The Academy (2025) Movie Script
1
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
(THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES)
LINDANI: It's so easy
to be born in an environment
and believe there's no way out.
(WAVES RUMBLING)
LINDANI: But there is a place that
is free, where you can find healing,
and you can believe in yourself again.
And that's the ocean.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
Sailing has traditionally
been a White male sport
for many, many years.
I've been a member
of this club since 1957
and I've seen a lot.
South Africa had its first
democratic elections in 1994.
So, we were excited, but it was also clear
that our club was not representative
of the population
of South Africa.
You look around, all you see is White.
You look left, you see White.
But it's difficult because there
isn't a tradition of sailing
amongst the previously disenfranchised.
I'm the only that actually has represented
South Africa twice in the Olympics.
But not only one, but being Black.
My name is Lindani Spes Mchunu.
I am the academy manager
of the Royal Cape Yacht Club.
And my role here at the club is to...
is to take us to a new... a new place.
(WAVES RUMBLING)
(MID-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)
AZILE: I joined the academy in 2016.
I knew nothing about sailing
but as time went on,
I loved sailing.
I always loved water.
LINDANI: I lived in the township,
and I have family in the township.
So, I know the issues
that go on there for young people.
I'm giving them an opportunity to say,
"There is some sort of escape."
And that escape is for them to come
to the water, get on a boat, and sail.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
This upcoming weekend,
we got a Round Robben Island Race.
It's about 12 nautical miles.
Uh. It's six nautical miles,
going there and back.
AZILE: I am going to be a skipper
for the first time in my entire life.
I'm gonna be responsible for, like,
seven, eight people on board.
She's normally at the front,
which is the bow.
And then now, she's gonna helm.
She's gonna get the feel
of what the boat wants.
As you know, before racing,
we need to stretch out.
Got to relax our muscles.
You can give me five laps.
Go five laps.
AZILE: Robben Island is where
Nelson Mandela was locked up.
And for me to go around that island...
I feel like it's one of the most
powerful things that I can ever do.
SIBUSISO: You're only gonna stop
when you start sweating.
If you're not sweating,
you're not gonna stop.
That's the first lap. Keep going.
That's number two.
I do the counting, you do the running.
LINDANI: There is so much symbolism
for this Robben Island Race.
I always think,
like, I try and put myself...
I've actually been to Mandela's prison,
and I put myself in his shoes,
and I think they always looked at land.
And their barrier
wasn't necessarily the island.
Their barrier was the ocean.
SIBUSISO: That's good. Let's all come in.
Okay, let's grab a rope.
So, we use our feet to move around,
so we need to be active all the time.
And then years later, there's, like,
Black kids from the township who are, like
playing, where they were like...
there was fear for them in there,
and they're just playing there.
So it's such a symbolic thing,
of like complete emancipation.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
LINDANI: No way.
(UPBEAT MUSIC CONCLUDES)
I live with my aunt, Nomanesi.
I call her my mother.
(NOMANESI SINGING)
NOMANESI:
After my grandmother died,
that's when I understood
that I'm not living
with my biological mother.
NOMANESI:
Port Control, this is Archangel,
requesting permission to leave the harbor.
LINDANI:
SIBUSISO:
LINDANI:
(LAUGHING)
SIBUSISO: Where's the wind coming from?
- There's your Windex. Use your Windex.
- No, but the Windex keeps moving.
Okay, now, if it keeps moving,
now look at the sea.
You see where there's shiny big waves
that sprinkles on the water?
- Yes.
- Where it's a bit dark, that's wind, okay?
So where it is clear,
there's no wind there.
So, you wanna go
towards where the wind is.
- Okay?
- Okay.
SIBUSISO: So as a skipper,
you need to know where
you need to position yourself
in a race.
Okay, let's catch this breeze, yeah?
- I can smell the southeaster coming.
- LINDANI: It's coming, yeah.
SIBUSISO: I can smell the southeaster.
- (GROANS)
- SIBUSISO: Okay, now come across.
Come across.
SIBUSISO: Okay, we're gonna go
for easy tide here. Coming down slowly.
- Tides are coming. They're coming.
- (LINDANI SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
- Get the boom.
- LINDANI: Get down. They're coming!
(METAL CLANKING)
Okay, now where are you going?
LINDANI: Okay, you need
to have control of the boat.
- Hold. Hold.
- AZILE: Yeah.
LINDANI: So, now you're going up. Yeah!
SIBUSISO: You're going back home.
Where are you going?
- (AZILE SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
- No. In strong winds, you take it slow.
So, if you move like this,
turn the boat around like this,
and you turn the boat around like this,
then the boat won't have control.
You also won't have control, okay?
