Chapman alumna’s award-winning thesis film shares story of mother’s courage
Class of 2020 M.F.A. film and television production alumna Phumi Morare’s thesis film, “Lakutshon’ Llanga (When the Sun Sets),” was shortlisted for the 2022 Academy Awards before becoming available on HBO Max. The short film’s protagonist, Lerato, is played by actress Zikhona Bali. Photo courtesy of Sherry Yingying Qlan
Before Chapman alumna Phumi Morare took gold at the Student Academy Awards, the NAACP Awards and was shortlisted for the 2022 Oscars for her short film “Lakutshon’ Llanga (When the Sun Sets),” she had to work all hours of the night to complete the editing of the film.
This wasn’t due to nocturnal tendencies or unhealthy work habits. After wrapping production in March 2020, Morare and her crew were stuck in her hometown of Johannesburg, South Africa due to the lockdown.
Although her crew was able to return home, Morare would be stuck there for three months, resulting in a nine-hour time difference between her and her editor, Mojtaba Mirshekari.
“It was a little tricky; I was working at really weird hours with (Mirshekari),” Morare told The Panther. “The first three weeks, I was just fighting to come back. I was trying to do everything — like booking different flights. One of my professors just said to me, ‘Stop fighting and embrace this time with your family, because this is a time to be with family.’”
Family played an important role for Morare over those three months, and throughout her entire life, as her film is based on the true story of her mother. “When the Sun Sets” follows a Black nurse in 1985 apartheid South Africa looking for her activist younger brother who doesn’t return home from school.
“(My mother) told me about (the story) a few years ago, and it really haunted me,” Morare said. “I always thought about the different things that could have happened to her. It’s a miracle that she and my uncle are still here with us today. (Her story is) something that I wanted to write, not just to share my mom’s courage, but also just to process for myself.”
Upon completion, the film was submitted to Chapman as Morare’s thesis for her Master of Fine Arts degree in film and television producing as well as disseminated to several film festivals. Morare was soon able to travel back home and officially graduate.
After the film earned several awards from its festival circuit, it was announced December 21, 2021 that “When the Sun Sets” qualified for the 94th Academy Awards' shortlist and was one of 15 films selected to compete for Best Live Action Short Film.
“I started getting all these messages like, ‘Congratulations! Congratulations!’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?'” Morare told The Panther, describing her initial reaction to finding out about the film’s nomination. “Then I looked online, and I saw. It was honestly so wild. I would have never thought the film could have journeyed to that point.”
For Christine Cho, the film’s producer and a Chapman alumna who graduated with an M.F.A. in film and television producing, the announcement was like an early Christmas gift.
“At that point, we already had a few pleasant shocks from the film, like winning the Student Academy Awards and being nominated for a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award),” Cho said. “I was still speechless when I got the call from Phumi. It was over Christmas break, and it felt like a universal gift.”
Then, in early January, “When the Sun Sets,” was acquired by WarnerMedia OneFifty, making it readily available on the streaming site HBO Max. According to Morare, the acquisition process was straightforward, but the real issues came with renegotiating licenses.
“We had to renegotiate all of our music and archival licenses for a distribution deal, and that was when we had to tread very carefully,” Morare said. “We were licensed for a festival run, and we didn’t even think we would get distribution.”
Hailing from Johannesburg, Morare holds a background in theater that stems back to high school. It wasn’t until she watched “The Shawshank Redemption” in an English class that Morare became interested in the dynamic medium of cinema.
In 2009, Morare earned her bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Cape Town. While working at an investment bank in London, Morare kept in touch with film by visiting festivals and joining film clubs. After a few years of feeling unfulfilled, Morare decided to pursue a career in cinema, leading her to Chapman.
“From the first week you start at Chapman, you learn about the importance of collaboration and working with your peers,” Morare said. “It’s an environment where you have the opportunity to try lots of things in a safe space.
“I think that’s what I enjoyed about film school — being able to try new things and being able to fail.”
At Chapman, Morare connected with Cho during her senior year, who was looking for a script to help produce for her M.F.A. thesis.
Cho told The Panther that when she came across “When the Sun Sets,” the words leapt off the script even in the earliest drafts. Morare’s strong vision and the unique opportunity to travel to film is what convinced Cho to work on the production in South Africa.
“I knew right from the start that (Morare) had the vision, (that) she knew what she wanted and that it was very important for me as a producer to share that,” Cho said. “I learned a lot from (Morare) personally through the whole journey. I was following behind her leadership at times. I would definitely stamp her as a leader."
Chapman provided Morare with connections in South Africa for resources to actors and crew members and had professors on-call in case she needed any help managing her production. But according to Morare, when production first started, it took some convincing to assure the university it was safe to send students so far away. Although several colleagues suggested finding a place in Los Angeles to create a set resembling South Africa, where the film is set, Morare said she knew it wouldn’t be the same.
“(My crew and I) decided that, in order for us to be authentic, we have to go and shoot in South Africa,” Morare said. “The language is in Xosha. I wanted to keep it that way, because that’s how people would have spoken at that time.”
As for the film’s title, “When the Sun Sets” is a reference to a song by Miriam Makeba with the same name. Morare grew up listening to the iconic South African jazz musician and found a direct parallel between the song and the story she sought to tell.
“(“When the Sun Sets”) is this really haunting and poetic lament of someone who has lost a loved one during apartheid, and they go searching for them everywhere and can’t find them,” Morare said. “It felt thematically relevant to what I thought my mom could have experienced, because one of the scenarios I imagined was what if she never discovered my uncle and had always wondered what happened to him.”
Now, Morare is participating in screenwriting labs outside of Chapman and preparing to return to South Africa to shoot her first feature-length film, a fantasy tale based in Folklore.
