South African filmmaker Tashin Singh's latest film, Sugarcane, Burning, has been selected to screen at the International South Asian Film Festival (iSAFF) 2026 in Canada. The film is part of the festival's Second Chances shorts programme and explores themes of migration, inheritance, and the experiences of Indian South Africans under colonial rule. Singh, a London-based filmmaker, drew inspiration from his family history to create the film.
Sugarcane, Burning is set in the late 19th century, when thousands of Indians traveled to colonial Natal in Southern Africa under indenture. The film follows a young woman named Mira, who is at the threshold of motherhood and suspended between what she has inherited and what she will pass on. Through matrilineal memory, Mira returns to her mother's presence and confronts the quiet ruptures left behind by migration and time.
The film stars Katishcka Kiara Chanderlal and Sivani Chinappan and was shot in KwaZulu-Natal in October last year as Singh's London Film School graduation film. Singh, 30, was born and raised in Pietermaritzburg and began researching the film at the end of 2024. He started writing in early 2025 with co-writer and producer Nicole Magabo Kiggundu, and the film was completed in February.
Sugarcane, Burning has already had its world premiere in Pune, India, and screened at the London Indian Film Festival. The film will also return to South Africa for its South African premiere at the FAME Shorts Film Festival in Cape Town at the end of October. It has been nominated for Best Student Film, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup and Styling at the festival.
Singh's great-grandfather traveled from India to Natal decades ago as a stowaway aboard a ship, which sparked the idea for the film. He said that the story began long before he knew it could become a film, and it grew from a fragment of his own family history. Singh's work often examines personal experiences against wider historical and social landscapes.
The filmmaker began his career in journalism before moving into documentaries in Cape Town. He later completed a Master's degree in filmmaking at the London Film School. Singh's cinema is concerned with what is not easily visible, including inherited silence, the private life of displacement, and the emotional architecture of families.
Singh is developing work across South Africa, the UK, and India, rooted in South African experience and shaped by questions of diaspora, masculinity, and belonging. His films seek a poetic, formally attentive language for intimate stories marked by historical inheritance. Key points include the film's exploration of migration and inheritance, its connection to Singh's family history, and its upcoming screenings at various festivals.
Key points
- The film explores themes of migration, inheritance, and the experiences of Indian South Africans under colonial rule.
- Sugarcane, Burning is based on a fragment of Singh's own family history.
- The film will screen at the FAME Shorts Film Festival in Cape Town at the end of October.
