Chairperson: Tshepiso Chikapa Phiri
(Known Associates Entertainment /Moonlighting)
Tshepiso Chikapa Phiri is the CEO and founder of the Known Associates Group of Companies, which includes a below the line agency, design studio, film production development and finance company and is currently building a state-of-the-Art film and television Studio in the Cradle of Humankind outside Johannesburg. KA skilfully produces and directs world-class projects in the communications, experiential, and relationship marketing industries, both locally and across Africa.
She is a University of Cape Town Alumni, with 20 years’ experience in communications, events, media, marketing, and film and television production. Her career includes working in international events including the North Sea Jazz Festival and Sithengi Film Festival. She has also worked in classic advertising as a ‘suit’. In 2007 she decided to commit to a career as a television and film producer. Her training ground was at Bomb Productions where she was the Associate Producer on the drama series Zone14.
In 2008 she formed a boutique film and television production company Zing Entertainment with her partner Joel Phiri. Zing in partnership with Pulp Films produced MTN’s The Beautiful Game, a football documentary filmed throughout Africa. She sits on the board of Media Heads 360 and is a shareholder in the business. She is a trustee of the Smile Artist Foundation and the Gerald Sekoto Trust. She is also on the board of the Cradle Nature Reserve, which controls over 10 000 hectares of land in the Cradle Precinct.
In 2018 she founded Known Associates Entertainment with Dan Jawitz. The company has recently purchased Moonlighting Films PTY LTD, a leading television and film servicing company. The first KAE production, uBettina Wethu was a multi season series based on the Columbian smash hit telenovela YO SOY BETTY LA FEY (adapted as Ugly Betty in the US). The company has serviced international productions including Universal Studios’ feature film, Beast and Sony Pictures’ The Woman King. KAE produced ETV’s first EVOD feature film, Atlantis (2021), John Barker’s The Umbrella Man, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and Fabian Medea’s feature film Wild Is The Wind, which premiered on Netflix in 2022.
Deputy Chairperson: Jahmil XT Qubeka
(Yellowbone Entertainment/ The Post Office)
Raised in the township of Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape, Jahmil XT Qubeka is one of the most prolific and successful film makers on the continent. A gifted storyteller, Jahmil has won multiple awards including a Peabody, a LA BAFTA, a number of South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAS), several African Movie Academy Awards and over 20 international film festival awards.
He has directed two feature films that were selected as South Africa’s Oscar contenders in the Best International Feature Category — Sew the Winter to my Skin, 2019 Knuckle City 2020). His work has competed at TIFF, Cannes, Busan, BFI London, FESPACO, DIFF, Palm Springs, PAFF to name only a few. Jahmil has directed numerous documentaries, 6 feature films and South Africa’s largest 100% black created television series Blood Psalms. One of Forbes African game-changers, Jahmil has been labelled a maverick, a visionary and a pioneer of the evolution of African cinema. A career charged with grit, determination and authenticity; Jahmil is the cream of the crop. The epitome of the future of African Cinema.
Treasurer: Michael Auret
(Spier Films)
Since 2009, Michael has financed and produced 26 films/TV series of which 16 were international copros. He currently also consults to PwC and AFREXIM Bank on the African Audiovisual Fund. He previously served 6 years as the Festival Director of the Cape Town World Cinema Festival and the CEO of the Sithengi Film and TV Market which, at the time, were the biggest industry events in Africa attracting over 1900 delegates from 46 countries. During his term he quadrupled the funds raised and initiated various value-added services including the Feature Film Co-production Forum (FFCF), the Documentary Co-production Forum (DCF), the Writers Forum (WF) and the Sithengi Talent Campus. He also conducted script and packaging workshops in Kenya, Zanzibar, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
Prior to Sithengi Michael provided management consultancy to the Southern African Media Development Fund SAMDEF in the compiling of a management training module for Community Radio stations as well as writing a Film Funding policy and evaluating applications for funding. Michael also played a role in developing film and television policy on the continent as a speaker and trainer in East, West and Southern Africa. He initiated the German and Italian Co-production Treaties, both of which were signed at Sithengi, and established and managed the HIVOS/Sithengi film fund which provided funding for short films, feature films and documentaries.
