Ten-year-old Thembi and her eight-year-old brother, Khwezi, are left alone in their rural homestead in KwaZulu-Natal after their mother dies. All they have to remember her by is a grass mat she wove, which she planned to enter in a craft competition in the city.

Thembi and Khwezi head to Durban on their own to find the craft show, but once there fall into the life of the street with all of its dangers and challenges. The very essence of Thembi and Kwezi’s relationship is threatened as the city closes in to overwhelm and defeat them. Still, by the film’s hopeful closing, the children find a way to survive and even to triumph.

Izulu Lami‘s greatest achievement is its cast of extraordinary child actors discovered in the townships, informal settlements and rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal.

 Content advisory: contains some scenes with sexual violence 

This film is sponsored thanks to the generosity of RGF Integrated Wealth Management and the BCTF (British Columbia Teachers' Federation).

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