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National Women's Month with internationally acclaimed filmmaker Godisamang Khunou

Godisamang Khunou's pan-African whose feminism documentaries have scooped awards both abroad and here at home, says the women of 1956 crawled so we could all sprint.

Written by

Mbali Mbatha

City EditorTuesday 18 August 2026

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Godi is proud of being the product of a star-quality country, saying this gives her the confidence to ascend global stages. Having used her platform to address some of the challenges faced by women, Godi traces these societal ills back to how we are socialised as children. She worries about how the message of awareness does not reach the targeted audience though, saying that preaching to the converted is not the solution.

“The gap I’ve noticed in these conversations is how we’re talking to people who are in agreement in terms of access to information and emotional intelligence, and not so much to the perpetrators,” she laments.

Being a woman in 2026 South Africa

As a woman in South Africa today, Godi says she has always been in awe of the women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956. In the Global Feminist Pitch documentary anthology titled Daughters of the Tallest Tree, Godisamang Khunou directed a short film segment titled Tea Parties.

“The anthology focuses on protests by women from the Global South and I focused on Mama Lillian Ngoyi and Mama Helen Joseph and how they managed to assemble 20 000 women from different ethnicities to stand together for one cause,” she explains.

She believes that there is power in numbers, and that women must stand together against femicide and gender-based violence because our struggle is universal and does not discriminate.

Nine out of ten times in her life, Godi says her protection and saving grace has been women. But feminism alone cannot win the fight, as Godi puts the onus on men to also call each other out when someone in their close circle is a perpetrator.

Women in film

Various platforms exist where film can be experienced, but Godi says there is room for improvement when it comes to access. Film festivals, for example, usually attract the same people.

“A lot of the time, it’s distribution, and in South Africa, we have not really broken into digital platforms being an equaliser because I still get asked which TV channel my films can be accessed on,” she says.

There is hope though, because Godi says audiences are out there; it is only a matter of filmmakers meeting them where they are. Collaborations could be the solution here, as she shares how the US Embassy worked with the John Kani Performing Arts Academy.

“For my part in the project, I shared what has worked for me in terms of breaking into the international scene. Education is important, and I’m also working with FAME Week Africa so that we can implement this innovative research.”

Godi is also leaning into her fellow alumni at the Mandela Washington Fellowship to bridge the gap between academia and the creative industry, and through her Frames of Freedom initiative, she has partnered with FAME Week Africa to elevate representation of women in film and television through workshops and webinars taking place during women's month.

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