By Agreement Mabunda
LENYENYE – Paledi Botopela, founder and writer of Priddy Films Production from Lenyenye, started writing his first short film in February 2021, called Kasi Legends which is now on YouTube.
He is a grade 9 learner at Phusela High School. He is only 16 and somehow managed to succeed where many aspirant filmmakers in cut-throat filmmaking have failed
The teenage orphaned child living with his grandmother and other children says his career is influenced by watching movies and soapies.
“Acting has always been my dream because I would watch movies and soapies almost every day and my grandmother, Joyce Botopela who is 54 years old kept on encouraging me to follow my dreams”. He said.
Through his love for movies and soapies, Botopela had his ingenious idea of starting his film production at an early age and his motive was and still on putting his hometown on the map.
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Priddy Films
Kasi Legends is a movie that is performed at Lenyenye and he named it Kasi Legends because it is filmed in his hometown.
According to the young author, the journey hasn’t been smooth, especially for a learner with no income. “Though I couldn’t afford to buy my actor’s toy guns, patch, fake blood, costumes, microphone, camera stander, drown, make-up, etc., I was stressed but I couldn’t give up because I am looking forward to succeeding in this career,” he added.
He defines success as “To achieve something you want or have always wanted to do”. Hence, he wants to be a famous film writer and actor in the next five years to come.
Botopela believes that after succeeding, his community will know that writing are not only for old people, even young people like him can be creative authors.
