Tina Kakadelis
With Black Burns Fast, Sandulela Asanda has crafted a teen comedy that will transcend time and space. It’s the sort of sharp-witted comedy that has the potential to make real cultural waves, like Mean Girls, 10 Things I Hate About You, and the pantheon of teen rom com greats. Black Burns Fast centers on Luthando (Esihle Ndleleni), a nerdy Black girl in a prestigious, predominantly White school in South Africa. She, like most teenagers, struggles to understand her place in the world, and she’s thrown for an even bigger loop when a new classmate, Ayanda (Muadi Ilung), arrives at school. After screenings at Berlinale, Frameline, OutfestNEXT, and more, Black Burns Fast begins its South African theatrical run. Writer/director Sandulela Asanda sits down with Film Obsessive News Editor Tina Kakadelis to discuss her comedic sensibilities, creating visual whimsy, and what it means to bring Black Burns Fast home.
I read that you wrote Black Burns Fast as something you wish you could have had growing up. Maybe they weren’t explicitly queer, but what were the pieces of media you clung to as a kid that were what kind of got you through adolescence?
Sandulela Asanda: Oh, wow. That’s a really good question. I hate to say it ,and obviously we could not have pictured it now, but Harry Potter really got me through.
I mean, nobody knew back then, and it was a story of self-acceptance.
Yeah! And misfits coming together against the system. I wasn’t obsessed. I didn’t have merch, but I was there for the late-night parties to get the books. That was a very big part of my childhood.
Funnily enough, Pride and Prejudice also got me through. It was nice to see a lead female character who was smart, snarky, and held her intellect like a sword instead of trying to hide it or use it to help someone else. Like, no, this is just for me. I really love that.
I love bad women. I also had a really long obsession with Cleopatra. I’m an ancient history nerd, and the stories of ancient Egypt really gripped me. I remember being eight years old telling my friends how Cleopatra was the first pharaoh, not pharaoh-ess, but pharaoh, of Egypt. My friends were like, okay, sure, great.
And of course, Spice Girls.
I read in another interview that you don’t consider yourself funny. In these five minutes we’ve been talking, I already think that’s a lie. Why do you feel that way? Why write a comedy if you don’t feel comfortable being funny?
I don’t know, I feel like I just talk. I think maybe people laugh at me because I’m not all there rather than I’m purposefully being funny. When I was growing up, I was never the funny person. People didn’t laugh at my jokes. I just was never considered funny, so I was like, okay, maybe I’m not funny.
Why did I write a comedy? I wrote a short film about two best friends trying to figure out how to masturbate over video call. I was like, actually, if I put my mind to this, I can be funny. It worked and really translated. I was like, okay, let me keep this show on the road.
I think now I do see where I can be funny. I have a very specific sense of comedy that I enjoy. Kind of like a drier humor, more abstract than what’s considered normal comedy. I don’t even like comedians. I would never go to a comedy show. That’s not my vibe. That’s why I thought I wasn’t a funny person. I was like, oh, I don’t laugh at everything like everyone else, so I guess I’m not part of this.
I’m glad you brought up Mirror Mirror, the short film, because I tracked that down and there’s some of the visual style that continues onto Black Burns Fast. Could you talk about the transition between the two films? Is it difficult to sustain that whimsical nature you have over the course of a feature-length film as compared to the short film?
In the short film, I did not write those visual flairs into the script. What happened is that, when we were editing it, we were like, oh, it needs a lot more visual interest. I’d written in the split screens and I’d written in the words flying around her during her first attempt. That was kind of all of it though.
My producer was like, well, why don’t you carry on along this line of thinking and see what else you can do to create interest? That’s where the images came in and it was fun, but it was also really stressful refining it.
Previously, I thought I was a minimalist. I’ve been learning a lot about myself during these processes. What was nice is that I was maybe on version 2 or 3 of the feature script when we’re working on the short. I could go back and start writing these things in. Just having fun and experimenting, which has been my favorite part of making this film.
With that, it was about realizing that this type of quirky Black character, especially as a girl, doesn’t really exist in the world. I was like, okay, well, if I’m bringing her to the fore, I need to bring her out as much as possible. She had a specific brainwave and wavelength, so it’s also about bringing that to life.
What was nice about writing these stylistic choices into the script was that I had a lot more opportunities to plan, to ask questions about how things worked. I love the interplay of the in-camera special effects and doing the digital stuff as well. That was nice, because even before production, we had already started designing the emojis we would use.
But yes, it is very hard to sustain throughout a full feature film because you have to be so intentional with where you use them. If you do too much, it becomes overbearing. If you do too little, people will be like, where did it go?
I remember working with my cinematographer because we planned out all the shots together on the wall of his office. When we got to the third act, he was like, well, there’s less and less things happening visually. We had a lot of back and forth about it. Eventually, I was like, you know what, let’s keep it that way.
A large part of why we saw so much of Luthando’s visual world in the way it was expressed was because she felt so much isolation. This was a place of safety for her. Whereas by the third act, her safe world has now externalized with this friends group that has expanded with this relationship, with this growth that she’s gone through. Now she’s also more comfortable in externalizing her quirkiness rather than having it all happen in her mind. Some people get it and some people don’t. I’ve made peace with that because that’s the name of the game when it comes to making art or any piece of media.
I learned a lot in doing Black Burns Fast. I do think it’s going to be a stylistic thing I want to carry out throughout my work. I really enjoyed the play that came with it, the experimentation that came with it. I look forward to doing more with that, because I’ve always had an interest in arts and painting. Doing the stuff in my films feels very close to doing that.
