Linda Mvusi (c. 1954, in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

) is an actress and architect. Mvusi took an award for

best actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

Best actress
, Orion Pictures, accessed March 2010 at the

1988 Cannes Film Festival The 41st Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 23 May 1988. The Palme d'Or went to the '' Pelle erobreren'' by Bille August. The festival opened with '' Le Grand Bleu'', directed by Luc Besson and closed with ''Willow'', directed by Ron How ...

for her role in the film '' A World Apart'' which was directed by

Chris Menges Chris Menges BSC, ASC (born 15 September 1940) is a British cinematographer and film director. He is a member of both the American and British Societies of Cinematographers. Life and career Menges was born in Kington, Herefordshire, the son ...

. Mvusi was the first South African to get a best Actress award at Cannes. Mvusi also shared in an award for excellence for her architecture on the Apartheid Museum.

Biography

Linda Mvusi was born in the Free State of South Africa around 1955 and brought up in Northern Rhodesia,

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

.Made, Patricia A.: ''Zimbabwe : Flirtation With Acting Ends with an Award''. IPS-Inter Press Service, 23 June 1988, Harare. She trained as an architect and was practising her craft in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

when she met Chris Menges who was trying to find locations for his film, '' A World Apart'', near

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

. Mvusi was initially wary of this film as she suspected it was a film made by outsiders with foreign money for a foreign audience. Mvusi felt that the millions of foreign money was preventing Africans from telling their own story. She said "white film makers resuppressing our own growth, our own view of history ndour own reality". However Menges impressed her when he began to cast locals and

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

members into the cast.Henron, Kim: ''Telling Stores With Light''. In:

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, 21. August 1988, Section 6; S. 32, Column 1, Magazine Desk The film was based on an autobiographical play by

Shawn Slovo Shawn Slovo (born 1950) is a South African screenwriter, best known for the film '' A World Apart'', based on her childhood under apartheid. She is the daughter of South African Communist Party leaders Joe Slovo and Ruth First. She wrote the scree ...

. The film tells the story of thirteen-year-old

, the daughter of

Joe Slovo Joe Slovo (born Yossel Mashel Slovo; 23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Pa ...

and

Ruth First Heloise Ruth First (4 May 1925 – 17 August 1982) was a South African anti- apartheid activist and scholar. She was assassinated in Mozambique, where she was working in exile, by a parcel bomb built by South African police. Family and ed ...

. The film explores the relationship between the daughter and her white mother. The mother is committed to the fight against the political oppression in South Africa, but the pressure of the family and politics collide and bring about the families break-up. It is set at the time of the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

regime in South Africa. Joe Slovo was then the head of the communist party in South Africa. In the film the names of the parents are changed to Gus and Diana Roth and their daughter is renamed Molly. In real life and in the film they employed a maid to care for their child. This person, Elsie, was played by Mvusi in the film. South Africa-Johannesburg-Apartheid Museum001

South Africa-Johannesburg-Apartheid Museum001

Menges said he preferred to work with non-professional actors like Mvusi and

Jodhi May Jodhi Tania May (''née'' Hakim-Edwards; 8 May 1975) is a British actress. She remains the youngest recipient of the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, for ''A World Apart'' (1988). Her other film appearances include ''The Last ...

(she played Molly in the film). This view may have reflected however the poor relationship between Menges and

Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...

, who played the leading role of the mother. Mvusi reported that there were many arguments during the making of the film. Much of the tension was due to not wanting to lose the "black story", but Mvusi felt the arguments were worth it as the film was true to its message. She credits Menges with ensuring that they "are extremely sympathetic, because they are true." The film was dedicated to

who was killed by a parcel bomb sent by the

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Af ...

in 1982.

Architecture

Her performance was thought creditable by ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'' magazine. Mvusi returned to her profession as an architect and practices with her own company in South Africa. She has worked on the Apartheid Museum in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

.credits
SharpCity.co.za where she has been named in an award for excellence by the South African Institute of Architects.2004 Convention
, South African Institute of Architects, accessed March 2010 In 2004, Mvusi was working on an urban village called ''Fort West'' in

Tshwane The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane) () is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng Province, South Africa. The Metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pr ...

.50 women to watch in 2004
The Star, Zambia, accessed March 2010

Filmography

* 1988: '' A World Apart''

Honours

:: ''Best Actress'' for ''A World Apart'' (shared) * South African Institute of Architects :: 2004 Award for Excellence for the Apartheid Museum in

(shared)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mvusi, Linda 1950s births 20th-century South African actresses 20th-century South African architects 21st-century South African architects South African film actresses South African women architects People from Bloemfontein Living people Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners