There is a new generation of South African directors and producers, making hits about modern life, trauma and love for global audiences.
Nosipho Dumisa
The creator of Blood and Water (2020), and an AFDA alumni, Nosipho Dumisa is a talent to watch. Dumisa is a South African writer, director and producer, she co-founded the Cape Town-based production company Gambit Films. She wrote and directed her first feature film, the crime thriller Nommer 37 (2014), first as a short in 2014 followed by a feature version in 2018. She previously worked as a producer on the Afrikaans soap opera Suidooster.
Jabu Nadia Newman
Jabu Nadia Newman is a filmmaker and photographer with Romance Films, who deftly explores a range of subject matter, from the provocative to the pop culture-esque, with emotion and humour. Her short film, The Dream That Refused Me was awarded Best No Logo and Best Low Budget at CICLOPE Africa 2021. The Dream That Refused Me explores the new aesthetics of the African diaspora by intentionally disrupting ideas of black culture through poetry, internet iconography, and dance.
Milisuthando Bongela
Milisuthando Bongela is a South African award-winning writer, editor, cultural worker and artist. Her career began in the fashion industry, but the last 15 years has seen her traverse the worlds of music, art, media and film – continually turning towards indigenous knowledge. She has recently completed her first film, a personal essay documentary titled MILISUTHANDO, which will have its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese
Lesotho-born and Berlin-based Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, is a screenwriter, film director and visual artist, well-known for This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (2019), Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You. (2019) and Behemoth: Or the Game of God (2016). His films explore spiritual and political themes and are noted for their minimal dialogue, strong poetic imagery, and preoccupation with his own childhood memories, identity and physical and metaphorical death.
Tebogo Malebogo
Tebogo Malebogo is a South African filmmaker based between New York City and Johannesburg. Malebogo wrote, directed, and co-produced his first short film, Mthunzi (2019). The film screened at 100+ festivals across the globe and had its online premiere on Le Cinéma Club. Mthunzi has been acquired by Topic Studios and One Story Up. His second film, Heaven Reaches Down to Earth (2020), was screened at 100+ festivals globally and in 2022, this film was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick and acquired by MUBI.
Hallie Haller
Hallie Haller is a South African writer, director and creative strategist, currently based in Johannesburg. Part of The Rudeboy Collective, Haller is interested in cultural production that creates opportunity, fosters community and examines how we may live more meaningful lives. Hallie is proudly a Brown Girls Doc Mafia member and a For Creative Girls mentor. a One World Media documentary fellow and an ambassador for Girls in Film‘s South African chapter.
