The Independent Mzansi Short Film Festival (IMSFF), is a four-day short film
celebration. IMSFF 2015 will be held at the ASBOS
Theatre in the Karoo Cafe. The festival will screen up to 20 hours of short films
from up-and-coming directors and producers in South Africa. IMSFF’s mission is to
present quality short films from around South Africa as well as support, recognise
and honour filmmakers creating films under ±30 minutes. This year, IMSFF will
have 18 award categories, better known as the Mzansi’s. Nominees and winners will
be chosen by a distinguished panel of juror’s, compiled by industry professionals.
The festival will conclude with the gala awards ceremony on 5 July.
IMSFF Jurors – 2015
1. Nthabeleng Phora
Nthabeleng Phora found her passion in working for the Gauteng Film Commission
(GFC). She has worked with various training institutions to increase transformation
and involvement of women, children, youth and people living with disabilities in the
TV and film industries. She worked on Little One, Gog Helen, Man on
Ground and Paradise Stop to name a few. She also assists with
the GFC broadcast initiatives, ensuring job creation and skills development.
2. Sechaba Morojele
Sechaba Morojele has an impeccable track record which spans over ten years in the TV and film
industry. He got his BSc. degree in statistics at the University of Manchester in 1984
and worked for four years as a statistician in England and in South Africa before
giving it all up to pursue a career in the film industry as an actor. In 1999, Sechaba
enrolled at the American Film Institute (AFI), in Los Angeles to do a MFA in film
directing where his thesis film Ubuntu’s Wounds won numerous
awards including; the prestigious Franklin J. Schaffner award for directing the best
thesis film from his year, Best Short film at the Pan African Film Festival in Los
Angeles and The Director’s Guild of America (DGA) Student Award for outstanding
achievement in directing.
3. Warren Holden
Warren Holden is the editor of Screen Africa magazine, Africa’s
leading monthly trade publication for the film, television, broadcasting,
commercials, new media and technology industries. A lifelong film enthusiast, he is
a graduate of the South African School of Motion Picture Medium (AFDA) in
Johannesburg, where he completed his degree with specialisation in writing and
directing. After working for some years in short-form production for television, he
moved into the fields of journalism and publishing. In this capacity, he has focused
his efforts on covering the South African arts and culture sector as a whole and the
film and television industries in particular. He is an aficionado of film history,
theory and criticism, and an ardent supporter of the local production industry.
4. Pieter Oosthuizen
Pieter Oosthuizen is the chief visionary officer for MadRobot, a product placement
agency assisting with additional financing for local and international feature films.
His passion for film started at a young age after entering the Junior City Council
writing competition and winning first place in the drama category. After starting a
tradesman’s career following matric, he enrolled in the TUT film programme and
completed his Red Seal and B-Tech degree in film and TV production in the same
year, majoring in scriptwriting, directing and cinematography. He won the award for
best B-Tech scriptwriter – and became a qualified artisan at the same time. He has
collaborated with many industry professionals on more than 27 South African feature films and has gained extensive knowledge and experience in many
film industry disciplines and the aspects of business within the industry.
5. Leon van Nierop
Leon van Nierop is a writer, journalist, presenter, actor and film critic, best known
for creating numerous radio and television series’ including
Ballade vir ‘n Enkeling, Stralejakkers and Ratels. He has
been writing for the magazine DEKAT since the magazine’s launch in
1985 and presents a well-known critique called ‘Leon at the Movies’. He has lectured
on film criticism for years throughout the country and headed the TUT film school in
Pretoria for four years. He has also written two books on film analysis, is part of
the South African Film and Television Awards jury, and writes extensively on film for several publications. He has
written dozens of novels and several television series’ and radio dramas.
Additonally, he is a newsreader and continuity presenter for RSG on
SABC radio and serves as their major film critic.
6. Anna-Marie Jansen van Vuuren
Anna-Marie is a broadcast journalist and producer on the Afrikaans current affairs
shows at RSG (SABC Radio). She has been specialising in reporting on the
South African film industry for the last five years. She has written three South
African children’s television series (Lappies Leeu, Thabang Thabong
and Rivoningo), two feature films (Babalas and
Wolf Wolf), as well as scripts for various factual inserts and
documentaries. Anna-Marie holds degrees in journalism (MPhil, University of
Stellenbosch), film and TV production (BTech, Tshwane University of Technology)
and she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in scriptwriting, at the University of Pretoria.
She has lectured in the fields of screenwriting, film and media studies, and
broadcast journalism on a part-time basis for the last seven years at the University
of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Pretoria and
the Tshwane University of Technology.
7. Bonginhlanhla Ncube
Bonginhlanhla Ncube is a filmmaker of heart. His journey into film started in 2008
when he directed his first short film called Kingsley. In 2010 he
entered the 48 Hour Film Project contest in Johannesburg and scooped the Best
Producing award for the film Wrong Call (2010). In 2011, he directed
and produced the action film 48 which was commissioned by Mzansi
Magic for television, however, the film performed beyond its original intentions and
also went on to win awards at various film festivals. These film festivals helped him
to further strengthen his ties with influential industry players. He is predominantly
inspired by human beings’ ability to alter or maintain ethics in varying
circumstances, and the fight for survival. His voice as a writer can be found in that
summary.
8. Taryn Uhlmann
Taryn Uhlmann is a film and television content marketing specialist, with specific
knowledge of entertainment consumption platforms (cinema, DVD, TV, VOD). She
has worked in the commercial environment of film distribution for both local film
and Warner Bros Pictures International as well as on film festivals and markets,
with a focus on project and script development and co-financing. She has a Master’s focusing on the South African documentary industry, has produced two
documentaries and now heads up marketing for VIDI, SA’s online VOD streaming
service.
IMSFF 2015 is proudly sponsored by VIDI (www.vidi.co.za). Other partners include
the Gauteng Film Commission and Screen Africa. IMSFF has also
collaborated with the Durban International Film Festival, the Jozi Film Festival,
kykNET’s Silwerskermfees and the Qabila Short Film Festival in Egypt as far as
content sharing is concerned.