Prior to taking over Sithengi Michael operated as a regional media consultant and entertainment lawyer with such clients as the Open Society Institute of Southern Africa, the Southern African Media Development Fund, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). During 2000 he managed the National Constitutional Assembly media campaign that defeated Robert Mugabe for the first time in a referendum. Prior to that he was a lawyer and media entrepreneur. Mike has served on the IPO Exco for around 10 years.
Company Secretary: Lauren Clifford-Holmes
(LCH Media/ Independent)
Lauren began her career as a video and photojournalist in 2008, establishing multimedia news departments for News24 and the Mail & Guardian. She spent a decade breaking new ground in online mixed media content production, before going on to freelance for advocacy organisations and NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch, a sector she has been deeply committed to since her student days as photographer, campaign manager and fundraiser.
Seeking a significant platform for worthy stories, capacitated to achieve greater creative visions and reach broader audiences, she found her home in documentary filmmaking in 2015. She has since worked on award-winning independent and commissioned documentary features, docuseries and shorts with various production houses, and as an independent producer, establishing her company in 2020, LCH MEDIA.
Her roles have spanned the filmmaking value chain, including; development and content producer, head of production, series producer, line producer and post producer. Clients have ranged from local government to international NGOs, major broadcasters such as CGTN and streaming giants like Netflix.
She has also worked on a number of Advocacy campaigns as project coordinator, leading two big contracts for the European Union Delegation to South Africa and for National Treasury. During these campaigns she was also photographer and film director/ producer.
She is actively committed to developing South African documentary film production and local producers, volunteering for several years with the Documentary Filmmakers Association (DFA) as co-facilitator of the docLOVE screening programme, and as a docSHARE mentor to young filmmakers.
Her journalism and advocacy routes remain a solid foundation to her ethos as a filmmaker, motivating her to prioritise message-driven content that creates debate, challenges norms and breaks new ground. Her ambition is to deliver productions of an exceptional standard that captures and inspires global audiences, while ensuring new ideas and voices are realised from within a robust and relevant local film industry.
Delon Bakker
(Mannequin Films)
Delon is a producer and co-founder of the film production group MANNEQUIN. He graduated with a B.A in Motion Picture from the AFDA Film School and completed the SEDIBA Advanced Producer program, which focused on International Film Finance. By the age of 33, he had already won a SAFTA (South African Film and Television Awards) and had been appointed to the NFVF Board (National Film and Video Foundation). His understanding of official international co- production treaties has proved an invaluable part of developing and producing international projects out of South Africa
Kudi Maradzika
(Lincoln Green Media)
Passionate about where story and business meet, Kudi is a Zimbabwean-born multi-award-winning actress, writer, executive producer, and content specialist working in the creative storytelling and technology spaces. A multi-award (SAFTA, Promax, African Film Academy Award, and Loerie) winning and nominated executive producer and content specialist, and the 2021 Netflix Episodic Lab Finalist. Kudi is also a scriptwriter with two feature scripts shortlisted for the 2018 and 2022 Sundance Feature Film Writer’s Lab. She is director of Lincoln Green Media. A gifted voice-over actor, Kudi’s voice has featured in regional and global campaigns for Discovery Bank, BBC, Netflix, Tecno Mobile global, Mercedes Benz, and Audi, lending her voice to animation and video game characters. Kudi is a trained theatre actress, having studied at UCT Hiddingh Campus. Her notable acting achievements include a 2006 African Film Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in ‘Tanyaradzwa’.
With 12 years of experience in scripted, and non-scripted formats in various mediums such as TV series, features, animation, digital and short-form production, Kudi has functioned in the capacity of managing commissioning editor and executive producer at Paramount Africa (2018 to 2022) and as a freelancer, producing content for AVOD, SVOD, free-to-air, and PAY TV platforms and channels such as Netflix, M-Net, and YouTube. Kudi is also a digital marketer and content creator with a specialization in creating short-form content for brands in addition to being a content creator herself on platforms like YouTube and Tik Tok. She is interested in growing in fields where technology and storytelling intersect such as VFX, gaming, VR fields, Ai and Web3. Kudi is passionate about creative storytelling for an African audience, with an understanding of content strategy for a studio business as well as content production; including post-production, programming, packaging, localization, and licensing for broadcast.
Layla Swart
(Yellowbone Entertainment/ The Post Office)
At 35 years of age, Layla has positioned herself as one of the top producers and editors on the continent. As a young, female, producer of colour, Layla has shown incredible creative and financial fortitude and acuity in promoting and developing local film for an international market through creating mutually viable relationships that have made her a force to be reckoned with within the industry.
At the forefront of transformation and diversity, Layla’s scope of experience has covered film editing, multidisciplinary international visual arts, production on large scale international productions such as HBO’s The Young Pope and ABC’s Of Kings and Prophets, she is a published playwright, a multimedia artist, she has edited over 13 films and series’, she is the youngest Minister appointed board member of the National Arts Council of South Africa and a wildly successful film and television producer.
Since opening her own company, Yellowbone Entertainment in 2017, Layla has been the lead producer on 7 feature films and the epic South African television series entitled Blood Psalms. Layla has recently opened The Post Office, a one-stop boutique Post production facility with a focus on high end content delivery.
Layla’s films have featured at Cannes, Toronto International Film Festival, London BFI, Busan, FESPACO and Palm Springs Festival among others.
Yellowbone Entertainment holds a record of being the only South African production house to have 2 films selected to represent South Africa at the Academy Awards in two consecutive years – in the Best Foreign Language / Best International Feature Category (Sew the Winter to my Skin, 2019, Knuckle City, 2020)
A midwife for the birthing of creative genius, Layla Swart & Yellowbone Entertainment have won multiple awards and plaudits. Now repped by CAA’s Africa division, Layla continues to contribute to the expansion and success of African content creation.
Luke Rous
(RHP International)
Luke has produced over 300 hours of prime-time programming and 3 feature films over the past 15 years and specializes in executive producing long-form comedy and drama. Career highlights include a Rose D’Or nomination for best comedy series, Best SA short film at DIFF, screening at the Cannes film festival and the SAFTA award-winning drama series High Rollers which moved from a 26-part hour-long drama to a 300-part long-running series, selling to multiple territories around the world. Luke has produced for and has intimate knowledge of the following South African broadcasters: SABC, eTV, M-Net, Showmax, BET Africa, eVOD. Luke has a keen interest in international co-production as well as seeing the South African Film and TV industry become a more equitable, fair and robust environment. Luke is the co-owner of leading production company, Rous House productions, and has been a hard working member of the IPO Exco since 2020 where he also led the Broadcast Subcommittee and its successful engagements with broadcasters.
Mark Engles
(Impi Films)
Born in Kwa Zulu-Natal: Mark Engels’ 40 year film career spans the disciplines of film through award winning directing, cinematography, producing & more recently, screenwriting.
Mark’s love for African culture and heritage has seen him direct music films for many African legends: Philip Tabane, Caiphus Semenya, Vusi Mahlasela, Judith Sephuma and Yvonne Chaka Chaka – as well as directing television broadcast on Cape Town’s legendary Jazz Festival for a number of years.
His career rose to prominence when his music promo film of “My Afrikan Dream” was awarded a SAMA (South African Music Award). Subsequently the South African Society of Cinematography’s (SASC) “Visible Spectrum Award” (three times) for Jonathon Butler’s ”Exodus” – followed by live concert films of Burning Spears “Home to my Roots”, and Joseph Hill’s “Live in Africa”. / He has also produced scores of international advertising commercials for visiting international production teams.
