Private Project

An Ode to Sara

Nomandla Vilakazi and Saartjie 'Sarah' Baartman have much in common - 'a large protruding bottom'. This short documentary explores the legacy of Sara Baartman, the relations of that body type with the culture of the youth, and how her symbolism has affected UCT and particularly a Masters' student - Nomandla.

  • Nomandla Siphumelele Vilakazi
    Director
  • Nomandla Siphumelele Vilakazi
    Writer
  • Nomandla Siphumelele Vilakazi
    Producer
  • Nomandla Siphumelele Vilakazi
    Key Cast
    "Noma"
  • Annelize Kotze
    Key Cast
  • Hassna Ait Taleb
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Student
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 27, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    125 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    South Africa
  • Country of Filming:
    South Africa
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 1080p HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.4:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Nomandla Siphumelele Vilakazi

I am a postgraduate student of Bachelor of Arts in Film & Television and African Studies, and completed my postgraduate degree in Honours at the University of Cape Town. Currently in the first-year of my Masters Documentary of Arts.

At the same time, I am working in the UCT TV Studio as the Learning Coordinator for the Stepping Stone Course which aims to bring diverse groups together to create television programs. I am also a freelance videographer and student activist and focus on issues of gender-based violence, human rights and Black Queer empowerment, and I channel this through my art and academic work.

My Masters documentary focuses on the life of Sara Baartman and the representation of the Black Femme Body and heavily inspired by African Knowledge Production as well as prominent African filmmakers like Ousmane Sembene, Mati Diop, Sibz Shongwe-La Mer and others. I am also a freelance filmmaker focussing on videography and photography for events: currently have projects for the District Six Museum, and the Centre for Remembrance in the African Feminist Institute of the African Studies Department of UCT. I also tutor and lecture at UCT in both Film and African Studies.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This film was the hardest task I've ever undertaken in my life, and challenged me in ways that I could have never anticipated. I have always had a love and mostly hate relationship with my body and only in my University years did I learn about Sara - this angered me. I chose Sara or rather she chose me to tell this story through a lens of Black Femme appreciation and the exploitation of that body type through popular culture today. Her story is powerful and for UCT to use her name on the building means something to me - a black femme body in the UCT space.

Not only was the shooting of my body an intimate experience that was a mental struggle, but the site-specific performance piece that I decided to do in front of the Hall (that will become its own separate documentary experience) was a challenge of not only mental fortitude but physical endurance. I carried a large flat that I painted with important information that would hopefully spark conversation during the performance - the flat still remains outside Sarah Baartman Hall to this day. I did it because UCT renamed the Hall from the Jameson Memorial Hall to the Sarah Baartman Hall - and working within UCT, I knew for a fact that it was a performative choice with the Eurocentric-choice 'Sarah'. And thus I will use their performance as a part of my own - doing what they should have done years ago, educate the student body about Saartjie.

This first documentary 'An Ode to Sara' is a dedication to the Black Femme Body who has ever related to Sara's herstory - and a dedication to her for helping me realize that she pioneered beauty standards within the consumerist world. And no matter how much they deny that body type - it will always be... the original beauty standard.