Whenever we as media producers try to tell the stories of others, we must by the very nature of our work carefully think about matters of representation. As students of media studies at Rhodes University, we have certainly had our fair share of classes, assignments and examinations relating to the fair and ethical representation of others, and certainly these lessons remain valuable to us here, but in filming iNtombi Nto there was one very specific balance that had to be struck- one between telling a story faithfully, and respecting those who have provided accommodation, food, and good company for the entirety of the filming period.

 

 

iNtombi Nto is at its heart a story about balance and so it is perhaps fitting that we had to find our own balance. On the one hand any narrative only seems to work when some form of conflict is created or highlighted, and certainly Nompilo, our protagonist, had her fair share of ideological and philosophical differences from her family, but on the other hand, the relationship was one of love and understanding, compromise and close family bonds, rather than bitterness and reality-TV-style infighting.

 

So to what point is it ethical to highlight their disagreements as individuals? Where lies the boundary between creating fair narrative and misrepresenting an entire family? These are not questions that have hard and fast answers but are rather things that each and every journalist, filmmaker, or media producer ought to address within themselves as they make a piece of media.

 

However, issues around sidelining the good for the sake of decent narrative can be only one side of the issues around representation. Equally, when being embedded in the world of your subject, it can feel awkward and invasive to highlight negative aspects of said subjects. Our team had some disagreement on what to do in these situations and in each case opted for a majority vote, erring on the side of respectfulness. There is nothing wrong with this approach and again is something that each media maker must work through personally.

In our case, issues such as portraying animals being slaughtered were downplayed so as not to offend audiences, while nudity and prayers to the family ancestors were also discussed as being too invasive into the family’s personal life. Disagreements rose up between the team and executive producers as well, as to which questions we should have asked our subjects. In Zulu culture, respect for elders is paramount, and to delve into issues of race, virginity-testing, religion and other deeply held beliefs made various team members uncomfortable, especially given the hospitality of our hosts.

 

At the end of it all, it must be said, a film was produced with which the team is greatly satisfied. A story about balancing two sides of one’s life could probably only have been done justice in this way. With African cultures so often portrayed as backward, as showpieces for the West, it was certainly refreshing to bring ourselves to ask questions of ethical representation of African cultures here in South Africa. Perhaps we weren’t as deeply embedded as journalists deployed with soldiers in Afghanistan or the DRC, giving us more room to ask more questions of our subjects, but in our daily journeys as media-makers it was an experience that was enlightening beyond measure.