The earlier draft of this film was much more serious, less comedy. You like dramas and it sounds like making a drama is not outside the realm of possibility for you. How do you bring that creativity and style to a drama without it feeling like you’re cheapening the dramatics of it? Does that intimidate you at all?
A little bit, but I think that’s part of the excitement of it. I have this challenge and this thing that I don’t know if I’ve really seen anyone else approach, so it’s my turn to see if I can make it work. I’m sure during the process I’ll be crying and hating myself. When I get it and unlock it, it’s going to be worth the squeeze. It’s a challenge I look forward to conquering.
A lot of these actors you worked with, it was their first time on a set. It’s your first time in charge of a whole feature film. How did you prepare yourself and them for taking on this thing that was foreign to everybody?
I spoke to some friends who had done their first features already and they could only tell me so much. Of course I called my therapist and my psychiatrist and I was like, girlies, this is happening in three months, let’s get to work, let’s get me into a regimen that’ll keep me sane throughout.
My biggest fear was not being able to be present, because I feel like that’s where the magic happens. You plan and plan and plan, but there’s so much that happens in the moment and on set that you need to be present for. I was really scared I was going to miss that.
I watched all these directors’ behind-the-scenes interviews. Just watching how they work and seeing like, okay, this sounds like something that could work for me, that sounds like something that wouldn’t.
My assistant was also my best friend, which was great, because she could tell when I needed a break before I could. I’m also the type of director who doesn’t take my phone out when I’m on set. If you let me, I will not eat, I will not drink water. I needed someone to say, hey, drink water.
With the girls, I gave them a lot of control. I let them have ownership of their characters. I like to say, when I write characters, I write them 70% of the way, and then I leave 30% for the actors to further develop. Whenever they had questions about their character, I’d be like, okay, well, let’s talk through it.
I made sure they did a lot of character work. Writing diary entries as their characters, writing themselves letters from when they were that age so they could get back to that place mentally. Also, just giving them grace and letting them know it’s okay to mess up. If something feels weird in your mouth, then let’s work through it. Maybe find a different way to do it. The script is not a Bible. You don’t have to stick to it. Letting them know they have the support of not only myself, but the producer and the entire crew.
At the end of the day, what’s important to you is that you want to be an African filmmaker. What does that mean to you? How do you feel your voice adds to all of the other African filmmakers you look up to and respect?
For me, that means being as authentic to my own experience as an African as possible. I have been told that there are very specific stories that come out of Africa that go to festivals. I’ve been told that my films are a bit tricky because they don’t fit that.
I also know that mine is an African story. That there are so many African people who resonate with so many specific things in the film and in my stories. It’s about keeping that belief in myself, and that’s what keeps me going.
Where I see myself is I’m a voice for young, queer Africans to tell their story. That their stories are valid, their stories are accepted, their stories can be popular, and that they can be welcomed with open arms. I think that’s the most important thing. A lot of the continent is dealing with the attempted erasure and criminalization. Whilst we’re not experiencing criminalization here in South Africa, what we are experiencing is a type of erasure. By virtue of the fact that we’re not really featured in the mainstream. If we are, we’re a side character.
There’s an organization called The Other Foundation that organizes around queer rights in and around the continent. They did a study recently that said about 56% of South Africans don’t think queer people experience any prejudice or any harm for their sexuality. At the same time, in the past few months, we’ve already had four kids, teenagers, who’ve unfortunately passed away from hate crimes.
The lack of visibility and the lack of representation really need to be fixed, because that becomes a very dangerous thing. I really want to bring that to the fore. I hate that I have to be the example that paves the way because it shouldn’t be the case, but I hope I can open up a door for more young, queer African filmmakers to be able to share their voices, share their point of view.
You’ve played at festivals, some with huge legacies, and now you’re days away from your South African premiere. How does it feel to be bringing it home?
It’s really exciting. Everyone here is so excited. It makes me really happy and kind of emotional. I remember two years before the film came out, we were pitching for financing, and we were being told by broadcasters here, we don’t really have an audience for this, we don’t think this is relevant anymore.
Now, the public response, even just from the trailers and the teasers, has been amazing. It’s gratifying and very humbling to get this reaction. I don’t know how to react. We have our premiere tomorrow, our South Africa premiere. I think like, oh my God, I’m going to cry. People are going to be clapping, I’m going to start crying, and I won’t be able to say anything.
Have you cried at the other screenings?
I have been crying and I’m over it! I’m not a person who likes to cry.
But emotions are good. I’m really grateful because I didn’t start off in this industry, but it was always something I had a secret yearning for. I never really thought it was achievable for me until I took that big leap. Oh, God, I’m going to cry.
You’ve got me tearing up, too. So if you cry, we’re crying together.
It’s been a lot in a very good way to see that I’ve been able to make a career out of this when there was a time when I was the only one who believed in myself. Now, all these other people believe in me, believe in my work, and see me, see my work.
I think the biggest thing for me is also that there are people who see themselves in it. I was this little kid who lived in an all-White suburb. We were the only Black family. Films and movies were everything to me, but I did all of that alone. I was connecting with these things, even though people who look like me weren’t in them. Now, the next Black girl has something to connect to and can also see themselves in.
I’ve been crying a whole week. It’s all been good tears.
Are you going to see it in your hometown movie theater? The one you grew up going to?
I hope so, we’re trying. We’re really trying to, but we have no marketing money. The theaters we’ve had to select have been the bigger ones. I’ve spoken to my distributor and she’s trying her best. I would love to fly home and show it to my parents. They haven’t seen it.
It would be really great to be able even to go to my old school and be like, here you go, motherfuckers. We exist.
Just project it on the side of your old school.
Literally! The place where they said, oh, we don’t do that here. Well, here we are.
