“Black Burns Fast:” Director Sandulela Asanda Sits Down With Us To Talk About Their Debut Film

I definitely felt the growth from Mirror, Mirror.

Yeah, I think I got a bit older. And you watch things back and like, I could have done it better. Money also helps a lot. In Mirror, Mirror, I shot that in my apartment a few days before I was supposed to move out, so I could do it. Having access to money and more possibilities also helps a lot in how you think because then you’re also willing to experiment a bit more.

Each of the actors in Black Burns Fast bring such a distinct energy to the film. How did you guide them to embody their character?

It was a lot of just personal work. I maybe had, like, two weeks to rehearse with all of the main cast. My biggest focus was just the way the girls related to each other as a group, in their roles, whilst we didn’t always rehearse lines, at least they knew at the core who the person was and why they did things. On the first night of rehearsals, I held a sleepover party at my apartment, we watched Bottoms, we had pizza, and we just talked about our high school experiences. Kind of how we wanted to relate to the characters, how I wanted them to relate to their characters, but also I wanted other people to relate to the characters. I also made a WhatsApp group for everyone, and in that group, there would be certain days where they had to speak to each other as their characters. There’s no way they could get out of it for at least an hour once a week. I also gave them homework; they had to write a letter to those 17-year-old selves, just to get them into that place, mentally, as well as just record video diaries of their character. Making sure that they knew where the character was coming from. I really encouraged them just to interrogate why the character made certain decisions in the film. They’d ask me questions, “I’d be like, okay, why do you think this? Or why do you think that’s an issue?” I think that also helps them critically engage with who their character was to see where they’re coming from. I think it all worked out, thank God.

Are there any books or films that helped inspire some ideas?

I would say Pariah by Dee Rees. Also, The Incredibly True Story of Two Girls in Love. Rafiki, of course, had some influence there, especially in terms of just like the approach, when you reference it in terms of Afro bubble gum, which is like approaching the African story in a lighter way, in a brighter way, that’s more colourful. I think Bottoms, in terms of just where I like, try to aim, like the levity in certain places. I didn’t go full tilt in that direction because I wanted a slightly lower age rating. Because, you know, at the end of the day, I wanted this film to be watched by as many people as possible, I had to keep that in mind.

One of the notes I made was that you write the teenagers well, which I think is really hard to do. I think a lot of the time when people write teenagers, it either comes across as really cringy or weirdly done. When watching it, I was like this is along the same lines as Bottoms, where it’s, like, actual teenagers and not just this weird concept of what a teenager looks like from this middle-aged man’s perspective.

That’s one of my biggest pet peeves when I watch television! I’m like, who talks like this?! It doesn’t make sense. I had a lot of – I don’t want to say – pressure on myself, but I was like, I know who these girls are. I know how they speak, it was quite easy in that sense to get how they sound and how they speak. Then I also worked, of course, with the actors as well. It was really about, if I heard them saying something that didn’t sound right, I’d be like, “Okay, what sounds better in your mouth or how would you say this?” They also kind of collaborated in that sense as well, which helps a lot.

You mentioned that the film addresses South African history and discrimination within schools like AGC. How important was it for you to weave these themes into the narrative without making them feel too heavy?

Definitely, I wrote seven drafts in total, and I think the earlier drafts were slightly more political. I think because I was just working out, as I was in the early stage of working through things mentally and emotionally. There was no way I could speak about Lutando’s journey and those groups of girls and the way they navigate the space without talking about South African history and the current social and economic landscape, because that affects them even in this kind of bubble. In my mind, these schools are kind of like a bit lonely and a bit la di da, but they still reflect what’s happening in general society in South Africa, the discourses that are happening, the attitudes that are still prevalent because these kids are taking this from their dining, into school, and their parents are bringing it from work. That’s the wider world, being reflected in how these girls and these boys all relate to each other, so it was really important. I don’t think there was a way to tell the story without talking about those things.