As 2025 winds down, I wanted to share a final update before I go offline for the next few months. Post-production for THisAbility is still ongoing, and it’s taking much longer than I anticipated. I had truly hoped to finish everything by December, but it now looks like the film will only be completed in January. Such is the unpredictable rhythm of filmmaking — even when you think you can see the finish line.
After a very productive year riding on the wave of THisAbility, it has felt strange — almost surreal — to be met with so many rejections all at once. These opportunities were meant to carry me financially into the new year, but instead the slate seems to be clearing itself in unexpected ways.
In the past few weeks, I received rejections from:
- Global Health Film Grant
- First Flights x Kodak Short Film Fund 2025
- MultiChoice (kykNET) television series proposal
- BASA Supporting Grant
- Princeton Arts Fellowship
- Hodder Fellowship
- NFVF Fully Inclusive Grant (disqualified due to my existing THisAbility contract)
- Two KKNK festival applications
It’s been a strange emotional contrast — momentum on one side, closed doors on the other.
There was one positive note: I received a R30,000 SACO scholarship to study my Master’s in Creative Writing at Nelson Mandela University next year. Unfortunately, I will have to decline it. I’m still waiting for results from NRF and NFVF regarding full bursaries, and without one of those, I won’t be able to study. SACO’s Clause 7 also prevents me from holding an NRF and SACO scholarship at the same time, and if I am awarded NRF, it would fully fund my studies.
This will likely be my last post for the year. I’ll be offline for a while, only resurfacing for THisAbility updates.
I am fully embracing the much-awaited summer in Jeffrey’s Bay, and enjoying my final few weeks and season here — five years that I’ve lived in this beautiful place.
