From cleaning cinemas to film director

At 17, Zolani Phakade was forced out of his home by his stepfather and learnt early on that survival meant working hard.

Years later, with no formal directing qualification and after starting out on R50 a week, he has become a three-time Safta winner and Emmy nominee whose credits include The River, Kings of Joburg, Gold Diggers and Greed and Desire.

But Phakade’s journey into filmmaking began long before the awards, in a cinema where he worked as a cleaner and in an exercise book where he began writing stories.

The 45-year-old grew up in eSkhawini on KwaZulu-Natal’s east coast, raised by his grandmother after his stepfather kicked him out of the family home.

He juggled school with odd jobs, including cleaning at a local cinema while in grade 11.

One day, while cleaning, he watched people leave the cinema after Message in a Bottle, some crying, others joyful and seemingly moved by what they had seen.

“I thought to myself, I also needed to watch it. When I did, it inspired me so much. If there is something that can touch human beings like that, I want to do it,” he said.

He bought a book and started writing stories.

For Phakade, storytelling became an escape from a difficult childhood in which he said he was bullied over his dark skin tone.

“I was just umnyamane [the dark one] and did not want to exist and preferred hiding in the corners, but I always had an imaginative mind,” he said.

His ambition eventually took him to Johannesburg after he heard about FUBA School of Drama and Visual Arts through an encounter linked to actress Candice Derman, who played Blue on Generations.

However, arriving in Johannesburg did not immediately meant a place at film school.

Phakade spent about a year staying with a family friend in Bassonia, south of Johannesburg, and looking for work.

His breakthrough came unexpectedly after he saw an advert for auditions for Igazi Lami. He did not get the role, but kept the production company’s details from the audition papers and contacted it.

That call landed him his first industry job as an assistant where he earned R50 a week, barely enough to cover his transport fare.

“Sometimes I had to wake up at 3.30am so I could walk and get to work on time,” he said.

Rather than return to eSkhawini after his grandmother’s death, he stayed and worked his way up from assistant director to second and then first assistant director.

His first major break as a director came with Gold Diggers on e.tv, where his mentor Johnny Barbuzano gave him the opportunity.

Late he got an opportunity to work on The River. “The River blossomed my career in the industry,” he said.

Phakade said he was recommended by Barbuzano as one of the directors when he left the show.

Since then, Phakade has directed productions including: How to Ruin Love, Ithonga, The Queen, The River, Kings of Joburg, Gold Diggers, Greed and Desire and Igazi Lami.

His approach remains rooted in service to the story. “I am a tool for making a show, a story, a pitch or project work the best way,” he said.

Now, Phakade is also turning his experience into an opportunity for others through Sukuma Uzenzele, a community filmmaking initiative focused on sharing filmmaking knowledge with aspiring creators.

Sowetan