Producer and actor of feature film CUCKOLD – Charlie Vundla, spoke to ZAlebs about the film and its achievement in being invited for a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. (TIFF)

How did you celebrate the announcement of your film being invited to such a prestigious event, like the TIFF?

I basically just spent time with my family, my family is also in the film and TV business and unlike my first film How To steal 2 Million, I produced and funded the film myself. I kind of wanted to step away from what my folks had achieved, but having said that they were just so happy for me. We popped champagne and just really had a good time.

Independent films like Cuckold in SA seem to be doing pretty well without assisted funding. Do you think these type of films actually need the help of sponsors these days?

The only way I could’ve done this film was through an independent channel because it’s quite a risky film and there are quite a lot of people behaving badly in the film. So obviously, when you have more interest and more money involved, you find that there’s more people who have the potential to say no when it comes to your creativity. So for me, as long as the artist is capable of having a clear vision, I think independence is usually the better way to go.

Terry Pheto explained to us that Cuckold doesn’t have a clear end to it. Why did you decided to make it an open-ended type of film?

I feel that filmmaking shouldn’t preach. The last thing I want is for people to watch my film and feel like they’ve just been to church. I feel like life is way more complicated than giving someone a problem, solution and conclusion and the funny thing about life is that just when you think you’ve figured things out something else will come along. Hence, I was just trying to capture life as it really is for me because this is a personal film.

The plot of the film is based on a young black man living in Johannesburg and just fighting his own demons. In your opinion, what’s the greatest struggles that young black men experience in this city?

I can’t really speak for specifically for black men in Johannesburg, but I can speak for myself as an individual and what I will say is that I love this city, both of my films have been made in this city. And I think for me it’s so bizarre, Johannesburg is not pretty to look at but it’s so interesting, especially the people that live here plus there’s so much opportunity here as well.

The film will be distributed across South Africa in early 2016 and will appear at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015.