Film Maker Biographies

THE 16TH MAN / CLIFFORD BESTALL

Bestall has the distinction of being the first filmmaker to win two coveted Grierson Awards for Killers Don’t Cry (2001), which documented the process of reforming dangerous Numbers members in a notorious South African prison. Among his other international awards are: a Peabody for WGBH Frontline’s Apartheid’s People (as co-director); and the Best Factual Moment on British television in 2005 for The Long Walk of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, a series he produced, directed and filmed. In 1985 he was named the Television Cameraman of the Year by the Royal Photographic Society. He has been a regular contributor to Encounters and has mentored filmmakers on the Close Encounters Laboratory.

AFRIKAAPS / DYLAN VALLEY

Valley, a thoroughbred Kaapenaar, is a UCT Honours graduate (Film Theory and Practice) who sees films as a tool for change and awareness. He now specialises in documentary films, and dabbles in the other arts. His first (student) film, Lost Prophets, about South African hip hop pioneers, Prophets of da City, played at Encounters in 2007. He works freelance as a director and camera operator and recently directed Headwrap (Plexus Films), an arts and culture reality show for SABC1. He is a Documentary Filmmaker’s Association board member.

AFRIKANER AFRIKAAN / RINA JOOSTE

A History and Music graduate, Jooste has worked in the arts and culture sector since 1991, has a passion for researching socio-political issues and the psyche of people in post-apartheid South Africa. Jooste has completed 10 documentary films to date, and in 2007 she received a SAFTA for her film Betrayed. She is currently a bursary holder of a Masters Degree in History at Stellenbosch University and her latest film, Captor and Captive, will form part of her thesis submission.

THE BATTLE FOR JOHANNESBURG / REHAD DESAI

A Masters graduate (Social History, WITS 1997), Desai has been a trade union organiser, a health and safety/media officer for a chemical workers union and a Director of an HIV prevention NGO, all since his return from exile in the UK. He began working in the television and film industry as a current affairs journalist. He has a postgraduate degree in production from AVEA and has produced over 20 films, which have been broadcast internationally and at international festivals. He is the Festival Director of the Tri-ontinental Film Festival.

BURIED IN EARTHSKIN / HELENA KINGWILL

Kingwill was a freelance journalist for 20 years, and then began researching for production companies in 1999. In 2001, Kingwill took part in Encounters filmmaking workshop, Close Encounters, where she developed the script for Buried in Earthskin – based on her published article in the Big Issue. She raised the funds for the film at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002 from Wilderness Wisdom Fund, and the Heinrich Böll Stuftung in 2004, and finally from the NFVF in 2008 through her company Earth Shine Productions.

BIG FISH COMPILATION (X 6)

1. AMAJOKER / TAMANDANI KAPISA
Kapisa has worked in the industry for a decade. He conceptualized, produced and
directed his first short, Creative of my Habit, which took the Best Experimental Film award at the Coal Stove Film Awards

2 & 3. ATROPHY AND OUR BROKEN DREAMS / PALESA SHONGWE
Shongwe has been a script-reader, production coordinator and a documentary researcher. In 2009 she attended the Multichoice film talent incubator program at Big Fish School and earned the Best Director award for her short film The Forgotten Dance.

4. GETTING THERE / MASECHABA MOGANE
Mogane sees storytelling as a way to share laughter, tears and every other emotion that comes with staying in Soweto. In 2009 she received a learnership at Big Fish and pursues her passion for storytelling.

5. KHUTSONG / NAMI MHLONGO
Mhlongo attended the Institute for Advancement of Journalism (Open Window Network), progressed to the Film & TV Unit Monash University SA (now Big Fish) and worked as a freelance sound technician. His short documentary, God Loves Sinners (Little Pond
Production Trust) has won numerous awards.

6. SKAVAVI BOYS / KHANYSILE MAIMELA
Maimela was a participant of the 2009 Multichoice Film Talent Incubator run by Big Fish.

CARE TAKERS THE GUARDIAN AND PATH TO THE FUTURE / MICHAEL RAIMONDO

Raimondo is the founder and managing director of African Renaissance Productions. Previously he worked for Cambridge University and the World Conservation Union and has been working in the television industry since 2003. He has directed and produced over 50 films for the SABC including the Healing Power of Nature series.

THE CRADOCK FOUR / DAVID FORBES

Forbes, an award-winning cameraman, began as a runner 27 years ago and has worked across the globe. The Cradock Four, mostly self funded, took him 7 years to make and included a court case against the Department of Justice in order to gain access to the records pertinent to this film. He is founding member of the IPO and a member of the DFA.

A COUNTRY FOR MY DAUGHTER / LUCILLA BLANKENBERG

As a member of Idol Pictures, Blankenberg has made several films about aspects of South African society. Currently she is the Deputy-Director of Community Media Trust (an NPO specialising in media, outreach and training), and the Director of Siyayinqoba Beat It!, the weekly educational TV show. She uses film to combat gender-based violence.

DRIVING WITH FANON / STEVE KWENA MOKWENA

Mokwena’s work, as a writer, painter, historian, museum curator and independent filmmaker, is about history, memory and healing. A youth development advocate for over 15 years, Mokwena now uses film to find creative, compelling audiovisual language that can communicate ancestral memory in the digital age to a new generation. His titles include A Blues for Tiro (SAFTA 2008), Come Guerilla and Our Father who Art in Memory. Mokwena is currently working on a feature length documentary, Rebirth of the Bhundu Spirits.

