'Sidlo Sekugcina' and the quiet rise of Eswatini’s film voice

By Mrs M 

In a small yet stirring 8-minute short film, Sidlo Sekugcina attempts something bold: to retell one of the most universally known biblical events, the Last Supper in SiSwati, through Swazi bodies, language, and regalia. 

For a nation still nurturing its cinematic voice, this project produced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and now also producer Pholile Shakantu is both a quiet revolution and a heartfelt offering.

Let’s get this out of the way: the film is not without flaws. The pacing lags, some performances feel uncertain, and the cinematography occasionally fumbles under the weight of its own ambition. 

Yet, to judge this short purely by conventional film standards would be to miss the bigger picture. Sidlo Sekugcina is more than just a film. It is a statement, a beginning almost a reclaiming of a sacred narrative through an African lens.

It’s jarring at first in the most wonderful way to hear ‘Jesus’ speak in SiSwati, draped in traditional attire, surrounded by his disciples who look like men from our churches, our schools, our homesteads. 

For once, the Gospel doesn’t feel imported. It feels lived-in. Rooted in a world where Christianity often arrived with colonial undertones, Sidlo Sekugcina flips that history on its head. 

It reminds us that sacred stories belong to us too. That the table of the Lord is not draped only in Roman robes but can also bear emahiya, beads, and ancestral echoes. The dialogue, while simple, hits differently in mother tongue. 

“This is my body, this is my blood” becomes more intimate when spoken in SiSwati. The film invites us to reflect on that night not as something far away, but as a moment that could’ve happened literally anywhere in Eswatini, could have been in Ezulwini, no pun intended.

Critics may call it underdeveloped, they wouldn’t be wrong. The film’s scope is ambitious, but its execution still shows the limitations of a young industry budget constraints, technical gaps, and perhaps an over-reliance on the power of symbolism to carry a scene but again, to only see what it lacks is to miss what it gives.

Sidlo Sekugcina is not a polished Hollywood product and it’s not trying to be. It’s grassroots storytelling. The kind of art that emerges not from profit but from passion. And isn’t that how movements begin?

The cast may be unknown to many who haven't been in the arts, the dialogue may be sparse. However the intention is loud: Eswatini’s film industry is not waiting for permission. It is telling stories now with what it has, how it can, and most importantly, in its own voice.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Pholile Shakantu is the Executive Producer of the film.

This isn’t Pholile Shakantu’s first rodeo. She previously produced Baka Ngwane, another local project that stirred conversation. 

It’s clear that her commitment to building a Swazi cinematic identity is rooted not just in faith, but in culture preservation and narrative ownership.

In recent years, we’ve seen glimmers of momentum from The Throne, to music videos that lean into visual storytelling, to YouTube channels crafting sketch comedy, docu-series, and now shorts like this. The tools are becoming more accessible, and the stories more urgent.

What the industry needs now is consistency, mentorship, investment and yes, criticism, maybe for now criticism with care, that doesn’t crush, but sharpens.

Is Sidlo Sekugcina a cinematic masterpiece? No. But it is a cultural milestone. A quiet, unassuming piece of film that dares to imagine Jesus as one of us. 

Not in the abstract, not in a metaphor but literally: speaking our language, wearing our clothes, breaking bread at a table we recognise.

And in doing so, it breaks something else too, an invisible barrier that’s long said: ‘this kind of art isn’t for Swazis.’ It is.

To the team behind this film: you’ve done something meaningful. Keep telling our stories. Keep reclaiming our place at the table. Because if Sidlo Sekugcina is anything to go by, the meal has just begun.

The short film boasts some of the country’s industry heavy weights, like Floewe who did the main song of the movie, Slotta as both sound and voice over. 

Go and watch this, it's a good time.

https://youtu.be/W2tX_q6Kr9w?si=VrGsEyz9SmyI0kPr

(⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/10)