Busi Mhlongo, called early to music, left a marriage, a daughter and apartheid South Africa for sixteen years of exile - surviving industry exploitation, addiction and cancer- returning to her Zulu roots to remake world music on her own terms. Now her friends and family reclaim the recognition she never lived to enjoy.

The Busi Mhlongo Biopic is a hybrid feature documentary. Blending observational and interview-based storytelling with electrifying performance sequences and never-before-seen archives, Busi’s multi-facetted artistic urban Zulu appeal is re-awakened.

Hailing from rural KwaZulu-Natal, at thirteen, Busi attends the showing of King Kong the musical in Durban, starring Miriam Makeba. And a life-long fascination with the stage begins.. In her 50-year artistic journey her gigantic voice bends every genre it touches — 1960s South African musical theatre and jazz, Black American soul, London's Afro Rock scene, the world music circuit of 1980s Amsterdam. Yet the industry that celebrates her also exploits her. Cancer strikes. She heals and returns home to Durban to rediscover her authentic self through ancient Zulu music. Mhlongo weaves together music, fashion, styles, generations and time epochs into a unique Afrofuturistic art aesthetic.

She charts to number one in the world with the Urban Zulu album (1999). Mhlongo overcomes many barriers and changes the status of African female singers. Her journey is of mythological status and an inspiration to the Afro-futuristic youth. In a song of the Babhemu album, Busi personifies the Nguni Goddess, Nomkhubulwane. Yet, Mhlongo dies in 2010, aged 62 without the recognition she deserves.

More than a biographical music documentary, The Story of Busi Mhlongo (2028) is the restoration of a legacy. Now, 17 years after her death, on the eve of what would have been her 80th birthday, colleagues are re-uniting, reviving and re-awakening her legacy forever.