Collaborators
We collaborate with very talented people.
They are creative geniuses in their own right, each brining a different skill set to the table.
Antonia Reible
Writer, Storyliner, Content Creator
Johannesburg based television writer, storyliner and content creator, Antonia Reible has been in the television and film industry most of her adult life, though she first began first began creating other worlds and characters when she was six. Antonia started out as an intern on Generations, and worked her way up to Deputy Head Writer of one of the most viewed soapies on South African television.
She has applied the same creative tenacity throughout her career, establishing herself as an innovative storyteller on numerous productions, across South Africa’s broadcasters. Her mission has been to create and share unique and thought provoking stories. She does her best writing in coffee shops, and at home in her garden.
Antonia loves creating characters that are clever, bold and unafraid. But in real life, Antonia has an irrational fear of insects that fly, and walking around her house in the dark. Antonia wouldn’t last five minutes in one of her storylines.
Bongi Ndaba
Show-runner, Writer, Producer
South African producer and writer for television, actress, and playwright extraordinaire. She has worked on many of South Africa’s best-loved prime time television shows such as Generations (former Headwriter / Co-Producer), Isidingo, Mzansi Magic’s Saints and Sinners (Co-Creator) as well as the telenovela, Ke That Bosiu (former Headwriter / Showrunner), Uzalo, and Erased (Headwriter / Co-Producer). As a young woman, she successfully auditioned as an actress for The Playhouse Company in Durban, selected by theatre practitioner Themi Venturas. She went on to study performing arts professionally at the Durban University of Technology and as a student, developed her interest in playwriting. Her most notable work as a playwright is Shreds and Dreams, written in 2004, which was adapted into the mini-series of the same name, and has run from 2010 on TVSA. The first short film which she co-wrote, Father Christmas Doesn’t Come Here, won Best Narrative Short at Tribeca Film Festival in 2010. Miracle (2018), a short film she wrote and produced, was Bongi Ndaba’s directorial debut. In 2017, Bongi Ndaba won a Writing Craft Gold from the Loeries for her stellar writing on Uk’Shona Kwelanga. Loeries are the most prestigious creative industry and brand communication awards for Africa and the Middle East. She also won two awards at #Bookmarks2018 Awards for her writing on the show.
Bianca Juliette O’Neill
Producer, Writer, Performer & Lecturer
Creativity, originality, organisation and humour are key words in my life. I am an educator, performer, writer, producer , film maker, researcher, and a community developer in my spare time. My work is based on my experiences as my writing is a source of my emotional journey as I have walked through life. I am passionate about the work I do and will always give my utmost best yet I’m also a life long learner and always learning day by day.
Catherine Sofianos
Catherine’s work in film began with the production of “Kinross: The Story of a Town”,
a feature length documentary for the South African Department of Health (OneTwoDee
Productions), which led her to pursue a Masters in Film and TV at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2015. Since then she has won a global videography award for a short film that was part of a campaign to fundraise for computers in Alexandra township, Johannesburg. Her first animated short film “Flower of the Partisan” is an experimental art film about the mind-under-siege of Dimitri Tsafendas, assassin of the architect of apartheid Hendrik Verwoerd. The film has won numerous awards for best experimental film, best short film, best animated film and best screenplay and is currently doing the festival rounds.
Her second short film Spybot and Ragdoll, a thriller inspired by James Bond, is in development and expected to be completed end 2025. Catherine has developed story bibles for Londie and the Space Rangers an animated series for preschoolers and Ukhamba Stars, an animated series for tweens. She is a pioneer at heart, and passionately committed to using both writing and visual storytelling to inspire change. Catherine also has a Master’s in Applied Linguistics, a background in theatre and a twenty year career in development communication.
Charles Badenhorst
Director, Animator, Sound Designer, and Musician
Charles Badenhorst on LinkedIn
Charles Badenhorst is a seasoned professional with a passion for the world of animation and visual narrative storytelling. With over 17 years of experience, he has left an indelible mark on the industry, both nationally and internationally.
His work includes a diverse array of award-winning short films, each a testament to his creativity and dedication. Notably, “What abou de lo?” achieved a milestone by becoming the first film to be included in the Constitutional Court of South Africa’s Art collection in 2020.
Charles’ skills and expertise extend across various animation disciplines, from concept development and art direction to animation directing, character animation both stop motion and 2D digital cut-out, Illustration, storyboarding, editing, and sound design. He has a deep understanding of the nuances of animation and filmmaking, making him a multifaceted artist.
