Lights, camera…Snothile Mathonsi

Meet Snothile Mathonsi, a young and up-and-coming lighting technician making her mark in the South African film industry. Originally a camera assistant, she discovered her passion for lighting almost by chance. What began as an unexpected opportunity quickly became a defining moment in her career, pushing her to embrace the craft with curiosity, creativity, and determination. 

In this Q&A, she shares her journey from camera to lighting, the challenges of working in a traditionally male-dominated department, her inspirations, and the joy she finds in shaping stories through light.  

Snothile: In October 2023, I got a call from the KZN Film Commission asking me to join the lighting team on a Netflix show shooting in Durban. At the time, I was a camera assistant and had never done lighting before, so I initially turned it down. When they called again, I decided to give it a try since I wasn’t on any other project. 

The job lasted about four months, and honestly, after the first week I wanted to quit — it was tough. But the gaffer, Ashruf Benjamin, convinced me to stay and reminded me of my potential. That experience changed how I saw lighting, and I finished the full job with the team from Cape Town. 

Not long after, they called me for another project in CPT. I joined them full-time, and that’s where my journey in lighting truly began. Since then, I’ve shifted away from camera work to focus fully on lighting, connecting with other gaffers and agencies in the city. I’ve been lucky to find mentors who believed in me and gave me opportunities to grow. 

What drew me in… I realized lighting is a powerful catalyst for storytelling. My curiosity pushed me to dive deeper into the craft to truly understand how light shapes emotion and narrative. 

Q. What is a typical day on set for you? Is there such a thing as a “typical” day in your world? 

No, I don’t think there’s a certain routine that we follow in lighting. There are obviously a few things that we do regularly, but not in the same way, it’s different every day. Each day requires new creativity and new ideas. There aren’t many boundaries or rules, just creativity in everything we do. 

Q. Lighting is such a powerful storytelling tool, what’s one scene or project you’ve worked on where the lighting made you especially proud? 

This is so tricky because I’ve worked with different best gaffers, and all of them have their unique way of telling the story through lighting, which always makes me proud. So I’d rather say I really enjoy and always like lighting church night scenes, whether it’s a film, music video, or any visuals. For me, church interior lighting setups are always the best. 

I’ve worked on a few projects with church scenes, and they are by far my favourites. 

Q. As a woman in a traditionally male dominated department, what challenges have you faced, and how have you navigated them? 

Mmm, this actually makes me sad every time I think about it, it’s the trust issues within people in the industry. I remember when I tried approaching a few crew agencies in Cape Town, all of them that I reached out to rejected me and told me straight that they wouldn’t be able to take me because I’m a female.  

There was even one lady who went as far as telling me that I should, in fact, change my whole career because I clearly had no idea how this industry works if I thought I could make it in lighting as a female. Even when I meet new crew members that I’ve never worked with before on new sets, they often just look at me with no hope, until after a few days when they actually see how I work with my coworkers. Then they start engaging with me and believing in me. 

But that doesn’t affect me in any way, hey. Instead, it pushes me to work even harder and show the world what I’m capable of. 

Q. Who or what inspires you, whether it’s people in the industry, mentors, or moments in film history? 

It’s actually the moments, it really inspires me to see our own local gaffers scoring big international jobs from other countries with big budgets. It shows that anything is possible, and they’re actually killing it. So I’m always like, if they can do it, then I can as well. 

Q. What’s the most unusual or creative light source you’ve ever used on set? 

It’s a projection lens for the Pluto Fresnel by Astera. I love it, especially because it’s a lens and I have a long history with cameras. So can you imagine a light that has a lens that actually looks like a camera lens? It’s so easy to use and be creative with. 

Q. Is there a particular film or director whose lighting style you admire or would love to work with? 

I had quite a short list of SA gaffers and DOPs that I’ve always wanted to work with, and I’m proud to say I’ve worked with half of them. But there’s one DOP, Maddox Upshaw, that I’ve worked with before, I was on the camera department at that time , and I really want to work with him as a lighting technician now. I think his lighting direction is very cool. 

Q. What’s a common misconception people have about what lighting technicians or gaffers actually do? 

Some people or other crew members often think lighting is easy, especially now that they see females doing it. They assume it’s an easy department, but it’s not. We just make it look easy because we love it. 

Q. What have you learned so far from working with more experienced gaffers or cinematographers? 

I’ve learned that, out of all the technical skills and creativity you have, you also need leadership skills. You need to be able to work with people, listen to other ideas, and be willing to learn as a leader as well. I am growing and learning about the work itself, and I need to practice and develop my leadership skills too. 

Q. What kind of lighting setups or equipment do you enjoy working with the most? 

This might be funny because it’s nothing technical,, it’s just for my personal confidence boost. I enjoy working with big-sized lights; it makes me feel good and like, “Yaaay, I am doing it!” Especially when I’m setting them up by myself. 

Q. What part of the lighting process do you find most rewarding, setup, fine-tuning, or seeing the final shot on screen? 

Definitely seeing the final shot on screen, because that’s where you finally understand why you were instructed to do something a certain way. Checking the monitor now and then between setups is also the smartest way to learn, because you see the effect of what you’re doing. 

Q. Are there any lighting techniques or films that have inspired how you think about light? 

Yes, there are films and movies that have inspired how I think about lighting. I’m just very bad with titles, but there are a lot of them, both international and local, especially the ones I know were shot in a studio, because lighting is one of the things that makes it believable as a real world. Low-budget productions with good lighting inspire me a lot because they show that you don’t need a big budget to tell a good story or to be creative. 

Q. What piece of advice would you give to young women who want to break into behind-the-scenes roles in film? 

Be sure it’s what you really want to do because on this journey you’ll face challenges that will make you question if it’s truly what you want. If you don’t really love it, you might give up along the way, it needs love. And when you’re given an opportunity, run with it and give it your all.