This month, we paid a visit to the Johannesburg Film Festival at Theater on The Square, and we got to catch up with the cast and crew behind the “Batwing Unmasked” documentary. In a video interview, we had a conversation with visual artist Loyiso Mkize and film producer Joachim Landau about their contributions and inspiration surrounding the documentary. You can have a look at the interview by clicking here.
On the panel was South African actor and activist Siv Ngesi, who unfortunately could not join us for the interview. On a lighter note, he was kind enough to answer a few questions we had mailed over to him. Enjoy! 🙂
Having had no prior interaction with comics, what brought your attention to Batwing? And aside from his African identity, are there any other factors of his character that piqued your interest?
SN: I have had no prior interaction with comics. I don’t know how it happened, how I lived my entire 40 years on this earth without ever reading a comic. But for Batwing, I’d seen bits and pieces here and there, but I never knew anything about it. I wish I knew so much more about it when I was a kid. I think as a kid, I needed this guy who looked like me, who was like helping other people. We had all these troubles that many people in Africa have. And like aside from his African identity, other factors. You know what I love about him the most is that he’s real. I’m all about realism. I’m all about being flawed, consistency, trying to unlearn and learn like every man in the world should be and I love how open he is to vulnerability.
In what ways do you think there was a lack of accuracy in the portrayal of Batwing upon your first interaction?
SN: I think for me, Batwing is more important than a lot of the big well-known comics. I think for me with the African population, I think it doesn’t give it justice. I think more kids need superhero’s who look like them. So what was the lack of accuracy. I think he needs more attention and he’s more important.
What's your hot take on this story?
With your sights set on the intrinsic attributes of Batwing, what are your own personal characteristics you could see being incorporated into the character’s nature?
SN: I think there are a lot of similarities. I think for me with my character traits I have, I think there are some similarities. I love fighting for people who are being marginalized. I love fighting for women and children. I’m open about my flaws and how I want to improve and how I want to do better. I don’t mind showing people that I’m hurt but the external of me is all muscle, its all cockiness but inside I’m just a gigantic marshmallow.
Our stories are always told for us, and even as hard as they try to make improvements, there is hardly ever any authenticity, intention or attention to detail. In what way do you believe you brought a different angle to what the documentary is/was aiming to achieve?
SN: Yeah, I think the fourth question Is very important. Our stories are always told for us, and I think we have to get to the point of telling our own stories. So that’s like, we need people to risk and put money into our own stories. In what way do I believe I brought a different angle? I think for me being African and being in Africa is not easy. I think everyone understands that but I think there is more to African pain than just the typical hinger and violence et cetera. I think there is a hardship of being an African man and being vulnerable and not having the world just see you as this gigantic monster with darkskin. I think I spoke about that a lot. I spoke about the vulnerability of being a man and African. Africa is difficult place. I think the outside world thinks they know us. What its about for me is that I want Africans to be able to tell their own stories in an authentic way, in a real manner like only Africans can.
