Izulu Lami (My Secret Sky)

Madoda Ncayiyana
Dur: 90 min
Drama/South Africa/2008

Labelled South Africa’s Slumdog Millionaire, the film casts non professionals from impoverished township who give stunning interpretations, particularly  Sibahle Mkhabase in her role as ten year old Thembi.

Set in Durban South Africa and based on the experiences of the city’s Homeless children, My Secret Sky follows the story ten-year-old Thembi and her eight-year-old brother Khwezi. They  decide to leave their village to the city of Durban with their only possession of a traditional Zulu mat left by their late mother who wanted to enter a craft competition organised by a white priest who had visited the village. When they arrive in the big city they are confronted with a gang of street kids led by 12-year-old Chilli Bites who tells them of a friend who knows the priest. The friend turns out to not be the person Tamby and Khewezi expected…