“B(l)ind the Sacrifice”: Nakhane Pokes at Organised Religion and Received Traditional Knowledge

When I spoke to Nakhane on Zoom recently, I wanted to know why they made B(l)ind the Sacrifice their directorial debut. They responded with an expansive anecdote about the story’s origin. “The making of the films happens to be a coincidence,” they start saying. They had gone to the countryside, as a ritual of theirs, to commence the writing of their second novel. The first two days proved difficult and, to prepare their mind, they started a low-stakes activity: writing a short story. “The idea for this short story has stayed with me for over a decade from when I was still a church-going person. While still Christian, they were studying Genesis in their church when the story of Abraham and Isaac came up. As they recount, they remember being troubled about what that [near death] experience must have meant for Isaac. “So, while preparing to write my second novel, I started developing the story. Upon completion and sharing it with my agent and partner, they suggest adapting it into a screenplay. When I gave in to that advice, the story changed, “ they mention.

The film which screened at the Short Film Program section of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival follows a nomadic family with Sihle Shona Mnqwazana, as the son, Treasure Nkosi, the father and Nandi Nyembe as the mother. Although of Biblical origin, the film subverts its origin for something intimately African in language, costume design, setting, sound, acting and narrative. “Although I don’t speak Christianity anymore, I still view it as my mother tongue; it still informs what I do. This plays out in my rejection of it and usage of Biblical language. In making B(l)ind the Sacrifice, instead of running away from this mother tongue, I dived deep into it,” Nakhane says.

This interview with Nakhane has been edited for brevity and clarity.

You mentioned that you want viewers to question received traditional knowledge. What’s the origin of this rebellion and why is it important for you as an artist?

This has been my “problem” since childhood until now. During band and orchestra practices, I always ask how what has been taught can be used to explore something different and new. This frustrated my teachers who just wanted me to play shit music and keep it moving. I can trace this rebellion and experimentation drive to my family background. My mother, due to her faith in my abilities, made me believe I could do anything I set my mind to. This support system sets the tone for who I am. It also made me realize that there will be pushbacks. That there will be people who will dictate what you should and shouldn’t do to be a successful artist.

Yes. I have always questioned things. I tried, as much as possible, to be a good and devout Christian but it didn’t work. But, I knew it was going to be a huge part of my artistry. In the last five years, I pretended that my biography wasn’t part of my work. A Western reading of literature says that your life, as an artist, shouldn’t influence your work. That you should rely solely on your imagination as if that isn’t a collection of identity. Thus, with the film, I decided to embrace myself as a whole. This means dragging all the parts of me(good or bad) into the story. Working on the film, I learned to trust my gut and that was something I felt I lost five years ago. With the film, I wanted to kill multiple birds (patriarchy, Christianity, betrayal, love, and family) with a stone. If the film is one thing, it’s the trusting of my vision.

The lead leans towards his mother. Was this an autobiographical choice and why was it important?

Like the lead character, my mother was all I had for the longest. Also, because I knew the film was dark, brutal, and heavy, I needed someone who would bring, even if temporarily, love. In my personal life, my mom and aunties always encourage me to laugh even when things are dark and depressing. These mother figures are the ones who made me feel like I deserved to be here in the world, it wasn’t my father or uncle. If anything, most of the male figures in my life wanted me to tow the line.

Additionally, the film opens with the mother reiterating how important it is to follow the family’s tradition and obey the father. I wanted to use this to state that sometimes the victims of patriarchy subconsciously ensure that it stays in power. Although she doesn’t participate in the sacrifice, it’s ambiguous as to if she knows about two important incidents in the film: The attempted sacrifice and the lead character’s killing of his father. I decided to do that to leave ambiguity in the audiences’ consciousness.

But, back to the film, it’s the son’s responsibility to end things, not the mother. The question then is: what happens after? Does he become another version of his patriarchal father? Does he change the status quo? Was he fighting for his personal emancipation or that of others under his father’s stronghold?

That conversation around patriarchy is important… especially with the father figure in the film acting as the totem of authority…

Yes. I was also questioning the exclusivity and sacredness attached to religious practices. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart had a huge impact on me. When reading it, I questioned why Okonkwo and the men had to go to the forest. Why can’t the ancestors speak to them amidst the people? Why must the killing be done in secrecy? So, with the father figure, I was playing with the idea of how patriarchy attaches secrecy to itself in religious settings. Outside of patriarchy, this also plays out in conversations around white supremacy and homophobia. The arguments are always based on suggestion and secrecy.

I love our culture and tradition. The more I learn about what it means to be a South African and African, the more I realize there is so much to love about ourselves and that culture is man-made. What this means is that culture can change if it no longer serves the people. The real question is: who has the power to manifest that change? Mostly, the power resides with straight men. It falls on marginalized people to question these power-wielding men. Culture is a living thing that becomes dangerous the moment it becomes static. And, for me, the son is the one that disturbs the stability of that perceived culture and knowledge.

You are a multidisciplinary artist. What unifies all these distinct artistic expressions and how do they feed on each other? You wrote, directed and composed the sound for your film. How did this help uphold some of your artistic and auditory choices?

