"Sonder" by Thuthuka Sibisi

Join us in the exhibition Nguni: Migrant Nations of Southeast Africa for a screening of the new film Sonder, by the South African artist and filmmaker Thuthuka Sibisi, visiting lecturer at Yale University in fall 2026. Sibisi asks, How do you tell the histories of queer people when their voices are not recorded? Sonder is set in a hostel on the outskirts of Johannesburg, a decrepit multistory building raised under apartheid to house several thousand men at a time. In the hostel, Sibisi finds “strained desire and hushed love between men,” alongside violence enacted in the name of traditional Zulu masculinity. Through dance—an essential Nguni tradition and art form—the film offers an invitation to pause and acknowledge queer lives, both past and present. In isiZulu and English26 mins.