Zimpapers Logo

JOHANNESBURG. — Mary Twala laid bare her swansong performance in a film that has won early international praises and prizes.

The late actress, who died at the weekend, portrayed a widow named Mantoa in upcoming indie film “This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection”.

The film is helmed by Lesotho-born and Berlin-based director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese.

It was filmed last year in April and May in the remote mountains of Lesotho where there are no comforts of modernity. Mosese said Twala endured extreme weather conditions with the small crew of 15 in the name of her craft.

“Mary was often carried by crew members or was taken to locations on horseback. There was one muddy hill in particular that required her to be carried back and forth frequently,” Mosese said.

“Now that she has passed on, I feel like she is carrying us through this life.”

The film depicts the journey of 80-year-old widow Mantoa (Twala), who leads a resistance movement after her village is met with forced resettlement due to the construction of a reservoir. Her co-star in the film, Jerry Mofokeng Wa Makhetha, told Sowetan the film was the perfect project for Twala to bow out.

“The last scene in that film, she takes her clothes off and her upper torso is naked. She raises her hands up in defiance of being removed from her soil and the bones of all her ancestors. — Sowetan.