What unifies the expressions is me. I’m the fulcrum because they are all shot through the lens of my brain. They may be very different but from the very beginning of my life as an artist, I’ve used one to either influence or support the other. I’ve always wanted to write ‘cinematic’ music, and to write ‘musical’ words, etc. Having said that – and this took years for me to understand – I can’t do them at the same time. I must work on one project(medium) at a time, to hook myself into it.

In terms of composing the score for the film I initially rejected the idea. But my producer, after we had received a pass we were both unhappy with, just said, “Do it.” The reason I didn’t want to do it was out of pure laziness. The film took very long to edit and by the time we were working on the sound and grading I was exhausted. But I managed to pull off something I was very proud of.

The film was first screened at the Locarno Film Festival and now at Sundance. How do these two festivals make you feel? And, as an African filmmaker, what does it inform you about African storytelling and its “acceptance” at international film festivals?

We still live in a world that judges legitimacy by where one’s work is displayed. So that’s exactly what these festivals have done for me. They say, “Look, this is a serious filmmaker, they’re not just dabbling.”

The second part of your question is harder to answer because in truth I don’t know. But my gut says that Africa needs its own. But if some African kid sees my films billed on formidable, international festivals and that gives them the push they need to make their own thing, then I’m happy. We always need more.

To detour a bit. What do you make of Western media and writers critiquing African cinema?

I think it’s an appreciation and understanding of the art. But, in these reviews, specific cultural nuances are lost. I have repeatedly spoken about the form and originality of acting as it relates to different cultures and countries. There is always a complaint that South African acting is over the top or theatrical. But, then you watch films by Spanish actors and discover that it’s also melodramatic and over the top in their way. What I think is important is that critics should bring respect and curiosity when analyzing African cinema. African cinema is always expected to behave as Western cinema.

What a critic should have is curiosity and respect for the culture they are interrogating…

Yes.

We must have more African critics and journalists documenting African cinema. The Western media still have immense power and people, globally, take their words as authority. In my work as a musician, this also plays out too. I have read reviews about my songs and I detect that these Western writers don’t get it. For me, it’s easy to spot that the writer came to the work with their values about what is good and they judge the work with those values. Conversely, there is no right or wrong in any art form. Art is made in the breaking and creating of conventions. And, if the critic doesn’t understand the specificity of the art form they engage with then I don’t believe they are qualified to write about it. (The closest example I can think of is a White straight critic writing about Jazz.) And this isn’t to say they can’t write about jazz but they should learn and give us the respect of understanding our indigenous art forms.

This feeds into the need to archive and document our cultural production. It also speaks to the disinterest of the African government in archiving African arts and culture.

It’s important as Africans to archive our culture and history. We have to make sure that we keep the conversation alive about our work. Few critics after the death of English writer Virginia Woolf did a critical appraisal of her work. What these analyses inspired is the mainstream attention Woolf has continually enjoyed. This informs us of the need for African critics and media houses to talk about African films and filmmakers otherwise the work gets forgotten and dies.

To the second part of your question. Where is the African equivalent of the American National Library where they archive films and arts that are culturally important? Why is it difficult for Africans to watch Ousmane Sembène‘s films and Djibril Diop Mambéty‘s films besides Touki Bouki? What are our leaders doing about this? It’s sad and annoying that South African newspapers from the 1900s aren’t readily available in the country but are available in the British Library.

It’s a sad reality. But, despite these challenges African filmmakers are still making films. Filmmakers like Baloji, Rungano Nyoni, Mati Diop, C.J. “Fiery” Obasi have represented the continent at international film festivals. What do you make of this?

Technology has opened up space. But, I wouldn’t say technology has completely democratized art because there are still gatekeepers. But, what it has done is to allow artists to make films. It’s left for the whole world to catch up. It’s frustrating how the world is turning. But, it’s exciting to know that unmindful of what gatekeepers do, people are still going to make things. And, it’s our collective responsibility to make sure that those things show as multiple parts of us and artists shouldn’t be dictated to what and how to make things.

Not to sound defeatist. But, it gets emotionally overwhelming observing the government’s lackluster attitude towards culture, art, and education. Does this get to you, too?

It’s difficult, it hurts, and exhausting. The exhaustion gradually makes you think nothing can be done. But, the most important thing is that you can only do what you are good at. If you are a writer, keep writing about it. I have had situations when I created works I thought no one cared about. But, out of nowhere, someone texts me telling me about the importance of that. My role and duty is to do the work and not expect it to feed on my ego or expectations. If just one person connects to my work and spreads it across then I think my work is complete. Where are the African-owned cultural institutions that fund the art?

You wrote that an artist tells variations of a single story all through their artistic journey. What’s the one story you’re hoping to tell the world?

Now the irony is that one’s life is spent figuring this out. The entirety of your life is working through this one story, learning its many iterations, curves, edges etc., and while you’re doing that you’re changing so it seems the story is also changing. But then when you look back, take a Birds Eye-view of the thing you see how cyclical it’s been.

Plans on making a feature?

Definitely. The short is a proof-of-concept.