Once Upon a Day: Brenda Fassie

Talented, charismatic, vivacious, yet troubled, Brenda Fassie is a national icon that symbolised so much for so many in South Africa. In 2004, just before she died, Fassie spent a day in Cape Town with filmmaker Edwards. The footage reveals much about Fassie’s state of mind in her last months when she returns to her childhood home in Langa, visits her parent’s graves, works the fans wherever she goes – at the local shebeen and a chemist – and gives a sensational impromptu performance on Obs’ Lower Main Road. Interspersed among these vital snapshots are Fassie’s take on family, love and celebrity and, prophetically, her death.