Online Reporter
JOHANNESBURG. — Shaka iLembe creator and director Angus Gibson said he was pleased with the reaction to the second season and says things will get heated in the coming weeks.
“The season has been very warm. It’s got a slow start, but this Sunday it kind of erupted. From the next few weeks, it’s pretty wild,” Gibson told The Citizen.
The second of Shaka iLembe is six episodes deep, and Sunday night’s episode was probably the most captivating as the Ndwandwe’s plans to weaken Shaka’s alliances took shape as King Dingiswayo found himself captured by the Ndwandwe tribe, thanks to the queen mother’s powerful potions that manipulated Dingiswayo, who Thembinkosi Mthembu portrays.
He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.
In his acceptance speech, the renowned director said that when he made films in the 1980s, no one in South Africa watched them.
However, alongside the late Tebogo Mahlatsi, he created the high school-based drama Yizo Yizo in the late 1990s.
“And suddenly people were watching. It was such a relief. What was really important for me was that the people we represented saw themselves and recognised themselves, and I didn’t care whether people loved it or hated it. I was just happy that it was communicating and that they are watching,” he said.
Through Bomb Productions, which Gibson co-founded with Mahlatsi and producer Desiree Markgraaff, they have created popular TV shows, including Isibaya, Zone 14, and Shaka iLembe.
“For the last 12 years, at least, I’ve been engaged in this part of the world (KZN) by way of Isibaya, by way of Shaka iLembe. So, it is you guys that I want approval from. This kind of affirmation makes me happy,” the director said.
The Simon Mabhunu Sabela Film and TV Awards celebrate talent from KZN and shine a spotlight on productions shot in the province.
Gibson said one of the reasons he attends the Sabela awards is to spot new talent.
“I’ve been to these awards many times, and what always excites me is that it celebrates the beginners, the people that are hustling and making small things, and that’s what interests me,” he said.
“I come here in search of new talent.”—Citizen
