Karabo Lediga’s Sabbatical Mines Old Memories to Make Treasure

"I had a really invasive surgery while living alone in Joburg. At the time, I didn't have anyone to take care of me post-surgery because I had a six-week recovery. I had to go home to my mom," Lediga tells OkayAfrica, adding that the period felt like a re-examination of her relationship with her mother.

Lesego's mother, Dorothy, played by the decorated, acclaimed Clementine Mosimane, who is nothing like Lediga's mother, fondly holds on to the memories of her daughter as a child. She is confident in the version of Lesego that exists in her head, a version corroded by the passage of time; this is where the conflict arises.

"We have two different cultures now because of apartheid. I had to go and learn Whiteness, and [my mother] worked hard for me to attain that. But I came back home as a foreigner, so I was really interested in examining that generational gap, which I think is very common in the global South, where people are immigrants. However, we're immigrants in our own country when we go to Whiteness and leave our homes," says Lediga.

Over a day, Lesego discovers that she is under investigation at work and that her bank accounts have been frozen. Panic ensues as she tries to undo the damage quickly taking root, leaving her mother confused and in the dark. Lesego decides to lay low for a bit, hoping that the smoke clears.

There were things Lediga was intentional about throughout the film, small details that contribute to the greater story. For instance, Lesego's mother knocks and enters her room while she's still dazed and confused, trying to figure out what is happening. She makes two universally applicable comments — one about unopened curtains and windows, and another about how late in the day it is for her daughter to still be asleep.

"There's a certain respectability that is interesting to me and that a lot of people of my generation and younger break. It's a cause for conflict, which is great for film. I'm also obsessed with nostalgia because it can be neat and romantic. It's how we remember stuff, but it's not always factual," says the director.

Being a black woman on television sets means that Lediga, who has just over two decades of experience as a writer, director, and sometimes actor on South African television classics such as the Pure Monate Show and Bantu Hour, has to consistently watch her own back by paying attention to the slightest detail. She brought this keen eye into Sabbatical, her directorial debut for a full-length feature film.

"I was very deliberate about creating the entire visual deck on my own," continues Lediga. "It's a great opportunity, to be exact, not to try to freestyle too much. It can sometimes put you in a corner, but it's good if you can be malleable. I think it's good to be prepped."

Lediga says that she wanted to distinguish between Lesego's work world, which is plush but cold and unwelcoming, and her home, which is warm and filled with distorted recollections of old events. "Much of it was borrowing from family albums, which I use a lot. Even not being too wide in the frame of the old world. It's almost like going through an album," she says.

The world of independent filmmaking requires an unrepentant attitude, an unshakable self-belief, and an abundance of community. Lediga reached out to this community about her film; her brother Kagiso Lediga's production company, Diprente, took this project on, and regular collaborators such as Loyiso Gola and Chris Forrest.