Mark’s long and successful working relationship with national broadcaster SABC (and more recently MNET) has seen him represent South Africa internationally at film markets including: Rio, Cannes, Berlin, Tribeca NYC & AFM. He has twice been selected by the Emmy Academy of Arts & Sciences to judge the International Emmy Awards in NYC.
An experienced, creative and insightful film professional, with a respectful, determined personality, Mark understands the success of commercial filmmaking will be found in the combination of art and commerce wrapped in a dramatic and dynamic story!
His film MASINGA-THE CALLING, which he produced and directed will premier at DIFF.
Pepsi Pokane
(Stained Glass TV/ Film Afrika)
After working freelance presenting, writing, producing from 1998 to 2004, Pepsi founded non-scripted TV production company, Bonngoe TV in 2005; creating and producing over 30 different formats and shows in South Africa, Kenya & Nigeria. Metro FM Awards, Grown Gospel Awards, Afro Cafe, Mzansi Insider, Making Moves, Zooming in on Men…etc. Bonngoe TV now focuses on branded entertainment with shows like Mzansi Cribs Makeover currently on air. – Co-founded Stained Glass in 2012. Produced the likes of Uzalo, eHostela, Ifalakhe, Durban Gen, Lingashoni & The Wife. Uzalo & The Wife currently in production. New projects in development.
He acquired equity in Film Afrika Entertainment in 2019, working in the business as an Executive Director in the company, and a Producer on international productions. Currently producing King Shaka for Paramount+ and Fuqua Films (10 episodes). – Passive investors are various production companies and industry supply chain businesses. Passionate about contributing to the development of the industry, Pepsi is an ardent and effective industry advocate within key stakeholder groups.
Quinton Fredericks
(Independent)
Quinton Fredericks is a film and television industry professional of 18 years having run his own company way back in 2007/7/8 winning a SAFTA for a 58-part Documentary Series produced for the SABC most of which he directed and co-produced. Quinton has extensive experience in Film and Television Industry Skills Development having pioneered one of the leading industry skills development initiatives, the SA Film Academy now in its 17th year with an alumnus of more than 400 mostly black crew working as de facto industry professionals across various departments. His experience in Industry Policy Development as it relates to both Development and Transformation is significant having served as IPO Exco Member to the DSAC Audio Visual Reference Group in 2021, the Creative Industries Master Plan Working Group under the Department of Small Business development for most of 2021/2, the SOS Coalition 2021/22, SASFED 2021/2, the Live Events Technical Productions Services Draft B-BBEE Scorecard 2021/2 and engagement with the DTIC Film and Television Rebate Office on the Repudiations of Pre-Approved Rebates since April 2021 to December 2022. Quinton has served as co-Chair of the IPO exco since 2020.
Rehad Desai
(Uhuru Productions)
Following his return to South Africa from political exile Rehad worked as a health and safety/media officer for a chemical workers union and the head of a HIV prevention unit. In1997 he completed a Masters in Social History at the University of the Witwatersrand, he then entered the TV and film industry as a current affairs journalist, and soon after moved on to focus his energy on historical and socio-political documentary film. Miners Shot Down released in 2014 won local and international critical acclaim garnering 28awards including the Taco Keiper award for investigative journalism and an International Emmy for best documentary.
