The Film
the story, the people, the music
What is this film about?
We are Zama Zama: A portrait of migrants eking a living in the depths of South Africa’s abandoned gold mines.
“Rosalind Morris weaves a transfixing narrative about the lives of migrants whose flight from neighboring Zimbabwe has led them to seek gold in the ruins. In harrowing POV footage shot by the miners, we follow three men into the underground where they spend days, seeking gold and friendship while fearing accident and violence.
Above ground, in sequences shot over a period of two years, we join women as they crush rock by hand and learn of their desperate border crossings. In the ruins, elders remember days of plenty and dream of their return.
Ordinary lives of endurance and desire unfold against a backdrop of gang wars in which two of the film’s subjects are shot. The film is anchored in the lives of three men, their families and friends. With wit, political savvy, piquant emotion and narrative brio, they tell their stories with Morris as their medium.”
Individuals
ROGERS ‘BHEKANI’ MUMPANDE
“I’m not stealing from somebody. I’m working for myself. I risk for my own reasons. Just, I’m stranded. …That’s the only job I know, which I can do.”
Sarah Muchimba
“There is no work. Even … for domestic work, sometimes, they ask you for ID or a passport. You don’t have a passport. You’re just a regular person. You came from the bush, you’re a nobody. … We are still here, but the hardships are real.”
DARREN MUNENGE
“When I’m on the outside, I like visiting my friends. We like to go play snooker and other games. … That’s what I like doing when I’m outside, because I’m free. I wish to have a prosperous life and forget that I grew up struggling.”
PROSPER NCUBE
“Since my father died, all my family put their hope in me…in a country where you are not free…in terms of those documents…I didn’t know it would be that difficult. I have to go back and complete my studies [and] come back again with all my documents which can make me free.”
Fanie MagwazA
“You can learn something from the foreigner.”
More than a Soundtrack
The Music of We are Zama Zama
Life in this world is full of music—both above ground, where it fills the marketplace’s air, and underground, where miners listen to their favorite songs on their cellphones. The cracking soundtrack of We are Zama Zama echoes this rich sound world.
We’ve worked hard to obtain rights for music, mostly by from local musicians, to give the film both a strong emotional core and a musical truth, a driving rhythm and meditative accompaniment. From the classic kwaito, in Mandoza’s Phunyaka Bamphete, to the versatile rap of Linda Mkhize, otherwise known as Pro KID; from the soulful lamentations of the Xhosa singer and bow-player Madosini, to the insurrectionary pop of Nokwazi, the radical rock of BLK JKS, and the soulful jazz of Salaelo Selota, the soundtrack builds on a gorgeous compilation of regional artistry. It is rounded out by instrumental work by Canadian/New York cellist Julia Kent.
All of this is embedded in a soundtrack edited and designed by Mar Heredia and mixed by Lee Salevan at Warner Brothers Studio. We’re enormously proud of the tribute to Southern African music that the film contains.