“Prior to taking a course at the Wildlife Film Academy I had been through two film schools in Johannesburg. I started with Newtown Film School and later on joined Monash University Film and TV Unit. I must admit though that while the two institutions have contributed immensely to my development as a documentary filmmaker, it was at the Wildlife Film Academy where I can say my learning began.

At the Wildlife Film Academy I was taught how to go about budgeting and what funding institutions there are in the event of me working on my own film.  How issues of budget are highly neglected by a new generation of filmmakers like myself because we think it’s impossible, but at the Wildlife Film Academy all my fears about budgeting as a very complicated thing were alienated and we were taken step by step into how we should budget for our films.  I particularly find this useful in the sense that I’m now confident when dealing with issues around budget, and what are the most important aspects to really pay attention to when budgeting.

Another interesting departure for me was to pay attention to technical aspects which at film schools I went to before the Academy, we were told that since we were aspiring to be Directors we could not be allowed to come near the cameras or sound equipment.  This move was suicidal because who can hire a new Director straight from school?  This presented its own difficulties, particularly in my case because I couldn’t be hired.  But soon after the course at the Wildlife Film Academy I began doing some work for certain film companies up in Joburg,  either as an assistant to the cameraman or as a cameraman.  This helped a lot in shaping my skills and I was able to film “Legends of the Lake” on my own knowing that each time I push the record button on that camera I have no one to blame but myself.

It turned out great, and I was happy with the picture quality after that.  I can say the camera classes at the Academy were useful in the sense that I can now film with ease and I’m developing a good eye for the picture.  But overall I can say that the strategy used by the Academy works for me in the sense that we didn’t have to deal with the aspect of the history of the cinema which, if truth be told, will not even help me one bit in the current situation, but instead we were able to look at innovations, what other people are doing to tell stories in the advent of this technological revolution in our midst. It’s also worth mentioning that Wildlife Film Academy students are encouraged to take matters to their own hands, what a contrast I must say, in other places filmmaking is presented to us as this career that’s so difficult, and very often we are told that we won’t make it.

I’m highly indebted to all at the Academy who personally saw to it that we get the most out of the course, in particular Sophie Vartan for her patience and knowledge of the business side of film which she shared with us, but also her belief in most of us that we have it within ourselves to succeed in this highly competitive sector.  

After completing the course, I worked as a researcher for a film titled, Bambatha for SABC 2. At about the same time I got commissioned by the NHU AFRICA to work on my film “Legends of the Lake”. This film has since premiered at Durban Wild Talk Africa.

Since November last year I joined e.tv’s documentaries as a Producer but I also film and edit. But perhaps more encouraging is the fact that one of my films “Brush” aired on SABC 2 recently and will be aired in Sweden in the next few months. The same film has also been selected to an international film festival in India sometime this year. It is cinema that deals with culture and nature which seems to inspire me as was the case with “Brush”, and “Legends of the Lake”.”