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23 May 2023

Jenna Cato Bass

By Torchwood

Writer-director-producer Jenna exploded onto the South African film scene with her debut LOVE THE ONE YOU LOVE in 2014 in which she shot, edited, produced, wrote and directed. The film garnered five awards including Best SA Feature and Best Direction at Africa’s premiere film festival in Durban, Best feature Film at Jozi Film Festival, a Young Audience Award at Nantes Three Continents Festival, and Best First Feature Film by a Director at the African Movie Academy Awards, the following year. Body swap comedy HIGH FANTASY came next; entirely shot on an iPhone Jenna workshopped the film with the cast and played with contemporary South African themes of land expropriation, gender and race politics amongst the Born-Free generation. The film played at AFI and Berlin amongst others, where it was nominated for the Audience and Teddy awards respectively. In 2018 Jenna co-wrote RAFIKI – the controversial Kenyan gay love story with director Wanuri Kahiu that was banned on home turf. The film played widely at festivals, won several awards, and was nominated for the Cannes Un Certain Regard and Queer Palm awards at the 2018 festival. Jenna’s third feature, FLATLAND – a contemporary female western set in South Africa’s semi desert Karoo region – opened the 2019 Berlinale Panorama programme. A “picaresque road movie”, it was compared by Variety to the work of Andrea Arnold; with its “free, friction-based energy of the film’s performance style and the ragged lyricism …[and] its happy mixing of gravelly realist texture and romantic metaphor”. A portrait of femininity the film was produced by South African vet and Jenna’s long-time collaborator David Horler and distributed by The Match Factory. Fourth feature GOOD MADAM (MLUNGU WAM) produced by Causeway Films (THE BABADOOK) and distributed by Shudder, the pic premiered in the 2021 TIFF Platform to fabulous reviews. Jenna is developing across film and television with a teen horror comedy with Nim Geva of SA’s Quizzical Pictures.

Represented by David Kayser

06 Mar 2023

Nico Scheepers

By Torchwood

Nico Scheepers is a screenwriter, director, and playwright.

As a Writer/Director, Nico has two series to his name including the critically acclaimed family saga NÊRENS, NOORD-KAAP (Multichoice, 2021), and the original crime thriller series DONKERBOS (Showmax, 2022/2023). DONKERBOS screened as part of the Berlinale Series Select for 2023. His fantasy short, DIE MAAN VAL BEWUSTELOOS, won him the Best Director prize at the 2017 Silwerskerm Festival. He is currently working on two new series, and the development of his first Feature.

As a playwright, Nico’s work has been published in South Africa, performed at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town, The Market Theatre in Johannesburg, and at the Aan De Braak in Amsterdam. He has won 5 Fiësta Theatre Awards and in 2018 recieved the Fleur Du Cap for Best New Director.

Nico’s roots in the rural African landscape permeate his work, bringing a gravity and authenticity to his original worlds and characters.

Represented by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie

06 Mar 2023

Daniel Snaddon

By Torchwood

Daniel Snaddon is a Bafta- and Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated film director, artist, and illustrator of Scottish-South African and Chinese-Australian descent. He has worked in the animation and film industries for fourteen years, best known for his work with Triggerfish Animation Studios and with Magic Light Pictures’ animated BBC Christmas specials. Among these, Daniel served as animation supervisor on the Academy Award-nominated ROALD DAHL’S REVOLTING RHYMES, co-director on the BAFTA nominated STICK MAN, and as director on both the Annie award winning THE SNAIL AND THE WHALE and the International Emmy winning ZOG.

Recently Daniel directed his fourth Magic Light Pictures Christmas special THE SMEDS AND THE SMOOS based on the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (authors of THE GRUFFALO). Daniel served as the founding director of CTIAF, South Africa’s premiere animation festival, for 4 years.

Along with James Clarke and Daniel Clarke, he created the graphic novel KARIBA, which was funded through a campaign on Kickstarter, the most successful of its kind in Africa. The graphic novel has since been published in several languages in multiple territories.

Represented by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie

06 Mar 2023

Beer Adriaanse

By Torchwood

Screenwriter and director Beer Adriaanse has written and directed two television series, EKSTRA MEDIUM and BUURTWAG, and been a head writer on the longest-running Afrikaans comedy series (5 seasons).

His genre work includes a multi-award winning sci-fi short film, SIKLUS, and his first feature film – the horror PARABLE (2020) – was nominated at several international film festivals and won best feature at the New Orleans Horror Film festival. Beer then wrote and directed the feature LAASTES (2021).

Next up, Beer will be directing his original feature film TABLE FOR TWO for Showmax.

Represented by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie

06 Mar 2023

Daniel Clarke

By Torchwood

Daniel Clarke is a Cape Town-based director of animation and artist. He started his career in animation in 2008 at Triggerfish Animation Studios, a collaboration that has lasted until today and has seen him act as Production Designer and Art director on projects such as the feature film KHUMBA, BBC’s STICK MAN and THE SNAIL AND THE WHALE. As an illustrator and designer he has worked with clients such as Netflix, Animal Logic, The Line, National Geographic Kids, Nike, Adidas, Penguin Random House and others. In 2018, along with James Clarke and Daniel Snaddon, he completed the graphic novel KARIBA, which was funded through a campaign on Kickstarter, the most successful of its kind in Africa. The graphic novel has since been published in several languages in multiple territories.

Most recently, Daniel co-directed the animated film AAU’S SONG in the Star Wars universe for Disney+ and Lucas Film.

