KZN director ‘floored’ by Netflix invite
● When she first entered the world of showbiz more than a decade ago, filmmaker Nosipho Dumisa had no idea women were making great strides in cementing their place in a male-dominated industry.
Now she is an award-winning director and features in a Netflix project that helps to break the glass ceiling.
Dumisa, 31, is among the women chosen from across the globe to curate a collection of series, documentaries and films in honour of International Women’s Day.
The collection will be available on Netflix all year, and is curated by 55 women, including Sophia Loren, Salma Hayek, Ava DuVernay and Millie Bobby Brown.
Dumisa, from Margate in KwaZulu-Natal, told the Sunday Times this week she was “floored” when she heard who else was involved. “This is a great moment and what an honour to be a part of something this big and this important.”
Netflix partnered with UN Women for the collection, titled Because She Watched, which celebrates the movies that have inspired the 55 women.
They were invited to choose a film or series that featured women in key production functions such as directing or scriptwriting or as leading actors, or that told inspiring stories reflecting women’s influences.
Dumisa chose When They See Us, directed by DuVernay, and Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock.
“At a time like this where we’ve seen the #MeToo movement, we’ve seen #AmINext, still it often feels like we aren’t heard,” Dumisa said.
“I believe that as women we can empower each other to think bigger and better things for ourselves. It’s important to have someone say, ‘I believe in you, I see something in you and I’m going to take time and pour my resources into your life so that
you can make an important decision about your future.’ ”
Dumisa said that when she was younger she could never have imagined that she would be linked to such “amazing” women creatives.
“I always thought I would be a doctor. All of high school I was ready to study that. But I always knew that I loved storytelling.
“I loved drama but I never considered it as a career,” she said.
“When my eyes were opened to the fact that I wanted to work in the industry, I initially thought I wanted to be an actor.
“I had never seen a woman in the role of a director. Whenever I went behind the scenes of a project I would see women as actors and in wardrobe, never anything else. So I didn’t think I could actually be a director.”
She applied to Afda film school with the intention of becoming an actor. But because of an administrative error she was registered instead for a BA in motion picture medium — a production qualification.
Since then she’s worked hard to make her name in the industry and has directed episodes of DanZ on DStv’s kykNET channel, among other things.
She said she has always wanted to tell African stories, but there was a steep learning curve.
“It was tricky in the beginning because this industry really lacks mentorship, we don’t have that at all,” Dumisa said.
But her first feature film, Nommer 37, received recognition at the South African Film and TV Awards, including being named best short film in 2016.
The film also won Dumisa the Cheval Noir jury prize for best director at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada, in 2018.
She said she is now preparing to direct an original series for Netflix, Blood and Water, a drama about a dark family secret.
Still it often feels like we aren’t heard