Introducing the collective of young, black creative talent – ranging from directors and photographers to content producers and writers – set on changing the way we tell the stories of black South Africans. 

Simoné Bosman, a reputable creative advertising TV Producer, has partnered with the co-founders of Darling Films, Melina McDonald & Lorraine Smit, to start South Africa’s first majority black-female-owned commercials production house – Molo Sana Films.
With the motto “we’ve got your black”, Molo Sana will strive to create authentic communication with real insights and stories as its focus. Sharing the same ethos as Darling to groom new talent, Molo Sana celebrate new, black creative talent in South Africa as well on the continent. The group of creative talent will use their on-the-ground knowledge of South Africa, and its unique idiosyncrasies, to partner with agencies in producing adverts and online content that will resonate with the black, South African audience.
Their portfolio is multi-faceted. The Molo Sana pool of established film directors has a strong background in the production of well-known South African TV-series, such as Mfolozi Street, ground-breaking music videos and a movie  “A Zulu Wedding”, set for release in 2017. 

With Simoné’s knowledge of the advertising industry and Darling’s expertise in the film production industry, they have the experience to find the right creative opportunities – with a focus on collaboration – within agencies for their talent. The driving force behind Molo Sana is their goal to spearhead transformation within the advertising and commercials film industry by providing new, black creative film directors & photographers the opportunity to work alongside agencies to bridge the gap between “audience” and “creators”.

1. Starting a production company is no small feat, especially one that aims to change the landscape of South African storytelling in media. So tell us how you reached this exciting point in your career?

It all started with me deciding in high school that I wanted to become a journalist as I had the burning desire then to go out into to the world and uncover real stories. I started to investigate the possibilities of journalism and found myself presenting & producing a youth radio show on Bush Radio, a community radio station in Cape Town. During matric, I decided to apply to study Film and Media at UCT and it’s here that I was introduced to various fields other than only journalism. One of the courses I took was advertising, and we were introduced to various industry professionals that came to talk about it. I was so excited because they all looked so fancy, like they had so much money. So I made the decision to change career paths. And as I had a student loan to pay, I altered my vision to give advertising a chance. After graduation, I worked at production houses as a production assistant & co-ordinator. But after interacting and understanding how agencies worked in relation to brands, I soon thereafter worked at Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town as TV Assistant. Less than two years later, I moved to Johannesburg and worked at MetropolitanRepublic where I evolved into becoming a creative senior TV producer. Later, I was head hunted by Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg where I ended my Agency Producer career. Both the latter agencies exposed me to more local South African brands, and afforded me the opportunity to work closely with clients to understand their brands and how it fed the South African culture.

2. How do you think the telling of authentic South African stories can be improved?

I think that we need to celebrate ourselves more as South Africans and look at the new stories that we are creating. A few years back, when Skhothane’s were acknowledged they were met with a lot of negativity and misrepresentation. Today we see more Skhothane’s in our ads and music videos, which is already showing us that we can tell authentic stories.

3. Is the landscape of storytelling changing in SA and is it representative of our country’s diversity?

South Africa is not the same 5 or 10 years ago. We all have access to the internet, people in rural areas also have access to Facebook, WhatsApp and they’re also sharing memes. People that live in a 4 room house also have DStv and through TV shows like Our Perfect Wedding we see how the supposed “lower LSM” are able to afford a huge white wedding and a big cake and drive a fancy car. We do not need to produce stories that only reflect the “affluent” South Africa. We need to now look at the transformed South Africa and all of our cultures and start producing content and adverts that are relevant today.

4. So, where to from here?

Instead of portraying the expected views of our cultures, Molo Sana will turn her head toward the other direction to celebrate “newness”. We want to capture and celebrate the interesting and unexplored South Africa of today to produce stories that reflect our new realities.

5. What most excites you about the future of Molo Sana?

I am most excited to partner with advertising agencies and brands to discover and celebrate the new things that are brewing in this country and also on the continent.
I am even more excited to be part of the creative journey to produce content that will inspire and transform the world’s view of South Africa. And with my partnership with Melina Mc Donald & Lorraine Smit of Darling Films, I strongly believe that we have the winning formula in achieving this.