share it for the heck of it.
I am going to keep making stuff, writing stuff, shooting stuff, producing stuff, for the heck of it. Sometimes I will need the fire of a deadline, which is why I have started entering paid writing competitions for instance, because if I don’t I just won’t grow. A lot of it will be bad but not all of it will and I guess that’s the point for me right now.
Alone, Together
A short by your shorty *slaps thigh*, sorry just had to get that one out of my system. But it is, this is the very first short documentary I have conceptualised, filmed, edited and produced. Yes, it wasn’t my initial vision; yes, I didn’t get to use professional equipment; yes, it views like a long self-involved vlog – but all that aside, I still did it. The pandemic forced us to change our plans and adjust/pivot to the new normal and we did. So if you have 12 minutes to spare, I would appreciate the pleasure of your time to watch Alone, Together.
Write. Snap. Click. 