MASERU (TMGLIVE) - Nothing is more courageous than a film about living with honour, integrity, and responsibility; in a conversation I had with an intrepid and bubbly academic and artist Mats’eliso ‘Ts’eli’ Mohale, the executive producer and lead character of the movie Reflection of Life, in light of gender inequalities and societal ills facing us in our daily lives, I encountered a positive mental attitude committed to the fulfilment of a prudent generational mandate of shaping society for the better.
society
Aug. 23, 2018
Bokang Mohajane
3 min read
Tšeli’s Reflecton of Life
According to Ts’eli, the Reflection of Life concept was born out of a need to advocate against “…the number of deaths of women through the hands of their lovers and partners. I felt that such forsaken acts deserved action beyond just Facebook status, I then made a conscious decision to produce the movie.”
She continues that for the whole project, she had to make an intensive research because it is a prerequisite when making a movie, especially one that advocates for dealing with societal ills. Ts’eli had a lot of conversations with a number of people and stakeholders pertaining to gender issues in preparation for the movie.
“After conversations, I then had to sit with my students who already have a company called Tripod Productions I explained my concept to them and made them understand how I wanted to make the movie. We then went through and shot the movie, I edited a bit and ensured that it would be ready for the Women’s Month that is August,” said Ts’eli.
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She continued that: “I actually took time to work on the movie and I believe if it were not because of the deaths of women killed by their partners recently, maybe I would not have even made the movie. Total Shutdown also became a catalyst in the process because it put pressure on me to finally produce the movie”.
Throughout the making of Reflection of Life, Ts’eli relied solely on her own finances from beginning to the end because in all the financial proposals to private business and government alike, she was not sponsored for such a worthy project.
On a number of occasions, the Ministry of Communication Science and Technology has, through its Minister, claimed to have concluded deals to facilitate for job creation through movie making in Lesotho, yet when it matters most, in projects that are meant to heal society they do not take an active part to assist.
Nonetheless, instead of complaining and moaning about lack of support, the quicksilver vixen from the Limkokwing Entrepreneurship Acceleration Platform (LEAP) overcame every challenge in her stride from the movie conception till now.
“LEAP that gave birth to Tripod Productions, is an Incubation programme here at Limkokwing University whereby we attach students from different faculties and organise them into companies that we nurture till they are ready to operate independently as fully functional businesses. We also attach students in various companies where they are equipped with workplace skills,” Ts’eli explained.
Reflection of Life will be launched on 1st September at Victory Hall at 18:00. Charge per person will be M250.00 including dinner and M5000.00 per table for 10 people including dinner. The showing of Reflection of Life will be a one night affair and no copies of the movie shall be made, people are therefore urged to attend so they do not miss out as there is a high demand for tickets and priceless lessons to be learnt from the movie.
Ts’eli explained that in Reflection of Life, she worked with a lady named Tiny from Lesotho Television who assisted her in writing the script, “…a lady whom together with, we made a movie titled Lekunutu that also played on Lesotho Television.
Ts’eli’s journey in the film industry dates back to her high school days when she discovered that with her words and stage expression she could make people cry. From there on, Tseli has featured in a number of movies including yet not limited to Kau la Poho, Lilaphalapha and others.
“In film, one does not have to start as a lead character. We start as extras and develop with time from nobody to somebody. I am a person who believes in working hard for my ideas and concepts to materialise into programmes of action and meaningful life projects,” Ts’eli concluded.
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