Everything Must Fall his second film in the trilogy also won critical acclaim and awards at home and abroad. His last film in the trilogy How To Steal A Country was released in 2020 and presently doing the festival circuit. Rehad has spent time on the IPO, SASFED and DFA excos at numerous times and has chaired all three bodies at different periods. He therefore provides an important pool of experience and knowledge when it comes to interaction with various government departments and or agencies. Given the existential crisis the industry now faces his continued involvement will add significantly to the pool of committed producers who understand the critically important role our industry plays in building social cohesion and our young democracy and the need for continued and expanded support for the film and TV industry
Siphiwe Hlabangane
(Independent)
Siphiwe is an experienced television producer, actor and skills facilitator. He has worked with a number of leading television production companies and non-profit organisations in Southern Africa including Quizzical Pictures, The Embassy, Tulinane Entertainment (Windhoek), Young and Able, Oxfam GB and Heartlines. Most recently, Siphiwe has produced a NGO-funded Zimbabwean film titled Shaina, a telenovela for SABC 2 titled Lithapo and is currently in the process of wrapping up a yet-to-be-announced Netflix Series.
His work experience has seen him work across the mediums of theatre, television and film in a variety of roles that have helped to capacitate him into becoming a well-rounded producer.
Thami Ngubeni
(Thamzin Media)
Thami Ngubeni is an Award-winning Television and Radio host, Producer and Actress with over 2 decades worth of experience in creating content for tv, radio and print and initiating and conducting transformative and insightful conversations with South Africans from all walks of life. She is MD of Thamzin Media. In the past she has held the following roles: – News Anchor at Newzroom Africa – Editor of O, The Oprah magazine SA – Producer at international media giant, Fremantle media and Pearson TV Her Producing and co-producing credits Include: SAFTA award-winning Talk show ‘Life With Thami’ (Best Talk show category) which was licensed by SABC 3 and SABC 2. The show was also licensed to The Africa Channel in the US and some international airlines. She was also Host of the Show. – The Apprentice SA (business Reality show with Tokyo Sexwale) – Maropeng: The Spirit of the Lion King (Docci Reality series) – Interrogation Room (Drama Series) – Life With Thami (Talk show) – Amadoda Emadodeni (documentary series) – SacredFest (studio music show) – SacredFest (Live concert for broadcast) – Family Fortunes (Game Show) – Greed (Gameshow) – Small Talk (Game Show) – Top Billing (magazine show).
She is former Chairperson of the Business Woman’s Association of South Africa’s (BWASA) Gauteng Chapter as a Broadcaster: – She has hosted her Inspirational radio show, the Sacred Space on Metro FM for 16 years. – And the Liberty award-winning news and current affairs talk show on Radio 2000 which focused on the real issues and conflicts that South Africans deal as an actress she has starred in Jozi H, Generations, Known Gods, Critical Assignment amongst others.
Wandile Molebatsi
(Coal Stove Pictures)
Wandile Molebatsi is a Producer and a founder at Coal Stove Pictures. Coal Stove was started in 2007 and has worked extensively in both the independent and commissioned space content creation space. Wandile has a deep love for African narratives that celebrate the continent and its people. Coal Stove is anchored by the motto of Global African Excellence. After completing his Finance for Non-Financial Managers course at GIBS Wandile was once again reminded of the crucial need for real transformation in the supply chain of the Film & TV sector.
Coal Stove is currently completing their Three Feature Film slate with the NFVF and has secured funding for their first film that will go into production in the third quarter of 2023. In raising funding for the large scale films and telenovelas Wandile has seen first hand the importance of engaging with Financial Institutions. As a producer he has engaged with banks, funders and government funding agencies and from these robust processes great insights have been developed in terms of how access capital can be transformed.
As Chair of the Transformation, Capacity Building and Diversity Subcommittee, Wandile looks forward to engaging with all IPO members and various stakeholders at the provincial and national levels to bring about real and long term viable wealth creation through the creative economy and to ensure that the practical changes in equity and economic activity do reach indeed reach those that have been previously marginalised.
SECRETARIAT
Ayanda Sibisi (Acting Executive Director): pr*********@ip*.za
Thea Aboud (Finance Administrator): ac******@ip*.za
Lauren Clifford-Holmes (Administrator & Marketing Manager): ad***********@ip*.za
Mafoko Motseothata (intern): ma****@ip*.za
Onalenna Malotoane (intern): on******@ip*.za