Take it slow. Move slowly, okay?
Move slowly.
Because the waves are there to help you
as well. Just move slowly, okay?
I do sometimes doubt myself.
'Cause sometimes you feel like
you're not doing the right thing.
You've been...
taught how to do this,
and then sometimes you make mistakes.
Where's the Windex? Turn.
The Windex is pointing that side.
What did I say about the boom?
Always sit opposite of the boom.
This way, we're not jibing,
but we don't fall.
Always sit opposite the boom.
Where is the boom?
Watch, there it goes.
Hey, watch the Windex.
Hey, watch the Windex.
Watch the Windex. Make sure it's gone up.
Watch, it's gonna tide. It's gonna tide.
I'm telling you, it's gonna tide.
I'm telling you. There it is!
You're not listening to me.
You're not listening to me.
- You're not listening to me.
- LINDANI: There we go.
- Come on, Azile.
- Where is the Windex?
- Come on. Come on.
- Find that Windex.
Focus!
AZILE: I am a bit nervous.
It's gonna be my responsibility.
If any things happen,
I'm gonna be held accountable
for the team.
The water is dangerous.
(MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(WAVES RUMBLING)
I think my main problem today
is that I didn't trust myself.
- LINDANI: Yeah.
- AZILE: That's all I can say.
LINDANI:
Like the sea, there's so much
it teaches us about life.
So, you don't fall.
You know, when you're on land,
you need balance.
Because there's so many things
happening there.
I mean, I'll tell you something.
I had a problem
with alcohol at some point.
And it was strong.
And it got me strong.
And you know what I did? I remembered.
I can go to sea. I can cross from here
to America. I can...
I've been at sea and I survived.
If I can survive at sea...
what can stop me?
What I want you guys to be able to do
is to have the courage and the self-belief
to be able to come here
in 30 knots of wind and sail.
So if you can get on water, Azile,
and you can be one with it,
you can bounce back
from anything like that.
That's what I want for you guys.
I want you to come here and conquer.
(WAVES RUMBLING)
AZILE: For me to skipper this race
and make it around that island...
I am given a chance
to prove to myself that...
I can conquer anything.
- Hey, good luck for Saturday.
- AZILE: Thank you.
Out at sea, you think of nothing else
besides what you're doing there.
You just think about the boat
and where you're going
and about your safety.
And then, when you come back to land,
that's where you start thinking
about your life.
AZILE:
I think I had hatred back then,
because no one
was explaining anything to me.
(TRAIN BRAKES)
(WATER PLINKING)
(WAVES RUMBLING)
- I see another blowout today.
- Unfortunately, yeah.
- And the wind's like what? Like, 30 today?
- I've got 46.
LINDANI: Oh, my goodness.
That's worrying me a bit.
RECEPTIONIST:
You can make your own decision,
but that's when masts break,
people get injured.
- ANDREW: Hi, guys. How's it?
- Morning.
- Looking breezy.
- Sure, look at that.
I think, ultimately, as with all racing,
it comes down to the skipper of each boat
to make a decision as to whether it's safe
for them to continue racing or not.
I'm your skipper, so I'm gonna be
the one helming today.
For now, the wind is a bit light.
But around 2:00 p.m., it's gonna pick up.
AZILE: The sea can talk to you.
But you have to understand
what it says to you.
I understood by myself
without anyone explaining to me.
I understood that
my mother had to do what she did
to take me to my grandmother.
So now, we got a good relationship now.
Even though she didn't explain
anything to me.
I understood everything by myself.
(MID-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)
ANNOUNCER: (OVER PA) Good afternoon,
and welcome to Round Robben Island Race.
AZILE:
ANNOUNCER: (OVER PA)
Four, three, two, one.
(AIR HORN BLOWS)
ANNOUNCER: (OVER PA) All clear. All clear.
LINDANI: The work that I'm doing here
with the academy,
we have to find a way
to say, "How do we change?"
And I think that conversation
is gonna take place out on the water
'cause I have this
really strong feeling that
we're subscribed out, you know,
on land, you know?
There's so many decisions already
that we've made
about ourselves as individuals,
about society, how it should be made,
what girls should do, what boys should do,
what people of color should do.
You know, we're too over-subscribed.
There's hardly any room
for a new conversation.
So, my feeling is, let's go to sea.
Let's start having those conversations
out in the ocean,
where there's no reference.
All there is is water.
Gives us the opportunity to create
new reference points, you know?
To create ourselves anew.
I have no doubt in my mind
that there's a revolution that's coming.
The revolution is going to happen
on the ocean. I've seen it.
AZILE: My name is Azile.
I don't know why they named me Azile.
I don't even know who named me.
(UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING)
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
(THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
(THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES)
LINDANI: It's so easy
to be born in an environment
and believe there's no way out.
(WAVES RUMBLING)
LINDANI: But there is a place that
is free, where you can find healing,
and you can believe in yourself again.
And that's the ocean.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
Sailing has traditionally
been a White male sport
for many, many years.
I've been a member
of this club since 1957
and I've seen a lot.
South Africa had its first
democratic elections in 1994.
So, we were excited, but it was also clear
that our club was not representative
of the population
of South Africa.
You look around, all you see is White.
You look left, you see White.
But it's difficult because there
isn't a tradition of sailing
amongst the previously disenfranchised.
I'm the only that actually has represented
South Africa twice in the Olympics.
But not only one, but being Black.
My name is Lindani Spes Mchunu.
I am the academy manager
of the Royal Cape Yacht Club.
And my role here at the club is to...
is to take us to a new... a new place.
(WAVES RUMBLING)
(MID-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE)
AZILE: I joined the academy in 2016.
I knew nothing about sailing
but as time went on,
I loved sailing.
I always loved water.
LINDANI: I lived in the township,
and I have family in the township.
So, I know the issues
that go on there for young people.
I'm giving them an opportunity to say,
"There is some sort of escape."
And that escape is for them to come
to the water, get on a boat, and sail.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
This upcoming weekend,
we got a Round Robben Island Race.
It's about 12 nautical miles.
Uh. It's six nautical miles,
going there and back.
AZILE: I am going to be a skipper
for the first time in my entire life.
I'm gonna be responsible for, like,
seven, eight people on board.
She's normally at the front,
which is the bow.
And then now, she's gonna helm.
She's gonna get the feel
of what the boat wants.
As you know, before racing,
we need to stretch out.
Got to relax our muscles.
You can give me five laps.
Go five laps.
AZILE: Robben Island is where
Nelson Mandela was locked up.
And for me to go around that island...
I feel like it's one of the most
powerful things that I can ever do.
SIBUSISO: You're only gonna stop
when you start sweating.
If you're not sweating,
you're not gonna stop.
That's the first lap. Keep going.
That's number two.
I do the counting, you do the running.
LINDANI: There is so much symbolism
for this Robben Island Race.
I always think,
like, I try and put myself...
I've actually been to Mandela's prison,
and I put myself in his shoes,
and I think they always looked at land.
And their barrier
wasn't necessarily the island.
Their barrier was the ocean.
SIBUSISO: That's good. Let's all come in.
Okay, let's grab a rope.
So, we use our feet to move around,
so we need to be active all the time.
And then years later, there's, like,
Black kids from the township who are, like
playing, where they were like...
there was fear for them in there,
and they're just playing there.
So it's such a symbolic thing,
of like complete emancipation.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
LINDANI: No way.
(UPBEAT MUSIC CONCLUDES)
I live with my aunt, Nomanesi.
I call her my mother.
(NOMANESI SINGING)
NOMANESI:
After my grandmother died,
that's when I understood
that I'm not living
with my biological mother.
NOMANESI:
Port Control, this is Archangel,
requesting permission to leave the harbor.
LINDANI:
SIBUSISO:
LINDANI:
(LAUGHING)
SIBUSISO: Where's the wind coming from?
- There's your Windex. Use your Windex.
- No, but the Windex keeps moving.
Okay, now, if it keeps moving,
now look at the sea.
You see where there's shiny big waves
that sprinkles on the water?
- Yes.
- Where it's a bit dark, that's wind, okay?
So where it is clear,
there's no wind there.
So, you wanna go
towards where the wind is.
- Okay?
- Okay.
SIBUSISO: So as a skipper,
you need to know where
you need to position yourself
in a race.
Okay, let's catch this breeze, yeah?
- I can smell the southeaster coming.
- LINDANI: It's coming, yeah.
SIBUSISO: I can smell the southeaster.
- (GROANS)
- SIBUSISO: Okay, now come across.
Come across.
SIBUSISO: Okay, we're gonna go
for easy tide here. Coming down slowly.
- Tides are coming. They're coming.
- (LINDANI SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
- Get the boom.
- LINDANI: Get down. They're coming!
(METAL CLANKING)
Okay, now where are you going?
LINDANI: Okay, you need
to have control of the boat.
- Hold. Hold.
- AZILE: Yeah.
LINDANI: So, now you're going up. Yeah!
SIBUSISO: You're going back home.
Where are you going?
- (AZILE SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
- No. In strong winds, you take it slow.
So, if you move like this,
turn the boat around like this,
and you turn the boat around like this,
then the boat won't have control.
You also won't have control, okay?
Take it slow. Move slowly, okay?
