He is an award-winning filmmaker, a compelling writer, producer and director – he is our very own alumnus from the Faculty of Communications Media and Broadcasting, his name is Philip Leteka.
Based in Maseru Lesotho, this young lad is one of the Talent Footprints- MasterCard Enablement Programme Grant award winners - a grant he won at the 73rd Berlinale Film Festival for his film-related educational outfit, Majoaneng, interpreted as “Academy of images and Letters.”
Majoaneng is an intensive programme which provides training space, support and equipment such as DSLR cameras and portable sound recorders to young, dedicated individuals who are interested in developing their filmmaking craft in the thick of Lesotho’s non-existent film industry.
With the dwindling state of Lesotho’s Cinema scene - Leteka is a man on a mission to transform and build a more resilient film industry in the Kingdom.
In his interview at the festival, Leteka stated that a few months after leaving Lesotho to pursue his MFA in filmmaking at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, he received heart-wrenching news from home that the last cinema in the country is closed with no hope of ever re-opening.
“This broke my heart, any remaining flicker of light finally died. A handful of filmmakers - the resilient ones - such as myself would no longer have space to exhibit their work.” This was evidently heart wrenching for him particularly because a decade later there is still no cinema in the country.
Even though a handful of filmmakers in the country who had at one point been resilient have chosen to go elsewhere, Leteka decided to stay in the country to imprint a film industry on Lesotho soil. “I will not be building cinemas – (physical buildings), but I am interested in building a more resilient community of young filmmakers as I believe that to be the place where Lesotho’s cinema will reside.”
This award-winning filmmaker has a long list of short films to his credit where he performed tripartite duty as the writer, director and producer. 2024/2025 | My Education: Letter to the Woman who Saw Right through a Translucent Window, 2023/2024 | For Çyska short film, Rochester, NY | RIT thesis film. 2023/2024 | You’ve Changed. Short film. 2023/2024 | For They Could Feel No Greater Pain. Anthology of short films, interweaved in a hyperlink cinema style. Maseru, LSO | US Embassy funded.2023/2024 | The Tenant. short film. Rochester, NY |, 2019| This is not a Burial, it’s a Resurrection. Feature film, written and Directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, Maseru LSO |Script consultant/script Supervisor (in production), 2017 | Roses and Revolutions “Moment” live studio music video, Rochester, NY for Nettwerk Music Group, 2017 | Roses and Revolutions “The Pines” live studio music video, Rochester, NY for Nettwerk Music Group |.
Currently working as a lecturer at Limkokwing Lesotho’s Faculty of Communications Media and Broadcasting, Philip Teleka is determined to find means to rev up Lesotho’s film industry again - from taking movies on the road through mobile cinema – to exhibiting them under the stars in the Kingdom’s most remote villages.
