LAST WEEK the social media was shaken, and opinions were divided among the people of this country – because of the posts posted on social media by one of the country’s actors and singer, Nirvana Nokwe-Mseleku.
Nirvana took to her Facebook page, expressing her displeasure with the way it happened while acting in one of the episodes of Showmax’s 2023 show Red Ink.
The actor accused his colleague who acted with him in one of the episodes of the show, Bonko Khoza, who accused him of sexually abusing him, for doing something that was not agreed upon before filming together in the show.
He complained that in the episode they were recording about sexual abuse, it was going to stop when he was the victim and he was crying because he was being abused by the abuser (Bonko), but that section was cut before it reached the point where the abuser sexually assaulted him.
He said what made him sad was that when he laid her on top of the car, which was already an order to happen in the game, but Bonko rejected it by saying that he brought his person close to his private part, he looked at it as torturing him and it shouldn’t happen because the agreement said it wouldn’t happen like that.
Bonko also issued his own statement this week expressing that he himself has never done anything contrary to his agreement with Nirvana before acting together, clarifying that everything is happening – he always made sure that he cooperated with her so that it went the right way, and that no one was hurt.
He emphasized that when they were acting in Red Ink with Nirvana, in that scene they recorded together there were 12 other workers who helped them to record it properly, and none of them had any complaints that something might not have gone right.
Likewise, the company that recorded the show, Bomb Productions, released its statement this week, also revealing that it had received Nirvana’s complaints about this issue – but it was that in its investigation of what happened, it found no fault at all.
Bomb Productions also revealed that they gave Bonko and Nirvana the authority and permission to stop the recording of that episode if anything happened that did not suit either of them at that time.
It also clarified that the reason why there was no intimacy coach during the filming at that time was that this episode involved violence and murder, and both actors were filming clothed – so there was no need to hire someone to advise them in terms of intimacy and other things related to it.
Actor and intimacy coordinator Fundiswa Zwane said that although intimacy coordinators like him are needed and useful to help control and monitor the way things happen when sensitive episodes are being filmed, it is also the duty and yoke of each actor to speak for himself and say what he wants to happen and what he wants not to happen.
“It is necessary that everything that will happen and how it will happen must be agreed upon before the recording work starts to help that no one will feel depressed or hurt in the end,” said Fundiswa.
Continuing, he said that when those serious episodes are being filmed that involve violence or sexual harassment and so on, it is necessary for the directors and the producers of the game to be vigilant to ensure that everything is going well.
“However, on the whole, it is good for the actors to speak up and expose everything that has hurt them, even if it happened in the right way, to help that no one will feel depressed. And I also throw a big challenge to the producers of the shows to stop neglecting to hire people who do jobs like mine, because we are very useful in taking care of the well-being of the actors in such situations,” he said.
Etv show actor Enemy: The EnemyThobani Nzuza also admitted that the presence of an intimate coordinator is very helpful so that recording such episodes is not too difficult and does not stress the actors involved in them.
“The troubling thing is that some companies don’t hire these people, and that some actors are afraid to say what they want to happen and what they don’t want to happen, because of the feeling that saying something you don’t like could put you at risk of losing your job, which is not the case.
“There are actors who are known to refuse to act in scenes that require them to kiss others, who end up just holding hands. I remember that I was in a similar situation before when I was acting inThe Black Doorwhere I asked for things to be done in a different way, I refused to be seen acting naked,” said Thobani of eHostel fame.
One of the directors of television shows, Lungelo Ngcobo, has worked in a number of shows The Seed, Nkalakatha: Mandoza Biopic, Nikiwe is-Smoke & Mirrorshe said that sensitive episodes like those are a challenge to record because they need to be careful so that no one gets hurt in them
“That’s why many companies that produce television shows hire an intimate coach, a person who is responsible for communicating with the two actors who will be filming episodes with incidents of kissing and having sex before starting filming, to help ensure that the work is done in a way that will not hurt anyone.
“That person helps by talking to those actors about what they should expect, and talking to them about how they want the action to happen,” he said.
Continuing, he said that it also depends on how the producers of the game have organized their things, that sometimes there is a certain type of clothing, especially the underpants that are worn, some of which match the human skin to make it easier if you have to touch each other.
“We always try to make sure that no one is hurt, and that we don’t reveal the nature of people’s bodies, but what makes things difficult is not talking about how someone wants things to happen, which can cause problems when work has to be done or after the work that was done,” said Lungelo.
