Get to Know Founder of Soweto Film Festival Thapelo Motloung, the Young Film and TV Producer Lifting Up New Voices
Two truths cannot be disputed: that the future belongs only to the youth, a generation of rightful heirs to the world of yesterday and today and that reality as we know it is shaped by the stories we tell and hear. And so when these two come together in marriage, a matrix is born – a life where storytellers shape the world and, in turn, a world that shapes the stories that are told. Nobody understands this premise of this movie called life better than young filmmaker, producer, and founder of the Soweto Film Festival Thapelo Motloung, who rose from being a young kid with a booming voice to being a spearhead of Mzansi storytelling as a countrywide movement.
Set in a shack in Freedom Park, Soweto, the development of the script for Thapelo’s life was penned amid a divorce between his parents that left him only able to scrounge for the crumbs of kindness from his neighbours that came in the shape of welcoming him into their home to watch TV. Little did they know, though, that the small act would plant a seed in young Motloung’s life.
“From an early age, I’ve always been an intentional person. I gained consciousness at around 5 or 7. Raised by mom since my parents divorced, I used to watch TV at our next-door neighbour’s house. I remember watching YoTV as a kid and being fascinated with the whole thing – that time I used to watch TV with a book on me. I used to write things down, and I remember telling people that I’d be on TV one day. And I thought it was a joke at that time. Yet I was fascinated with how these people got into the screen. That’s where the dream began,” he said.
Thapelo Motloung | SUPPLIED
The storyline of Thapelo’s life was one of fast progression, expedited by his keen literacy, his love for writing, and his voice that towered above his peers at the time. It wasn’t long before one of his poems got picked up by Sonke Gender Justice co-founder Bafana Khumalo and anthologised in a children’s book titled, We are the Future, after he spotted his talent during a school visit in which he happened to catch Thapelo reciting poetry. As karmic serendipity would have it, the publicity of the book led him to getting interviewed on the one and only YoTV.
There he caught the attention of Musa Mthombeni, one of the then presenters of the kids show, whom he credited as an influence who shaped the way he saw himself, shifting the path of his life forever. From building a relationship with the late Akhumzi Jezile to frequenting the YoTV studios just to watch things up close, his destiny was so close that he could taste it.
“I then got an opportunity shortly with a teen gospel show. Something similar to YoTV, but it was exclusive to DSTV at the time. That’s where I became the lead presenter. While I was a lead in that, I then started becoming interested in how this show was being put together. Sibusiso Mthiya then showed me the ropes there and gave me license to script my own questions. When I went to YoTV again, Akhumzi gave me the chance to put together segments with him, and that’s where my interest in being a content producer began,” he said.
When he eventually started being a regular guest presenter on the show, it was the character development that promised him a place with the stars, a gradual shift from being a side to becoming one of the main cast. It wasn’t long until he became an actual presenter on the show, and then the content producer, and eventually the executive producer. All this while shooting his own homemade short films on his phone, honing his talent.
Thapelo Motloung | SUPPLIED
Being the underdog without connections, Motloung embraced the role and kicked down doors to make way for himself and those coming after him. But things weren’t easy, as he faced industry vultures scavenging for ideas that didn’t belong to them and not knowing anyone on the inside to make life easier for him. He spoke about how those bitter experiences pushed him to found the Soweto Film Festival.
“The biggest challenge I faced is accessibility because it’s not like there’s any celebrity in my family that I need for certain doors to open. So that’s one thing. In an event where I did find access, three of my shows got stolen. Intellectual Property taken by the big houses in production. It’s painful watching one of my IPs still up right now and being publicly broadcasted. It’s very frustrating because I innocently pitched my idea to someone who only turned and helped themselves. That helped me to learn how to protect my IP better, to register my things and the formats of my work so that everything is covered. That information is vital and it’s why I started what I started and why I founded the Soweto Film Festival, to help creatives with a solid pitch by giving them everything they need, things I never had,” he said.
Thapelo Motloung | SUPPLIED
Tabz spoke about the Soweto Film Festival as a bridge meant to connect the newcomer to the industry and all its equipment and functionality as a machine powered by cogwheels of minor and major houses in production and distribution. However, the traditional world as we know it has changed as the age of the digital era has taken over. Motloung talked about the phenomenon of mobile filmmaking and how the Soweto Film Festival has joined hands with Meta to transform the dreams of aspiring filmmakers through the use of digital media and to empower them.
Happening on the 6th to the 8th of November 2025 and serving as a build-up event, Thapelo shared what the partnership with Meta is all about.
“Facebook is a partner to our mobile film workshop which is part of the Soweto Film market. This is where we train 200 young filmmakers, and so Meta comes in as a training partner. In these workshops, there’s training on how one can use Meta to market themselves and how to use the platform to edit their content. So, the platform is there to help with mobile filmmaking. If you look at the industry of Nollywood, they’re on the mobile filmmaking wave, making stuff that lives on the socials. And while all this is happening, the industry itself is becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry. And that’s what we are aiming to join by mentoring these filmmakers,” he said.