Phumi Morare (left) has been shortlisted for a 2022 Academy Award for her film ‘When the Sun Sets’. Image via Twitter @Lotusfm
SA director’s ‘When the Sun Sets’ shortlisted for 2022 Oscar [watch]
South African director Phumi Morare has been shortlisted for a 2022 Academy Award for her short film ‘When the Sun Sets’.
Phumi Morare (left) has been shortlisted for a 2022 Academy Award for her film ‘When the Sun Sets’. Image via Twitter @Lotusfm
South African filmmaker Phumi Morare has been shortlisted for an Oscar ahead of the 94th Academy Awards set to take place on 27 March 2022. Morare however is no stranger to the international film community, featuring at major film festivals, as well as boasting a Student Academy Award.
WHO IS PHUMI MORARE?
Phumi Morare is a writer/director based in Los Angeles, California. She completed her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Film Directing at Chapman University in California. She currently freelances as a strategist at Statement Films in Los Angeles, a company that nurtures female filmmakers.
As per her bio, Morare’s work centres around “redeeming the African and feminine identity through cinema.”
She has been featured in several American film festivals including the Telluride Film Festival in Berkeley, California and the American Black Film Festival.
Morare won a Gold medal at the Student Academy Awards in 2021 in the Narrative category for her short film When the Sun Sets.
‘WHEN THE SUN SETS’
Phumi Morare’s short film When the Sun Sets (originally titled Lakutshon’ Ilanga) follows a young black nurse living in apartheid South Africa who realises her activist brother may be in danger because he has not returned home.
Speaking to the Sowetan, Morare shared that the film was inspired by a story her mother told her years ago about her brother who was taken away by the apartheid police in the 1980s.
“She shared with me how she had to fight to save him. The story really fascinated me. I thought she was very heroic and the fact that she approached those police, she was just protecting her brother.”
“It inspired me to look at a story of ordinary black women who are doing these things behind the scenes to fight [for] and protect their families. They are not being heroes by choice but by circumstances. The rest of the film is about a woman who is searching for a missing brother.”
The 14-minute film was released in 2021 and stars the likes of Is’thunzi actress Zikhoba Bali and Nkululeko actor Aphiwe Mkefe.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
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2022 ACADEMY AWARD SHORTLIST
When the Sun Sets has been shortlisted in the Live Action Short Film for the 94th Academy Awards. Out of the 145 films that qualified, only 15 films made the shortlist.
Taking to Twitter to celebrate, Morare shared that she was thrilled that her short film made it onto the shortlist.
She joins the ranks of South African actors, writers and directors, such as Charlize Theron, Darell Roodt, Neil Blomkamp and Gavin Hood, who have featured at the Academy Awards over the years.
The 2022 Academy Awards nominees will be announced on Tuesday 8 February.
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