EARTHCHILD / LESEDI MOGOATLHE

Mogoatlhe, a Mesa Films Young Talent, has worked as a director since graduating from City Varsity in 2005. She is interested in the issues of cultural identity, erased memory and music. She is currently completing her MA in documentary film at Sussex University in the UK.

FORGOTTEN GOLD / MAKELA LUYEYE PULULU

Congolese born Pululu began directing in 2002 and had made 3 short films when he took part in the 2008 Berlinale Talent Campus. His proposal for Forgotten Gold was one of 12 chosen for the Berlinale’s Doc Station and for the INPUT Made in Africa workshop, and made the 18 minute Silent Response for the Encounters African Shorts series that same year. He continues to make documentaries here and in the DRC.

HERE BE DRAGONS / ODETTE GELDENHUYS

Geldenhuys is a human rights lawyer and a documentary filmmaker, the founder of Frank Films and the founder director of ProBono.Org. Her films include Being Pavarotti and Grietjie van Garies, which won the 2005 Encounters Audience Award. She has directed educational and informational films for NGOs and two talk show series on ethics and morality.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE / STEFANIE BROCKHAUS & ANDY WOLFF

Brockhaus is a graduate of the London College of Communications, University of the Arts and, after yearsworking in the industry, is currently studying documentary direction at the Munich University of Television and Film (HFF). Wolff, at age 15, became a professional windsurfer competing in the World Cup Tour. After a
decade of travelling the world, he returned to Europe,
worked on film sets in Germany and France and studied
film at the USC in Los Angeles. He is currently studying at Munich’s University of Television and Film (HFF). Brockhaus and Wolff work together as a co-directing / cinematography team. On The Other Side Of Life is their first feature length documentary collaboration.

MARIO AND THE RUDE BOYS / MIKE BARDSLEY & AYLA HILLl

Bardsley has been in the TV and Film industry for over 20 years. He produced the first televised sports quiz show in South Africa, and now works around the world on major sports broadcasts. Heavily involved in the 2010 World Cup, Bardsley went into the Cape Flats to produce a 3 minute insert. 2 years later it is now a 52 minute collection of raw and compelling tales about gangs, drugs and the beautiful game. This is his first documentary.

Ayla has worked in the industry for nearly 20 years as a copywriter, producer and director. Whilst working for the BBC in the UK, she produced a wide range of award-winning short form films including Lou Reed’s 'Perfect Day' which promptly became number one in the UK charts. Ayla then left the BBC to create Twelfth House Productions where she produced social documentaries for television, filming in India, Russia and the UK. Ayla now lives in South Africa and has created Beautiful Earth Productions which specializes in social & environmental documentaries and campaigns. Ayla recently partnered with Mike Bardsley to co-direct and produce Mario and the Rude Boys.

PAX AMERICANA AND THE WEAPONIZATION OF SPACE / DENIS DELESTRAC

Delestrac, a Law and Journalism graduate, made his debut in non-fiction filmmaking in 2001 and has directed a number of hits including the IMAX blockbuster Mystery of the Nile and Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space, his first feature documentary. Delestrac currently resides in Barcelona where he runs Intrepido Films.

PROMISED LAND / YORUBA RICHENS

Richen, born and bred in Harlem, has a Bachelor’s degree (Brown University) and a Masters in City Planning (UC Berkeley), is an adjunct Professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism and the recipient of numerous grants, including a Fulbright Award and a Diversity Development Fund grant from the Independent Television Service (ITVS).

SATHIMA’S WINDSONG / DANIEL YON

Yon is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Education at York University, Toronto, and a Research Associate in Anthropology at the University of Cape Town. A St Helena native, he has lived in southern Africa for substantial periods of time since the 1980s and was initially drawn to Sathima’s story by her St Helena roots.

SIYABONGA MA / OMELGA MTHIYANE

Mthiyane, born in Inanda, has a Diploma in Video Technology from The Durban University of Technology. Further study included the Encounters Close Encounters Laboratory and a Binger Institute documentary film course. Her film Ikhaya premièred at Sundance, and Baraka was broadcast on BBC World. She has been invited to the Rotterdam, Berlin and Goteborg film festivals to screen her films.

THE SORROW OF uMAQUBULA / RIAAN HENDRICKS

Hendricks, whose films are mostly subjective and personal, describes himself as the “son of a fisherman who became a poet instead”. He has collaborated on numerous films and has produced and directed 8 of his own films to date. The Last Voyage (2009) received a Golden Horn nomination for cinematography at Zanzibar, and A Fisherman’s Tale received Jury Special Mention at the Apollo Film Festival in 2004.

THEMBI / JO MENELL

Menell made documentaries for the BBC and ITV in the 60s and was banned from working in South Africa in 1969 after a series he made for Thames TV outraged the apartheid regime. Menell lived and worked in South America, making documentaries in Brazil, Cuba, Argentina and acting as deputy director general of Chile’s national TV channel at the time of Salvador Allende’s regime. In 1990 he made Dick, which gained him world-wide notoriety. In l996 his film Mandela was nominated for an Oscar. Currently he coproduces and co-directs Street Talk for Cape Town TV (CTV).

UNHINGED: SURVIVING JO’BURG / ADRIAN LOVELAND

Loveland’s Unhinged is his first film. Previously he made a living as an entrepreneur, picking up work in an array of fields, from event producing to furniture removals, writing, research and DJing, all experiences which (except the furniture removals) contributed to the making of this film.