A best newcomer award nomination is usually an artist’s first taste of official recognition when their first commercial project goes public. For Bonko Khoza, this was not the case. Instead, the actor’s breakout role as Jabz in Necktie Youth scored him a best actor nomination at the Tribeca Festival in New York, US, back in 2015.
A modest Khoza calls this a collective victory, detailing how the film was also nominated for various other awards, including a Golden Horn for best achievement in cinematography for a feature film, SA Film and Television Awards (Saftas) for the same category and best achievement in editing. A Safta winner himself, having scooped best actor in a telenovela in The Wife, Khoza says, at the time of his best actor nomination, he did not fully comprehend the magnitude of that achievement.