Director and filmmaker Minenhle Luthuli had her short film, Being You, premiered at 2025 DIFF, a film that deals with real and hard topics in a manner that is relatable and warm, reminding us that we are bigger than the sum of our problems. And that we can be kinder to the person we were yesterday, and even better, who we are right now. We’re discussing of what the driving force behind this idea was, and what the future looks like for her as she tackles this ever-dynamic creative industry.
RILEY HLATSHWAYO: In your own words, could you please introduce yourself. For those who may not know who Minenhle is, who are you?
MINENHLE LUTHULI: Hello, my name is Minenhle Luthuli, a filmmaker based in KZN. I am a filmmaker from South Africa.
RH: For the purpose of today’s chat, we will be discussing your film, Being You, which was selected for this year’s slate of the Durban International Film Festival. It’s emotional, personal, and a little bit scientific?
ML: Okay?
RH: About the woman who finds herself in the presence of her younger self after experiencing an anxiety attack. Without wanting to sound like the journalist in the film, but I have to ask: What was the inspiration behind the film?
ML: I love watching interviews, of just people who have made it in life. I watch podcasts, interviews. Your Oprahs, all these people who’ve made it in life. And it seems as if there’s always this question that is posed to people who’ve made it. Like, what would you say to your 16-year-old self? Or a variation of that question. It requires you to retrospect on your past and where you are currently. It’s not a weird question, but a random one that’s really stuck on my mind because how a person answers that question is how I get intimately close with who they really are or the event that changed everything in their life. For them to become who they are. That is the premise of the film, which is about someone that’s being interviewed about their current film and they’re asked this question. She goes on a tangent to actually meet her 16-year-old self, and has some things she would like to convince her to change without realising that those are the actual things that make her the person she became.
RH: Yes, that was actually very fascinating as I was watching the film—I love sci-fi, I love time travel narratives, so when she got there (not to spoil the film for anyone who hasn’t seen it) but when she got there, she broke one of the cardinal rules of time travel. Like, you do not engage yourself. She went deep, deep into the engagement.
ML: (Laughs) Yeah.
RH: You touch on important issues in your film: things like girlhood, womanhood, anxiety and trauma, as well as the dangerous effects of backdoor abortions and having trauma support in your life, and how that makes you a better person. But then you place the story in a sort of fantastical, futuristic setting. Like, what was the motivation behind that creative decision?
ML: I’m never a person, as much as all those issues are quite serious, but I’m also never a person that likes to tackle very serious social issues in a serious or too dramatical way. So, I mean, we get a lot of, life in itself is very serious and very depressing. So, when you get a chance to embody something in a light way or in a joke way, I find it freeing because I feel people are quite receptive of, not comedy, but just like a dramedy or something that is unlike real real-life as we know it. So, that was just basically it.
And also, just to point out that juxtaposition between the future and the present, there was no other genre that could have best embodied that idea other than… It’s not really like a mini-sci-fi, but rather a fantasy genre. So, it needed to be like a fantasy. It needed to feel like a fantasy because once you start thinking about the future or the repercussions of what might happen in the future, you’re not there yet. So, it’s just like an imposed imagination, and not something that might really happen.
RH: That is true. And speaking of juxtaposition, it was jarring when she transported because you could actually tell the difference. Not just visually, but in the actors themselves. It was one of my biggest highlights, but we’ll talk about that later.
ML: Thank you.
RH: I wanted to talk about the thematic power of Sheila being transported back to the past and meeting her young self and how that speaks to the power of saving yourself, of being the person to actually be there for you and to protect yourself from something that may have scarred you. That is a very powerful thing.
ML: Yeah. That’s true, actually. That’s something that I actually usually say. And just even with my work. We are our biggest enemies. Hey? I feel as if people struggle the most to themselves than they do with everyone else. I feel as if just the fights that we have, with all the conversations or the curls that we have with outside people are just a projection of the fights that we have within ourselves. Once you start confronting yourself, you’ll make the world a better place. You’ll have more nice conversations with everyone else. You’ll be nice to other people once you just start loving yourself. I find as if people really don’t pay too much attention or spend too much time confronting themselves, of which that’s where the problem starts. So, if you just learn to forgive yourself, it’s easy to forgive other people. If you learn to love yourself, it’s easy to love other people. If you learn to empathise and sympathise with just yourself, give grace to the post-ministration of Dan, you yourself, and just gentle with yourself, you’d be much gentler to other people. So, the fight is really like, I’m really intrigued or just fascinated about people that are really fighting with themselves. If I could make films about just an antagonist and a protagonist being one person, I’d probably be that way because, no, seriously, because I just really, I always see people fighting like battles with other people. And they’re kissing to okay, this person is really not fighting with me. They’re really just struggling with something within themselves, but they’re quite projecting or they just don’t want to confront themselves. And it’s quite important. It’s really, really important to confront yourself.