Represented by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie

21 Feb 2023

Ari Kruger

By Torchwood

Ari Kruger is the co-creator and director of the hugely popular web-series SUZELLE DIY which has garnered over 22 million views on YouTube and been broadcast nationally on Comedy Central. He is also the co-creator and director of the sensational mockumentary series TALI’S WEDDING DIARY, which was awarded five South African Film & Television Awards, including Best Director for a Comedy Series. Both productions epitomise his impeccable comic timing and talent for creating memorable characters. Ari has attracted notable attention with his short films, having been a finalist at the world’s largest short film festival Tropfest in 2011, in competition with the likes of filmmakers like Joel Edgerton. His films have screened in festivals across the globe with two of his short films having been selected as Vimeo Staff Picks. His latest short film WAITING FOR GOLDMAN is currently racking up awards on the festival circuit, winning Best Dark Comedy at IndieX Film Festival and Independent Short Awards in Los Angeles. Ari won best director for TALI’S BABY DIARY (the sequel to BABY DIARY) which also won Best Comedy series at the 2022 SAFTAS. The third installment of the hit series TALI’S JOBURG DIARY dropped on Showmax earlier this year and has been received with critical acclaim. Ari and his wife Julia Anastasopoulos are the co-owners of Sketchbook Studios, a production company in Cape Town where they produce original content, television series, features and commercials.

Represented by David Kayser

06 Feb 2023

Fabian Medea

By Torchwood

An alum of Wits and AFDA Fabian completed his first feature film script GOODNIGHT IRENE, which won him entry to the SPARK writer’s development program at the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). In 2011 he was invited to the Script Writer’s Master’s Course at the NFVF, where he first started to develop WILD IS THE WIND which was first released on Netflix 28 October 2022. Before this Fabian worked as a professional script writer in television. As a staff writer, he pitched, developed and wrote hundreds of scripts for telenovelas and hour long drama series for some of the top production companies in Joburg. Shows included: ZONE 14, THE WILD, JACOB’S CROSS, INKABA, ZABALAZA and ISIBAYA for which he received a SAFTA nomination for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Scriptwriting’. Working in TV allowed him to hone his craft and gave him the experience needed to complete WILD IS THE WIND, which reached the top ten in 83 countries within its first week of release. Fabian is actively developing projects across film and television and is drawn to heightened genre.

Represented by David Kayser

08 Jan 2023

Neiloe Whitehead

By Torchwood

Neiloe Whitehead cut her teeth in the production and development department of the National Film and Video Foundation. Spearheading the documentary program at the foundation as a manager Neiloe’s duties included overseeing TV formats, and development and production content for both fiction and non-fiction. Neiloe has also worked with various funds, film festivals, television broadcasters both locally and internationally, was part of the Eurodoc International program in 2011 and was development exec at Fireworx Media and recently completed the 2022 Realness/Netflix lab for development execs. Neiloe has written on SIGNAL HIGH, SPLINTERED PIECES and three seasons of uBETTINA WETHU, the South African changed format of UGLY BETTY. She has several original TV and feature film projects at various stages of development and is co-owner of Black Seed Film Hub, a black female led production company.

Represented by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie and David Kayser

01 Sep 2022

Annelize Frost

By Torchwood

Annelize Frost began her career as Assistant Director on international feature films including THE FALL directed by Tarsem and NO.1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY, directed by Anthony Minghella.

Inspired by her love for cinematic storytelling Annelize made her directorial debut with LOST SONS (2005) which depicted the rise of gangsterism in young adolescents in the Cape Flats. The film won 4 awards including best newcomer director award at the DSTV MultiChoice Vuka awards.

Acclaimed for her unique visual and narrative style, Annelize was hired by Velocity Films as AD under the tutelage of legendary and iconic Director Keith Rose. Annelize worked with Keith on critically acclaimed and timeless projects in the commercial brand industry collaborating with the top agency creatives, producers and brands in South Africa and internationally. Awards include: Cannes Lions, Clio awards, The One Show, Epica, The Loeries, Creative Circle, The New York Festivals Advertising awards.

Annelize made the natural progression into directing at Velocity Films and later with her partnered content production company, I AM CONTENT, where she produced and directed international content.

Currently attached to direct a romcom for Kyknet, Annelize, who is bilingual in English and Afrikaans, has a tireless work ethic, and an inspiring infectious creative vision.

Represented by: Aoife Lennon-Ritchie

31 May 2022

Chisanga Kabinga

By Torchwood

Chisanga Kabinga is a Zambian born producer-writer-director living in South Africa, who began her television writing career in 2003 working on South Africa’s top performing soap, GENERATIONS and soon branched into writing for other formats, including John Hopkins/USAID funded educational dramas like TSHA TSHA, SOUL CITY, and the ground breaking Peabody Award winning INTERSEXIONS, for which she was also nominated for a South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA). Chisanga has worked on several top grossing South African and Zambian dramas and soaps as storyliner, script editor, script consultant and head writer for shows such as SOUL BUDDYZ, A PLACE CALLED HOME (both of which Chisanga also directed on as well as THE MATING GAME), NJILA, FEVER, MUVHANGO and 2021’s breakout THE ESTATE for Clive Morris Productions and SABC3. Together with Linda Bere Chisanga co-created, co-wrote and co-produced KOWETHU, a 13 part drama series that aired on SABC 1 in 2014 and has recently completed script editing on KINGS OF JOBURG Season 2 for Netflix. Chisanga’s extensive TV development work has taught her the power of television in shifting both perceptions and culture through compelling and entertaining drama. She continues to work as a writer, director and independent producer in Zambia and South Africa and under her company 20 Feet Tall, she has developed two Zambian television series for the Southern African regional channel, Zambezi Magic.

Represented by David Kayser

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