Two film and television production students, Tangee Kanani and Goitseone Moadirwa, who are due to graduate from Limkokwing University, are currently producing a documentary titled “Ngwao Boswa Jwa Rona”.
They two are already past the pre- production stage of the documentary, which is focused on the youth. They will later embark on a nationwide tour around the country to film the documentary in different rural areas, where unrecognized traditional and cultural content is in abundance. The documentary aims to teach the youth about culture through entertaining cultural practices like Setswana proverbs and plays, which are growing unpopular because of western influence.
Tangee Kanani and Goitseone Moadirwa who are also the executive producers of the film, said they are concentrating on youth and cultural issues which have been forgotten because of western influenced media. The two, who are also traditional dancers, say that a lot remains to be done to promote culture through film.
“The reason why we came up with this idea is that we noticed that today’s youth have forgotten about Setswana plays like diane, maele, dithamalakane, mainane and general Setswana ways of encountering life, so we wanted to bring back those cultural activities through television,” says Goitseone.
They also want to encourage the youth to have a culturally conscious approach towards the modern world. “Our documentary will be focused on informing people about our tradition and culture, yet entertaining at the same time. We will have live performances from different traditional groups,” said Kanani.
In bid to promote local productions, the two have also prepared the stage to produce a 28 minute documentary in which representatives from the House of Chiefs, tribal administrators, Setswana teachers, University lecturers, old aged folks, cultural activists, Organizers of Thari Ya Sechaba, traditional community elders, representatives from the ministry of youth sports and culture, traditional activists, dancers and singers, will be interviewed. Their main constraint at the moment is sourcing funds to travel around the country.