RH: That is true. And that is echoed so much in the opening scene when Sheila is really running away from the questions that dive into who she is, and putting that into context with the visuals of the scene: she’s literally naked and exposed to us, yet she does not want to be vulnerable enough to fully expose herself as to why she wrote the film.
ML: Yeah!
RH: That’s a very powerful motif that moves with us throughout the film.
ML: Thank you. I would’ve described it as… I mean, we don’t want to spoil the film, but I would’ve discussed the end as well.
RH: Haha, yeah no. We would’ve. We would’ve. Back to when I spoke about my greatest highlight being the cinematography of the film.
ML: Thank you.
RH: It’s well-shot, well-edited.
ML: Oh wow, thank you.
RH: Like, from the very first scene with Mona in the bathtub and, sort of minimalist and monochromatic, and to the juxtaposition of the present time with the bright lights, and the lively locations. That speaks to your vision, to your collaboration with Keith (Benza).
ML: Yeah.
RH: I want to please take us through the technical decisions you made to ensure that the script came out as you envisioned it in visuals.
ML: I’m lucky that Keith, who shot the film, and Blizzy (Lehlogonolo Mphahlele) who edited, were my classmates at school. So, we went to film school together, and as much as I am not old, I can call them my lifelong collaborators because we’ve literally collaborated since school and now professionally in our emerging careers.
But, I’m not sure if I should say a problem with me, or just say a thing about me, is that I am not a technical director. I don’t know the name of the lenses. I won’t tell you what was used or whatever names I’ve heard being thrown around on set. But what I am quite clear of is a vision. I would research all Earth for pictures that are quite similar to what I want.
Just also, the story as a base, I want everyone, first of all, to be clear when they receive the script. I want them to know what the story is. So, I guess, even when their interpretations are different from mine, we try to align them during meetings, you know, to just speak about the story or whatever. And also, with my director’s treatment – I do thorough, thorough work. If there’s one thing I do a thorough work at, it’s a director’s treatment, so that all my HOD’s are quite clear.
I think just doing that as a writer and director of the film makes Keith and Lehlogonolo’s job easy in terms of translating my vision. How they translate that in their respective fields, I don’t know. I won’t lie. I’m just quite clear with the vision that I have, and directing that on set to make sure that I help him.
But usually how he executes or how he gathers the equipment that he’s going to use to execute that vision, I will not lie to you. I wouldn’t really lie here. I don’t know how he does. I communicate with him my vision for the film and he gathers, he uses his expertise to get his equipment fit enough to execute that vision.
RH: And execute, they did!
ML: Yeah, and execute they did. Funny enough, you probably won’t know this. The film was initially supposed to be shot by Josh Levi because, as much as we’ve worked together with Keith, he was supposed to be the focus puller. Josh had to quickly go somewhere, and I was like, ‘Keith, you’re going to shoot this.’ We had a back and forth about him not shooting narrative stuff. As much as he’s a cinematographer, he does more brand work and music videos and all those cool stuff. I was like, ‘No, Keith, we’ve worked together for a long time, you will do this.’
And he’s like, ‘Okay, okay, I got you.’ (Laughs!) And he came through and did the Lord’s work. So, I’m really happy that you’re pointing out his work because he wasn’t really sure whether, you know, he did the Lord’s work with this one.
RH: I love that. Speaking of, and I don’t want to say the ending… But rather, I am thinking about character work, the characterization of Mona and Palesa. You touched a little about how it’s mostly conflict within oneself and confronting yourself. It was fascinating watching the film, having them interact and seeing the differences between them: the young and old version. Sheila and Shishiliza. Two completely different people, and yet they are one person at the same time. Like, you didn’t just break the space-time continuum by sending her back in time, but you also break it in the sense that these are two people who are existing in the same space and are one person. In as much as it is a film about conflict, there’s also a kind of care here.
I am thinking about Brenda’s character, who only shows up for like a minute, but her impact is felt for way, way longer. Even the ending is saved by her. Talk us through that arc, that story.
ML: Okay, so in me conceptualizing the story, I was quite clear from the word go – from the first word I pinned on Final Draft when I was scripting the story – that as much as they are the same person, they are going to be very different people. I’m sure you get what I’m saying. It’s who Sheila is right now, completely and way different to the person that she was then.
RH: 24 years is a long time.
ML: Besides that. In terms of acting, her persona is different, her look is different, her weight is quite different. I actually wanted to make them extreme opposites to illustrate that she’s changed so much, like she’s changed everything about herself.
I made that very clear as I was starting the film that, okay? This is a person running away from the person that she was, and she’s worked so hard to become a complete person, very opposite – because her weight has changed, her look, she’s all natural now. She’s everything that is opposite to the person who she really was. And because I wanted to communicate that change.
