Director, Director of Photography & Editor: Elijah Ndoumbe
Producer & Fashion Designer: Sikoti Mbaitjongue / Sokolata
Dancers & Choreography: Athia awa Sakho, Sadark, BOYDEEP aka M-Kattan
Assistant to Director & Producer: Khaled Fhemy Mamah
Grade: AKTIV8
Filmed on location at Sodefitex in Dakar, Senegal
A Burundian refugee seeking sanctuary rests on faith as she searches for belonging. An elder dedicated to her community reflects on wisdom from the past. A genZ navigates finding safety and family in online spaces. In ‘Prayers for Sweet Waters,’ stories intersect across vivid realities and dreamscapes to submerge us into the worlds of three Transgender sex workers living in Cape Town, South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The film premiered at the Academy-qualifying Hampton’s International Film Festival (2021) and won an award at NewFest (2021).
Director of Photography (2021)
SYNOPSIS: Traversing Cape Town’s silent inner-city streets on his delivery bike, Paul Mwase, a Malawian immigrant new to the city, irks out a life during the surreal months of corona lockdown. Delivering food door to door, he meets a world of gates, empty streets and silent stares, his only lifeline a cellphone connecting him to his work and his family, digital faces illuminating him.
Director, DP & Editor
The Ways of Love Superbalist Valentine’s Campaign 2021
Director & DP
TEAM CREDITS
Musician | Sylvestre Kabassidi
Producer & Director | Gabriella Achadinha
DOP & Editor | Elijah Ndoumbé
Camera Assistant & Color Grading | Peter Smuts
Art Department & Camera Assistant | Sphe
With the Assistance of / and with Gratitude to:
The Kabassidi Family
Woodstock Friends
Meiga Mali Long Street
Adamou at African Treasure Long Street
Greenmarket Square Vendors
Long Street African Mall
Peter Smuts
Members of Sistaazhood, a collective of trans sex workers currently based at SWEAT (The Sex Workers' Education and Advocacy Taskforce), sit down with artist Elijah Ndoumbé to discuss the violence they experience every day as Trans Women in sex work, in Cape Town, South Africa.
Please take a moment to honor the lives lost to transphobic and gender-based violence and to fight for the lives still being lived. Immense gratitude must be expressed to the three women - Mia, Aquilla, and Petra - who chose to share their stories with the world.
This visual content was originally created in honor of Trans Day of Remembrance 2017, where it was screened at the SWEAT offices in Cape Town. The interviews were also screened at the Queer Feminist Film Festival in Khayelitsha, on January 20th, 2018.
All individuals in the video have seen and consented to the use of their image.
Film by: Elijah Ndoumbé
Sounds by:
SQ
soundcloud.com/sq-deep
&
Butterscotch Bart (aka Westenra)
soundcloud.com/westenra
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/252680685
SWEAT: sweat.org.za/