The Passage
NTOKOZO MLABA
Film
Originally Published: 19 December 2025
Film Trailer
The film is currently on its festival run and will appear in the journal in due course.
About the Film
The Passage (2024) is a 12-minute social impact film. A story that zooms in on gender based violence by taking a closer look at the role of patriarchy and how it contributes to the scourge in everyday South African Township interactions.
When Mrembula learns that Dakalo has opened a case of rape against him, he blackmails Bafana, his best friend and Dakalo’s boyfriend into fabricating the story by threatening Bafana that if he doesn’t, he will be implicated in the story. Bafana tries to resist but realises that with his hopes of making it out the hood, it would be better to go with Mrembula’s story than to end up living his days in a jail cell. Mrembula thus sits Bafana down as they recreate the recollections of the events that unfolded on that fateful night in the passage.
The Creative
NTOKOZO MLABA
Ntokozo Mlaba is a South African filmmaker, writer, director, and social activist. He began his career in theatre at the National School of the Arts and appeared in Rhythm City (2019) and Generations: The Legacy (2020). He has directed short films including A Shadow of the Liberation (2021) and To Be Seen (2022), the latter winning Best Narrative Short at the Blackboard International Film Festival and receiving a special mention for direction at the Eastern Europe Film Festival.
A co-founder of Umphakathi Artists, Ntokozo uses art to drive social change through programs that bring films and cultural activities to underprivileged communities. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is pursuing an honors in Film Directing at AFDA with support from the Teboho Mahlatsi Foundation.