And then character of Brenda. It’s the smallest things. I don’t believe that the catalyst change happens in bigger events. It’s those small, intimate events that change everything, and that’s what Brenda was supposed to serve in the film. She only appears in two scenes, which I can even call one scene because the other is just… But she appears in one scene, but her impact or who she is, changes everything in the story. That’s why I didn’t include Brenda everything because I wanted to accentuate that the biggest change is often so random, it’s the people we do not think matter in our lives. Only to realise that, ‘Oh shit!’ You’ve created the biggest, biggest change in your life. Like that interview of how David Oyelowo and how he got to work with Ava Duvernay on Selma: how we met someone on a plane who seemed random and engaged him in conversation that ended up getting him on the path to Selma. I find the random people, all the random things that we do in life, are just the biggest catalyst to our lives c
RH: That is actually quite true, because I feel like it’s a question I had when the whole film was happening. Because she wants to change this one event, she wants to stop it, but if you move this piece, the trajectory is different.
ML: True. True.
RH: So, her getting that realization was delicious.
ML: Yeah, because you see, that’s the thing. Sometimes, you don’t look at the bigger picture. She’s quite so focused, obsessed about just removing this without knowing that life is a puzzle. It’s not only just one piece, it’s about the other piece that’s connected to it and if you remove this one, then this is not gonna make sense. And putting Brenda as the final piece gives her the whole picture that she actually has to go through this.
RH: That is very fascinating. Trauma and having to go through it. That is one thing I’m chewing my brains on.
ML: It’s quite heavy for sure. That’s why I told you, this film is a shot of vodka. Yeah. Because it’s really heavy for a short film.
RH: I’m aware that this isn’t your first time at DFM, at DIFF. I would love to talk about your film selection this year. How did that feel and what has been the experience like leading up to the premiere?
ML: Excited. I am excited. It’s always nice to premiere at home. It’s really always nice to premiere at home. I mean, no one has seen the, the public, the general public has never seen this film yet. So, it’s quite exciting. I am looking forward to what the people at home are going to think, you know, about this.
Because it’s always nice to first get reviews from the people that you made the film for. Because the film was made for South Africans, that’s my primary audience. Before it goes out, somewhere else as it will go, like we’ve already had other selections at other festivals internationally. So yeah, I’m looking forward to what people are going to say really. If they’re gonna receive it well.
RH: And on being a Talents Durban alumna; how does it feel being on the other side?
ML: It feels like growth. Yes. It really feels like growth. It feels like home. And it’s quite interesting, because now I’m going back, not just with a project, because the project that I’ve participated with Talents has had its life and it’s gallivanting. Now I’m going back with another one. Yeah, it feels like growth. It feels like a very good direction in my career, because it means I’m still doing the work.
RH: Okay, speaking of growth. You’ve done a lot. I’ve already mentioned that. And part of that lot is you being a SWIFT board member – that’s Sisters Working In Film and Television, an organization that champions for women in the film and TV space and empowers them so that they can continue and create amazing stories and amass opportunities. Do you have anything that you’d like to impart to the next generation of young women entering the film space?
ML: Do random shit! Do everything. I’ve never been a council or board member before. Even right now, I have had a year of being a SWIFT board member, I don’t know what I’m doing. But I entertain myself by doing random things that people my age wouldn’t necessarily do. Because I was quite curious. When they say a board member, all these people in these big organizations, the decision makers; if I had to be in the room with them, what do they discuss? What do they talk about? And that’s just what I do. That’s just how I am as a person. I’m interested in knowing what is discussed in these rooms. Let me just become a board member, let me run so that I can enter this room.
So, I do a shit like that. I apply for random things. That’s my advice, guys. Do the random things that are going to empower you as a person as a whole, not just your career. Nurture the person, too. If you feel like going hiking, go hiking. Anything that is going to empower the person you are and the person you’re going to be as a professional in whatever field you’re in.
RH: That is actually very important advice. Like, getting out of your comfort zone. Doing things that you wouldn’t normally, yourself, put yourself in.
ML: And you’re also getting experience, right? You’re getting experience to be, to write better stories. How are you gonna write stories if you haven’t been exposed to things?
RH: Thank you so much, Minenhle. I’ve had a time! Thank you for chatting with me, and creating this film.
ML: Thank you.
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Catch the film at DIFF: https://ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za/diff46/being-you/
The interview would not have been possible without the guidance and assistance of the Durban FilmMart Institute, the Talents Durban’s film journalism mentorship programme, Talents Press, as well as the FIPRESCI.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author (Riley Hlatshwayo) and cannot be considered as constituting an official position of the organisers.
An audio version of this interview can be found on Spotify on the Riley Riley Riley and Talents Durban Talk podcast accounts.