Local film maker Tebogo Malope’s film chronicling the life of South African rugby captain Siya Kolisi has won an award at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival.
The documentary, titled Rise- The story of Siya Kolisi, looks into his rise from the township, to being South Africa’s first black national rugby team captain.
It also highlights the importance of representation in sports, as well as some of the barriers that athletes like Kolisi have to overcome to make it to the top of the sport.
The film festival celebrates outstanding films and documentaries from creatives around the world.
Malope said that he was still buzzing from his win.
“I’m still in awe, I’m still in disbelief, it feels surreal, I’m still buzzing. One of the afternoons we had brunch with Robert De Niro, and Robert De Niro basically said to us that already you guys must think of yourselves as winners- we had more than 11 000 submissions of films coming in and we had about 212 selected to screen at the Tribeca Film Festival-from films all over the world, with directors from all over the world. And the fact that we were the ones that were selected to showcase, was already a big win. And then to eventually come out on top of all of that is so surreal.”
