South African director Zamo Mkhwanazi has brought “ Laundry ” (“Uhlanjululo”) to TIFF. She’s no stranger to the fest, where she also premiered shorts, but the story behind her debut feature is personal.

“My grandfather had a laundry and when the apartheid government came in, he lost his business. I knew it had to be my first film. That laundry was always there, in the back of my mind, as a place where my intergenerational wealth was stolen. It had a very big impact on who I am today,” she tells Variety .

“Laundry,” set in apartheid South Africa in 1968, shows a similar family-run establishment operating out of a whites-only area. The problem is, 16-year-old Khuthala (Ntobeko Sishi) wants nothing to do with it. He wants to be a musician, to the horror of his responsible father (S

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