We first became aware of South Africa filmmaker Zamo Mkhwanazi’s cinema language with her last short film in the TIFF/Sundance selected Sadla back in 2019. Fast-forward into the middle of this decade and we find a restrained yet deeply affecting directorial debut in Laundry — a film that digs in the past South African realities, where questions of labour, dignity, and survival are deeply personal rather than abstract. At the top of this drama we find Ntobeko Sishi (also know as Sishii) who brings an understated intensity to the screen in his character of Khuthala. The son of a laundry washing businessman who could take over the family-run enterprise (remember this is 1968 apartheid South Africa anything can be taken away from you at any time) who carries a certain naiveness about him but has a strong work ethic and determination – and as the narrative progresses Sishi’s character becomes a vessel for tensions outside his control. The emotional and intellectual arch of the character evolves – hence the struggle and life altering choices to made are real.
I had missed the world premiere at TIFF but was glad to watch Laundry at the 2025 Marrakech Film Festival among the crowd. A relative newcomer to the scene, I asked Ntobeko about how the film’s musical element pulled from his own background as an artist, about digging into the past to understand the nuance of emotions and the shifting relationship dynamics we find between his character and those around him.
