Co Chair

Khanyi Magubane is a seasoned Radio Broadcaster, TV and Film Producer and Media Entrepreneur. She has cut her teeth across the various media platforms of Radio/TV/Online and Print and has been widely recognised for her work in broadcast media. She runs Zinokwanda Media and Communications, a Joburg based agency and production company. A journalist by profession, she has worked for radio stations such as Talk Radio 702, YFM and SAfm. As a producer, she has produced documentaries, talk shows and made-for-television films. She has produced for broadcasters including SABC and Mzansi Magic. Her work includes the critically acclaimed documentary series. Why Are We So Angry, the hard hitting socio-economical documentary series Making Cents, and directing the biographical documentary series Sheroes in Media. Khanyi is currently the executive producer of the upcoming Documentary Feature Film Jabba X, based on the life of late rapper Jabulani Tsambo, better known by his stage name Hip Hop Pantsula (HHP).

Co-Treasurer

Liani Maasdorp is a senior lecturer in the Centre for Film & Media Studies at the University of Cape Town. She convenes the Master of Documentary Arts degree programme, undergraduate Screen Production courses and the UCT Sunshine Cinema Film Impact Screening Facilitator short course.She is the academic director of the UCT TV Studio and the Stepping Stone community engagement video training programme. She is the founder of the ScreenCubator film and media talent developer. She was one of the producers of Strike a Rock, which opened the Encounters International Documentary Film Festival in 2017 and screened at Sheffield DocFest, IDFA and DIFF. She has served as judge for the SAFTAS and International Emmy Awards. She was a consultant to the Deutsche Welle Akademie-supported virtual DOC:Co Impact Lab in Colombia (2021) and co-created the 100% online UCT Film Impact Screening Facilitator short course with Miki Redelinghuys and Sunshine Cinema.

Sivuyisiwe Giba is the co-founder and director of SivuBuhle Media, a documentary and multimedia production company based in the Eastern Cape. Sivu comes with a variety of film experiences from feature film to documentary and her passion is mostly documentary filmmaking, where she had her formal film training from Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking specializing in producing and directing. She won Best Documentary Class of 2013 at the Cape Winelands International Film Festival. She is also a Film business developer who is passionate about provincial film development and with her Degree of Entrepreneurship and New Venture creation from WITS Business School, she is able to see business opportunities through film tourism, co- productions and development. Sivu is passionate about indigenous stories and that is what she mainly produces and directs, especially authentic rural stories where the heart of the community is.

Miki Redelinghuys makes and watches documentary films and gets deeply excited about a good story. She has been making films in various shapes and forms since somewhere in the mid-90’s. In 2020 she completed a Masters of Documentary Arts at UCT focussing on social impact through film. She believes that stories have the power to reach into the hearts of people and inspire change. She served as co-chair of the DFA board in 2008-2009 and again 2020-2022. She coordinates docLOVE film screenings, where films serve as a catalyst for engagement. She serves as programme manager for the UCT Sunshine Cinema Impact facilitators course and co-director of the first Climate Story Lab Southern Africa.

Public Officer

Thea Aboud started her career in industrial engineering with Iscor, and moved to local, provincial and national government. She branched out into accounting, procurement and human resources and, after 17 years, decided to work for herself. She started Shacabanga Consulting, working as a strategist and capacity-building advisor and, in co-operation with New Horizons, facilitated Business Implementation Plans for local, provincial and national government, non-profit organisations and the private sector in South Africa and other African countries.

In a complete turn-around, Thea then ran a successful take-away / bakery / general dealer in the Eastern Cape, before she returned to Johannesburg in 2010 to set up the Writers Guild of South Africa, which she still runs as Executive Officer in conjunction with the WGSA Council. Among her other clients are the Documentary Filmmakers’ Association, the South African Screen Federation, Sisters Working in Film and Television, the Southern African Freelancers’ Association and the South African Science Journalists’ Association.

Thea’s strengths lie in organisational capacity building, system analysis, financial management, strategic planning and project management, and she has a sound knowledge of the Public Finance Management Act. As a writer, she has screen credits on a children’s programme and has also been a ballet, ballroom and Latin American dancer and trainer.

Co-Chair

Karin Slater was invited as a lifetime member of the Academy and judge of the Oscars in 2020. She works as a director and cinematographer with her main interest in indigenous wisdom and wildlife. Her documentaries have screened at Sundance, Berlinale, Hot Docs, Museum of Modern Art, New York and she has won numerous awards including the Trailblazer Award for innovative and creative work in the field of documentaries at Mipdoc, Cannes 2008, Best Feature Documentary at the International Innovations Film Festival 2019, Switzerland and she’s been eligible for an Oscar. She’s also a teacher of documentary filmmaking and was head mentor at Big Fish film school for seven years and has been a lecturer at Selkirk College, BC, Canada.

Thaakirah Behardien obtained her BA in film production from the University of Cape Town in 2013. After leaving university, she worked first as a production assistant then as a production coordinator specialising in feature films and still shoots. She has freelanced for numerous local production service companies and has worked on projects for the BBC, Netflix, and 20th Century Fox. In 2021, she completed her Masters degree in Documentary Arts graduating with distinction. Her short documentary An-Nisaa (Women) recently won the “Best Emerging South African Filmmaker Award” at the Encounters International South African Documentary festival. Thaakirah works as a Media Strategist while pursuing her passion for documentary filmmaking.

Morgan Morris is an emerging filmmaker. Under the umbrella of his company 1808 Films, he has one short documentary – ‘The Girl Who Went to Norway and Came Back’ – in development; and another, shot entirely on a GoPro – about a Cape Town mother who ran two Cape Town Marathons with one of her autistic sons – going into post-production. In addition, Morgan is working on several fictional projects as well as a hybrid doccie-slash-music video under his other company, Scruffy Dog Productions. Morgan is a member of the DFA, as well as the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO) and the Independent Black Filmmakers Collective (IBFC).

Shameela Seedat is a former fulbright scholar who worked in law for over 10 years before turning to filmmaking. Her first feature-length documentary WHISPERING TRUTH TO POWER won multiple awards, including from Hot Docs FF, FESPACO , the Luxor African Film Festival and from the African Studies Association. Her second feature length documentary AFRICAN MOOT has just completed post-production. Shameela has also directed several programs for local and international television stations, as well as a series of ten short films on social justice activists in South Africa. She was the 2019 Film Resident Activist at the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education, and served on the documentary film jury at the Sydney Film Festival in 2018 and on the Documentary Film Association (DFA) Citizen Journalists Jury in 2020. Shameela has published widely on law and social justice in various journals, newspapers and book chapters.

Newsletter & Social Media

Liezel Vermeulen is a highly experienced documentary film producer and creative project development specialist, starting her career in teaching television theory at Rhodes University in 2000. She has extensive experience in administering the DTIC Film and TV incentive for documentary, animation and live action projects and line produces on factual and documentary projects including 80 hours of nature programming, the biggest 4K delivery out of SA to date for Blue Ant Media, Canada. Her most recent factual series Anatomy of a Wildfire for ITV Global studios examined the impact of climate change on the global growth in the management of wildfires. Career highlights include SA Story with Archbishop Desmond Tutu produced to celebrate the Soccer World Cup in 2010, working on South Africa’s first homegrown animation series URBO: The Adventures of Pax Afrika and two factual series for e.tv about the Bornfree generation. She is the communications manager for the Documentary Filmmakers Association of South Africa (DFA) and the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO).