Sizwe Sibiya
Movie making can be seen as an easy task from a viewer’s perspective, but you will get a different story from the team who worked day and night putting it together.
Cinematographer Ofentse Mwase is famously known for producing music videos and funny skits on YouTube with his wife Nelisiwe. Together they are the Tyler Perry of most of his short films under Ofentse Mwase Films (OMFilms).
But recently he added a new title to his name after working as director of photography of the thrilling movie Collision.
Released on 16 June for streaming on Netflix, Collision tackles issues like human trafficking, gangsterism on the streets of Hillbrow, Johannesburg, while exposing the huge gap between Mzansi’s rich folks and the poor.
“The interesting thing about Collision is that it has multiple story lines, and the fact that it does means that each and every single one has to be treated differently in a sense of lighting as well as composition,” explained Mwase in an interview he shared on OMFilms YouTube channel.
Mwase, who revealed Collision was his first feature film, said lighting became the biggest factor in most of their scenes, adding that it became difficult to shoot some of the scenes because of load shedding.
But load shedding came as a blessing in disguise for the young director as in the movie “there is a (electric) transformer that blows up” taking out the light in the city.
“So in a sense, I guess God was blessing us,” said Mwase, who said he is looking forward to working on other feature films in the future.
The film features a cast of well-known Mzansi actors like Vuyo Dabula who plays the lead, a Hillbrow kingpin named ‘Bra Sol’ and the legendary Langley Kirkwood who plays a corrupt corporate businessman Johan Greser, who has to save his daughter from being trafficked by the kingpin.
