docLOVE presents a free screening of ONE TAKE GRACE

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); ONE TAKE GRACE.

Genre: Documentary                                                     

Director: Lindiwe Matshikiza

Duration: 90 minutes

The screening will be followed by a special audience Q&A session with the central character, Mothiba Grace Bapela.

Synopsis: In this cinematic portrait of Mothiba Grace Bapela, South African mother, grandmother, film & television actress, and former domestic worker for over forty years, Bapela recounts and performs her life experiences, observing and absorbing what goes on in the intimacy of other people’s homes and families - ranging from the banal to the macabre - while suppressing her own frustrated desires and trauma. 

Narrated by Bapela herself, it is the perspective of one who has spent the majority of her life servicing the dreams of others, attempting to use her experiences to break through to her own. 

The collaboration between director Lindiwe Matshikiza and Mothiba Grace Bapela began with the two women meeting as actors on a local film set in 2010. Lindiwe was struck by Mme Bapela’s reflections on her life, and on the conflict of needing steady – if poorly paid – domestic work, alongside the desire to break into a more satisfying though equally problematic, poorly paid and unreliable film and television industry. 

That first encounter started a process of collaboration lasting over a decade, with Lindiwe following Mme Bapela around - sometimes with the help of friends with equipment, sometimes alone, with whatever was on hand – recording her day-to-day life and past experiences.

Through this deeply intimate project, a portrait of both the woman and the country begins to emerge, with certain questions being asked: How are the roles of our dysfunctional society dished out? Who’s doing the casting? What kind of set is this?

Matshikiza leads a multidisciplinary creative process in producing this collaboratively-made portrait of the often precarious, sometimes miraculous position of an African female migrant worker.

About docLOVE: The Documentary Filmmakers Association'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).