Move slowly.
Because the waves are there to help you
as well. Just move slowly, okay?
I do sometimes doubt myself.
'Cause sometimes you feel like
you're not doing the right thing.
You've been...
taught how to do this,
and then sometimes you make mistakes.
Where's the Windex? Turn.
The Windex is pointing that side.
What did I say about the boom?
Always sit opposite of the boom.
This way, we're not jibing,
but we don't fall.
Always sit opposite the boom.
Where is the boom?
Watch, there it goes.
Hey, watch the Windex.
Hey, watch the Windex.
Watch the Windex. Make sure it's gone up.
Watch, it's gonna tide. It's gonna tide.
I'm telling you, it's gonna tide.
I'm telling you. There it is!
You're not listening to me.
You're not listening to me.
- You're not listening to me.
- LINDANI: There we go.
- Come on, Azile.
- Where is the Windex?
- Come on. Come on.
- Find that Windex.
Focus!
AZILE: I am a bit nervous.
It's gonna be my responsibility.
If any things happen,
I'm gonna be held accountable
for the team.
The water is dangerous.
(MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(WAVES RUMBLING)
I think my main problem today
is that I didn't trust myself.
- LINDANI: Yeah.
- AZILE: That's all I can say.
LINDANI:
Like the sea, there's so much
it teaches us about life.
So, you don't fall.
You know, when you're on land,
you need balance.
Because there's so many things
happening there.
I mean, I'll tell you something.
I had a problem
with alcohol at some point.
And it was strong.
And it got me strong.
And you know what I did? I remembered.
I can go to sea. I can cross from here
to America. I can...
I've been at sea and I survived.
If I can survive at sea...
what can stop me?
What I want you guys to be able to do
is to have the courage and the self-belief
to be able to come here
in 30 knots of wind and sail.
So if you can get on water, Azile,
and you can be one with it,
you can bounce back
from anything like that.
That's what I want for you guys.
I want you to come here and conquer.
(WAVES RUMBLING)
AZILE: For me to skipper this race
and make it around that island...
I am given a chance
to prove to myself that...
I can conquer anything.
- Hey, good luck for Saturday.
- AZILE: Thank you.
Out at sea, you think of nothing else
besides what you're doing there.
You just think about the boat
and where you're going
and about your safety.
And then, when you come back to land,
that's where you start thinking
about your life.
AZILE:
I think I had hatred back then,
because no one
was explaining anything to me.
(TRAIN BRAKES)
(WATER PLINKING)
(WAVES RUMBLING)
- I see another blowout today.
- Unfortunately, yeah.
- And the wind's like what? Like, 30 today?
- I've got 46.
LINDANI: Oh, my goodness.
That's worrying me a bit.
RECEPTIONIST:
You can make your own decision,
but that's when masts break,
people get injured.
- ANDREW: Hi, guys. How's it?
- Morning.
- Looking breezy.
- Sure, look at that.
I think, ultimately, as with all racing,
it comes down to the skipper of each boat
to make a decision as to whether it's safe
for them to continue racing or not.
I'm your skipper, so I'm gonna be
the one helming today.
For now, the wind is a bit light.
But around 2:00 p.m., it's gonna pick up.
AZILE: The sea can talk to you.
But you have to understand
what it says to you.
I understood by myself
without anyone explaining to me.
I understood that
my mother had to do what she did
to take me to my grandmother.
So now, we got a good relationship now.
Even though she didn't explain
anything to me.
I understood everything by myself.
(MID-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYING)
ANNOUNCER: (OVER PA) Good afternoon,
and welcome to Round Robben Island Race.
AZILE:
ANNOUNCER: (OVER PA)
Four, three, two, one.
(AIR HORN BLOWS)
ANNOUNCER: (OVER PA) All clear. All clear.
LINDANI: The work that I'm doing here
with the academy,
we have to find a way
to say, "How do we change?"
And I think that conversation
is gonna take place out on the water
'cause I have this
really strong feeling that
we're subscribed out, you know,
on land, you know?
There's so many decisions already
that we've made
about ourselves as individuals,
about society, how it should be made,
what girls should do, what boys should do,
what people of color should do.
You know, we're too over-subscribed.
There's hardly any room
for a new conversation.
So, my feeling is, let's go to sea.
Let's start having those conversations
out in the ocean,
where there's no reference.
All there is is water.
Gives us the opportunity to create
new reference points, you know?
To create ourselves anew.
I have no doubt in my mind
that there's a revolution that's coming.
The revolution is going to happen
on the ocean. I've seen it.
AZILE: My name is Azile.
I don't know why they named me Azile.
I don't even know who named me.
(UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING)
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
(THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES)