Board Members
Moroba Nkawe
Moroba Nkawe is the founder and Managing Director of Maru Film Services, a risk management company in the film and entertainment industry. Maru Film Services provides Film and Commercial Producers’ Indemnity insurance, Events Liability and Cancellation, Completion Guarantees and Production Monitoring & Supervision services. With over 15 years experience in the film and television industry, Moroba has worked as a Production Executive in the film guarantee business for over 5 years. She has produced and line produced feature films, television series, commercials and music videos. She has filmed across the African continent and worked with all major funding institutions in South Africa. Moroba serves on the boards of the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival and the South African Film Academy.
Odette Geldenhuys
With wide interests in justice and representationโor empathetic storytellingโOdette has worked in both the fields of law and documentary filmmaking, and in different capacities. Odette is currently an active pro bono attorney heading up a team of attorneys who do cases in the public interest; and a passive documentary filmmaker who vicariously lives through the films she consumes at each Encounters SA International Documentary Festival. As an active filmmaker, Odette co-produced the award-winning The Shore Break, and directed and produced other well-loved and multi-awarded documentaries such as Here be Dragons, Grietjie van Garies and Being Pavarotti. Odette has previously served as co-chair of the Documentary Filmmakers Association, and currently serves as a trustee on the Khayelitsha Youth and Community Trust and as a non-executive director of ProBono.Org.
Premesh Lalu
Premesh Lalu is a researcher and former director of the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape. In 2022, Polity Press in the UK published his book Undoing Apartheid. Lalu’s films Looking for Ned (2019, 13 mins) and The Double Futures of Athlone (2022, 58 mins) were screened at the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival.
Shameela Seedat
Human rights law specialist-turned-documentarist Shameela Seedat worked at the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Idasa and UNIFEM in New York before turning to filmmaking. Her documentaries have won multiple awards across the world, and include WHISPERING TRUTH TO POWER (Hot Docs Special Jury Award, FESPACO Bronze Stallion Award, Luxor African FF Jury Award, Jozi FF Best Documentary, Best Film ASAA) and AFRICAN MOOT (Best Documentary Zimbabwe FF, Nominee AMA Awards, Best Editing at Boston International FF). Shameela has made several short films for NGOs and television, and published widely on law and social justice. She was the first in-resident film activist at Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education in 2019, taught documentary at UCT in 2023 and served as DFA board member. Shameela has been a Jury Member for Sydney Film Festival, Hot Docs, and Adiaha Awards as well as project selector for international documentary funds.
Tiny Mungwe
Tiny Mungwe worked at STEPS where she has produced Generation Africa, a collection of 25 films, from 16 African countries on migration and a collections of 11 short films for Mzansi in a time of Covid. Through CTRL ALT Shift, she is releasing feature doc Womxn: Working in 2024/25. She has written Evelyn and directed Daddys Boy, both short films, and directed and produced Akekho uGogo, a med-length documentary. Her TV work includes writing for Muvhango, Matatiele and directing on Uzalo. Mungwe has also organised and programmed festivals including four international festivals: Time of the Writer, the Durban International Film Festival, Jomba! Contemporary Dance Festival and Poetry Africa and curated film programs for Durban FilmMart, Talents Durban. She is the co-founder of Engage, an itinerant knowledge production initiative consisting of think tanks and industry dialogue about the ext horizons for the African screens. She has worked as a mentor at DFM, Great Lakes Producers Lab, Hotdocs and with EFM Toolbox programme. She is part of the DFM Future Mentors programme as a contributor, curriculum and trainer. She is also the founder of Ehozini Retreat, an artist residency in Maphephetheni, eThekwini. She was a participant in the 2024 EAVE producers workshop.
Toni Monty
Toni Monty is a recognized practitioner in the African film sector, with 20 years of leadership in industry development. Formerly at the helm of the Durban Film Office for 17 years, she orchestrated the Durban FilmMart for 11 years, elevating African cinema through global partnerships. She has spearheaded several successful strategies and programs for African filmmaker growth, and has served on the board of the KZN Film Commission and the KZN Music Cluster. A law graduate with specialisation in intellectual property law, she contributes a vast set of skills, including strategy development, corporate governance and financial management. Montyโs impact spans 200+ African projects, several achieving global recognition, while her current role at A.M. Afrika continues her dedication to industry advancement.
Core Team
Mandisa Zitha – FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
Mandisa Zitha, who is currently Festival Director of the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, completed her BA in Film and Media Studies at UCT in 2005, majoring in Documentary. In 2007, she assumed the reins of Encounters until 2012, when the pressures of a growing family dictated more regular hours. After a 5-year stint at UCT, as Alumni Officer, she joined WESGRO as a Manager (Strategic Projects). But Encountersโ purpose and her love of the documentary genre saw her return to the position of Festival Director in 2019. Zitha is an ambassador for the SA film industry, she was one of the Mail and Guardianโs 2011 Top 100 Women for the Arts and Culture Sector in 2020 Zitha was a panellist at GZDOC (China) for โHow International film festivals and markets plan their post pandemic returnsโ. In 2020, Mandisa also received the Mbokodo Award for โWomen in Mediaโ. Mandisa was instrumental in building Encountersโ partnerships with Sichuan TV Festival in China, which took seven local films and two filmmakers to a festival in China, the French Embassy on the first Africadoc SA writing residency designed to develop African documentary cinema, and the 2012 partnership with Al Jazeera English, which saw 20 African documentaries pitch to the global broadcaster.
Tarha McKenzie – FESTIVAL Manager
Tarha McKenzie has over 12 years experience in the film industry, focusing on Programme and Distribution Management. She currently manages Africaโs premiere documentary festival, Encounters, and programme manages the Doc Society supported Climate Story Lab Southern Africa. Her other career highlights include managing content distribution for both Big World Cinema and Electric South, coordinating the Black Women Disrupt competition, and managing Techrowโs educational catalogue. Tarha has an aptitude to tinker and the dedication to make her teamโs dream a reality.
Joy Sapieka – Publicist and Programmer
Joy Sapieka is a publicist who has worked in Film and Television for over twenty-five years. Her extensive, distinguished international credits include over forty feature films and thirty television films and series, including Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning productions such as AMERICAN BEAUTY, ROAD TO PERDITION, EAST IS EAST, TSOTSI, QUEER AS FOLK, DISTRICT 9, THE NO. 1 LADIESโ DETECTIVE AGENCY and THE PRISONER. Joy was Sam Mendesโ personal publicist for six years and also worked with many acclaimed directors, including Stephen Daldry, Paul Greengrass, Paul Webb, Joe Wright, Anthony Minghella, Gavin Hood and Mira Nair. A keen promoter of the indigenous film industry, Joyโs African slate as a publicist includes DISTRICT 9, WHITE WEDDING, QUEEN OF KATWE, DEMOCRATS, BEATS OF THE ANTONOV and RAFIKI, amongst others. For the past ten years, Joy has been part of the Encounters South Africa International Documentary Festival team and has been involved in the promotion of the African Screen Network since its inception. Joy has promoted a variety of films at the Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Deauville, New York, London, Sydney, Galway and Edinburgh Film Festivals. She was Senior Publicist (Africa) for Al Jazeera TV Network from 2012 โ 2017. She has been invited to run Marketing, Distribution and Producing Masterclasses and Workshops at AFDA, UCT Film School, City Varsity, SAE and KZN Film Commission and has acted as an adviser to numerous local film initiatives.
FANNEY TSIMONG – JHB Festival Coordinator
Fanney Tsimong started his career in the Film & TV space for both Out In Africa Film Festival and Encounters SA Intโl Doc Fest. Under mentorship from Underdog, Fanney received the โRaw Talent Awardโ for his PSA in 2003โs DSTV/MNET Vuka Awards, which awarded him a scholarship to AFDA. He was nominated by Mail and Guardian, Vodacom and Umsobomvu Youth Fund as one of 100 young South African To Know, was selected as part of a panel of judges at the Berlinale Film Festival and was nominated for South African Traditional Awards (SATMA) for Best Cultural Electronic Media Journalist. He continues to break new grounds with film projects in development under Doti Productions, a company he founded in 2002. Recently Fanney joined the Joburg Film Festival curating team, film trafficker and Youth and Audience programme manager.
Nhlanhla Ndaba – JHB Festival Coordinator
Nhlanhla Ndaba has over two decades of extensive experience in the film industry. He has held roles ranging from production manager at notable film festivals like Encounters Documentary Festival and European Film Festival to co-director of the groundbreaking Kasi to Kasi Cinema, Africa’s first online film festival. His expertise extends to line producing documentaries for national broadcasters and conceptualizing original content, such as the acclaimed talk show “Intimate Connexionz” for SABC 2. Nhlanhla is also a prolific producer, having worked on a variety of projects including short films, documentaries, and television dramas like “AFTER 9.” His work has garnered significant recognition, including participation in prestigious events like the Berlin International Film Festival and impactful roles such as National Coordinator for the Marikana Support Campaign. Nhlanhla’s recent endeavors include overseeing Netflix projects as Assistant Production Controller for AAA-entertainment and developing his feature film “Mulisa,” selected for DFM access 2024.
Jade Simpson – TECHNICAL Coordinator
Jade, a Big Fish School of Digital Filmmaking graduate, excels as a producer with a degree in Film and Television. With over 8 short documentaries under her belt, she’s garnered recognition at esteemed festivals like the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival and the International Black Film Festival in the USA. From coordinating festivals to assisting on major projects like MTV’s The Challenge World Champs, Jade’s passion for storytelling shines through. In 2022, she founded Grace Productions, a platform for impactful narratives aimed at sparking change through the power of storytelling.
Lucinda van der Rheede – Programme Assistant
Lucinda Van de Rheede is a South African emerging film producer for Scissor Cut Films. She is currently working on documentaries including The Rhino Friend (Kenya), The Consort – in development (France), and Against the Odds (Zimbabwe) – in Post Production. She is the project manager for Rough Cut Lab Africa and programme assistant for Encounters South African International Documentary Festival. Lucinda is an alumna for the Southern African Locarno Industry Academy.
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