Sakhile Dlamini

I am Sakhile. Filmmaker, storyteller, musician, and builder – these are the roles I embrace, all fueled by an innate drive to create. As a Sagittarius, I inherently love to build, and my passion for it extends to everything I touch: from crafting melodies and weaving narratives to nurturing friendships and, quite literally, erecting structures. Currently, my days are spent in the construction industry. Here, I physically build, laying foundations and shaping spaces. This hands-on experience fuels a specific ambition: I envision a future where I master set design, applying my innate understanding of structure and aesthetics to create immersive worlds for the screen. My journey in film actively began on the set of the international feature film, Wah, Wah. Shot in Swaziland by Richard E. Grant's team, this project offered a training program that I eagerly joined. I took on various roles, from being an extra to helping with clean-up. Even in those seemingly minor tasks, I absorbed the magic of filmmaking, understanding the intricate process of scene creation. Throughout my teenage years, I immersed myself in an extra-mural development workshop. This was no ordinary class; we, the participants, produced and filmed content for our own weekly Channel Swazi TV Show, Shoo-Vibe. This hands-on experience was invaluable, teaching me the practicalities of production from the ground up. My path then led me to become a Swaziland correspondent for the Netherlands' VPRO Broadcasting's Metropolis TV show. I produced and presented numerous short documentary film reports, bringing stories from home to an international audience. This experience further honed my storytelling and journalistic skills, culminating in a significant recognition when I was selected for Berlinale Talent Durban, a testament to my dedication and emerging craft. From the construction site to the film set, from composing music to crafting narratives, my life is a continuous act of building. Every experience, every role, has laid another brick in the foundation of who I am today: a builder of worlds, both tangible and imaginative, always eager to create what comes next