docLOVE presents a free screening of LOBOLA: A BRIDE’S TRUE PRICE?

The Bioscope and the Documentary Filmmakers Association (DFA) are proud to host this month's free docLOVE screening, with the support of the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP3); LOBOLA: A BRIDE’S TRUE PRICE?

Genre: Documentary

Director: Sihle Hlophe

Duration: 1 hr 36 minutes

The screening will be followed by a special audience Q&A session with the producer and director, Sihle Hlophe.

Synopsis: 

March 2014. Filmmaker Sihle Hlophe has just gotten engaged. A few days later, her father passes away, leaving open the question of who will receive the Lobola… While Hlophe respects the traditional practice of Lobola, she has reservations about the transactional, patriarchal and heteronormative elements of the practice. 

Lobola, A Bride’s True Price? charts Hlophe’s journey from several years before her wedding up until the big day, during which time she documents numerous Lobola negotiations around the country in an effort to properly research the issues. 

Hlophe attends the Lobola ceremonies of three other couples, where cultures collide and negotiations are far from straight forward. She also visits a same-sex couple who’ve been married for 14 years, who’s African Spirituality led them to go through the Lobola process too.

After years of vacillating, Sihle comes to an important realisation – Lobola is not just about uniting two families. It is also about honouring the ancestors of those two families. What will her final decision be? Will she turn her back on Lobola or will she embrace it?

Fuelled by the tensions between the director’s personal beliefs and her desire to please her family and respect her culture and ancestors, the film echoes tensions similar in cultures the world over in terms of shifting gender roles in the 21st century.

Sihle Hlophe is a multi award-winning director/scriptwriter and the founder and executive producer of Passion Seed Communications, a film-driven social enterprise. Over the last 14 years, her work has been recognised with numerous accolades, locally and abroad, including two African Movie Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary. 

About docLOVE: The DFA's docLOVE programme hosts free screenings on a monthly basis at five venues around the country. Screenings are available to DFA members and all members of the public. The docLOVE programme is made possible by the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP3), administered by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF).