Rachel Kolisi takes her documentary Falling Forward to London

Rachel Kolisi is taking Falling Forward, her personal documentary, to London. After screenings around South Africa that drew full houses, the film will play for one night at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church on Shaftesbury Avenue on Thursday, 19 November.

Doors open at 6.15pm and the show starts at 7pm. The evening follows the format of the home roadshow: the film, then an unscripted conversation with Kolisi and a live Q&A. Takkies, a South African dancer and creative based in London, will host, and singer Anica Kiana is listed to perform.

A roadshow, not a release

So far Falling Forward has been shown only at live events. At the South African stops each screening came with a fireside chat and a market of women-run businesses.

The roadshow ran through August and September, with stops at The Capital Hotel in Johannesburg, Artscape in Cape Town, Fancourt in George, Grace Family Church in Durban, the Guild Theatre in East London and the Boardwalk in Gqeberha, with a date in Windhoek, Namibia, as well. The Citizen reports that the Cape Town and Johannesburg screenings sold out, and the Daily Dispatch reported a full house in East London.

What the film is about

The documentary goes back to Kolisi's childhood: her parents' separation, her mother leaving, and the years she spent helping to raise her younger siblings. It also deals with a fear of abandonment she has carried since, and with her healing after her divorce from Springbok Siya Kolisi. Her own site says plainly that the film is not about the divorce or the speculation around it.

We're all navigating something really hard. Mine just happened to be really freaking public.

She told Time Out Durban that at the Durban screening in September. "It's accepting and acknowledging that life can sometimes be hard, but you choose not to stay there."

The film sits alongside her memoir of the same name, written with Zibu Sithole and published by Pan Macmillan South Africa in March.

Tickets for 19 November

Tickets for the London night are on sale through Eventbrite, with refunds available up to five days before the event. The listing puts the show at 7pm at 235 Shaftesbury Avenue. The Citizen describes the night as one night only.