Acting has always been where I find my breath.” The thrilling comedy film, written and directed by Adze Ugah, also won Best Low Budget Film at the festival in Finland, out of 427 projects considered from across the world. Sierra’s Gold has been on an impressive run of international film festival appearances and award wins which have also included recognition at the Durban International Film Festival, New York Film & Cinematography Awards, Los Angeles Film & Documentary Awards, London Director Awards and the Melbourne Independent Film Festival. Nontshokweni enjoyed her collaboration with the film’s writer-director: “Working with the great Adze Ugah was extraordinary.

He is sharp, witty and clear about the world of the story. “He doesn’t have airs about himself, so it gave the work precision and excellence without the pressure.” Ugah has also worked as a director on television shows such as Genesis, Shaka iLembe and Isibaya. His other films as writer-director include High Infidelity, Jewel and The Vow.

The organic excitement over Nontshokweni’s second win on social media felt rare in an oversaturated, manufactured market. In the film, the award-winning, Mthatha-born actress plays Sierra, a fervent, eccentric young blackvisual artist in Johannesburg who discovers she is pregnant. She has an intense relationship with Tiro, played by Tiisetso Thoka, the father of the unborn child.

He convinces her to drink an abortion-inducing concoction. “I remember my first scene with Tiisetso Thoka, who plays Tiro, the co-lead,” says Nontshokweni. “He quickly entered into character with such seriousness, I blurted out laughing in disbelief that we were now really doing it.” Instead of ending the pregnancy, Sierra is inexplicably bestowed with the ability to excrete gold coins.

An uproarious and darkly comedic chain of events follows as a pawnshop owner invades Sierra’s home in the hope of extracting the coins for profit. “It was thrilling, fun and raw. I poured all of myself into this eccentric character, Sierra.

I was her, in style, in her feelings, her flaws, her indifference and naivety. She carried the gold in her but peered everywhere else trying to find it. I understood that flaw intimately.” The film was also nominated across multiple categories including best picture, best feature film, best director, best DOP (Director of Photography Phumlani Mdlalose) and best score.

Nontshokweni thanked Ugah for writing a fearless, lively film that refuses to be ignored, saying that they had created something extraordinary. “Sierra’s Gold is a story about desperation, choice and value — about what we think is worth something and what truly is,” says Nontshokweni. “Being part of it reminded me that storytelling, at its best, asks everything of you and gives you back a hundredfold, like this Moondust win.

The joy came with the co-actors. The film lives across languages — English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa — and that created a rich, textured environment to work in. Veteran actor Justin Strydom brought generosity to the process.

He would help us navigate Afrikaans lines. Thabo Gwadiso and Kennedy Stab brought humour and a nuanced masculinity to the story. “And then there were those small, unforgettable moments.

For instance, we were shooting a scene outside with Zakhele Mabasa who acts as the hobo in the story. His look was so compelling that a real hobo walked past him and commented: ‘Sidontsa kanzima mfwethu [We are struggling, my brother].’ “Everyone on that set, cast and crew, were deeply committed to the truth of their roles. The entire experience was intimate, raw and alive.” Recognition: From left, Sierra’s Gold director Adze Ugah, lead actress Sihle-isipho Bikitsha Nontshokweni and actor Tiisetso Thoka.

Nontshokweni holds two master’s degrees from the University of Cape Town and Peking University, Beijing and is a doctoral candidate at KU Leuven in Belgium. She balances her artistic work through storytelling. She writes children’s literature in an attempt to curb the scourge of the dwindling literacy rates affecting our country.

She has written three books:Wanda (with Mathabo Tlali); Fly, Everyone, Fly; and The Day Mandela Came to Class. The multihyphenate of note believes that focusing learning and creativity on the next big generation could help create a better society. Nontshokweni also notes that when we leave this world, we want to know we have made an impact on others and that it is the same with her.

For someone who has been able to elegantly merge the two elegant domains, there is little doubt that her work in both arenas is poised to create a legacy. She added: “For a long time I thou