Sunset Filmmaker Profiles Teenagers in Crisis

By Judith Kahn

Sanelle Sibanda's new film "Generation Now" premiered at the Four Star Theater, located at Clement Street and 24th Avenue, April 3.

The 95 minute film was selected to play at the Cinequest Film Festival. In the film, multicultural teenagers triumph over adversity when a teenage girl, Electra, struggles with her depressed alcoholic father and decides to find family elsewhere. Her neighborhood friends meet up with another group of teenagers, led by Zero, whose mother is a drug addict. Each struggles with the issue of absentee parents.

Sibanda was born in Zimbabwe and spent his youth living both in Bulawayo, a major city in Zimbabwe, and in the countryside with his grandmother as the country was in the midst of civil war in the '70s and '80s. When it was safe, he spent the time with his parents in the city and when it was not, he would return to the country. He remembers his grandmother concealing him in corn fields when she heard soldiers entering the village. In his younger years, life was like a revolving door - often a very dangerous one.

This soft-spoken man is not a stranger to adversity or violence. Throughout his life, he has made a conscious decision to follow a path of nonviolence. He has always been interested in communication and concerned about people. In 1996, he graduated from the University of Texas in Austin, majoring in communication sciences. He continued his education and received a masters in disability management from the University in London in 2001. That year, he came to San Francisco. To date, he has produced numerous films, including "English Tea," "Who Gets the Child," "What is Love," and "Dance Ground." All of them are on DVD and can be bought directly at Sibanda's Web site at www.generationnowfilm.com.

Sibanda discovered that it is not necessary to have large-scale equipment to produce films and that it was possible to produce movies through DVD technology.

Presently, he works as a social worker as he continues to produce independent films. He choose social work in the hopes that he could help people improve their situations.

His goal in both his past and future films is to bring different cultures together. He hopes that through his films, people from different cultures can see themselves as one and learn to trust each other as human beings. To date, all of his films take place in San Francisco.

All of Sibanda's films concern multicultural teenagers who are in crisis - usually with absentee parents. In all of the films, the teenagers are able to walk away from the violence they face and learn how to turn a negative situation in to a positive one. His hope is that people who see his films find hope.

For Sibanda, the most gratifying aspect of being an independent filmmaker is being able to express himself. He is proud to say that all of his films avoid scenes of nudity and profanity. He is extremely proud that violence is implied in his films, but not acted out.

Throughout the years, Sibanda has worked as an actor, director, writer and choreographer. This experience, he says, has made him a stronger independent filmmaker because it has given a greater understanding of the different stages of this art.

The challenge for a director is to make actors happy; pay them, give them recognition and support so they do not leave midway in the production. This is often difficult, says Sibanda, since the director is usually working with a limited budget. As a choreographer, he must be able to successfully coordinate with the camera crew and others so no once gets impatient as each waits for their instructions.

He noted that "Dance Group" was his favorite film because he loves dance and the film features dances from many cultures. He is now working on a film which will take place in Africa and San Francisco.

When it comes to funding his projects,Sibanda is quite creative. Besides applying for grants, he uses his savings and buys his equipment from e-bay and Craig's List.

To view or buy Sibanda's movie projects, e-mail webmaster@thecultureproductions.com.