Charles’ passion for character animation and visual narratives shines through in his work, and his dedication to each project is evident in the quality and impact of his creations.
Chisanga Kabinga
Writer, Director
Chisanga Kabinga is a Zambian born producer-writer-director living in South Africa, who began her television writing career in 2003 working on South Africa’s top performing soap, Generations and soon branched into writing for other formats, including developing online content for the inaugural season of Big Brother Africa.
Her writing portfolio includes John Hopkins/USAID funded educational dramas like Tsha Tsha, Soul City, Soul Buddyz and the Peabody Award winning Intersexions, for which she was also nominated for a South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA). She is an all-rounder that has worked on several top grossing South African and Zambian dramas and soaps as story-liner, script editor, script consultant and head writer.
Her directing portfolio includes the award winning productions, A Place Called Home, Soul Buddyz and The Mating Game. She also works as a feature film editor and script consultant on South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation projects.
Chisanga co-created, co-wrote and co-produced Kowethu, a 13 part drama series that aired on SABC 1. Her short story, Display Cabinet, was published by SA PEN as part of their New Writing from Africa series for 2009.
Through her experience developing educational television dramas, she has learned the power of television in shifting perceptions and culture through compelling and entertaining drama. She has written on several top grossing South African and Zambian dramas and soaps as story-liner, script editor, consultant and head writer. Her directing portfolio includes the award winning productions, A Place Called Home, Soul Buddyz and on The Mating Game. She also works as a feature film editor on National Film and Video Foundation projects. Chisanga co-created, co-write and co-produced Kowethu, a 13 part drama series for SABC 1. Her short story, Display Cabinet, was published by SA PEN as part of their New Writing from Africa series for 2009.
Diek Grobler
Creative Director, Animator
Diek Grobler is a multi-media and multi-disciplinary artist and has been working with animation for 20 years. His films has received numerous awards, amongst others at KROK(2009) and Hiroshima(2018). His most recent short film, Last Word was shortlisted for the Golden Goblet award at Shanghai International Film Festival (2023) and was awarded at human rights-focused festivals in Georgia, Belarus, Uruguay and Argentina. His personal work has focused on animated poetry-film for more than a decade. In 2014 and 2016 he conceptualised and produced a poetry-film project called Filmverse; a series of 24 short animation films by 24 artists, inspired by South African poetry.
Diek Grobler’s animation is hand-crafted, and his varied techniques use a stop-motion approach, even when digitally executed. His techniques include hand drawn animation, kinestatic animation, digital cut-out and pinscreen animation.
Diek Grobler lives and works in Pretoria, South Africa.
Erentia Bedeker
Animator
Erentia Bedeker, writer, animator and artist born and bred in Damaraland, Namibia. Bedeker studied at the University of Stellenbosch where she received a bachelor’s degree in Acting and an honour’s degree in Afrikaans and Dutch. She is also a published poet, freelance puppeteer and performer with a post-grad in education. She is one of the directors of Wreckless Creative, a two-man graphic design and animation studio. Most of her work is done as an independent animator and relies on funding from institutions like the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). She just finished her third short film, Ruby & Roach, produced by Abyss South Africa. Bedeker prefers working with stop motion animation. Although it is more time consuming and labour intensive, she enjoys crafting the characters and story worlds and allowing them to take on a life of their own. In stop motion the medium you work with dictates what you can and cannot do. These restrictions force the animator to think out of the box and often lead to fascinating and unique results.
Mart-Marie Snyman
Composer, Musician
Mart-Marie Snyman is a film composer, performing artist, synthesizer enthusiast and holistic piano teacher based in Pretoria, South Africa. In 2012 she obtained a BMus in Performing Arts from the University of Pretoria with distinction
As composer, she has written music for numerous short films, animations, advertisements and podcasts. The animation ‘Ruby and Roach’ for which she composed the soundtrack won two awards at the Durban National Film Festival in South Africa and will be screened at thirteen international and national festivals in 2020-2021.
Natasje van Niekerk
Writer, Story Editor
Natasje van Niekerk on Facebook
Natasje van Niekerk started her career in the entertainment industry as an actress. After landing a job on SABC 2 on a children’s show, acting soon became writing. Shortly after she joined the writing team on the acclaimed South African soap Generations, and continued the soap track with Muvhango and Binnelanders. This was followed by a selection of sitcoms (Askies, Pottie Potgieter and a few unproduced ones), magazine programmes and drama series. Then Magic Cellar happened…
The first multi-award winning African animated series Magic Cellar swept her off her feet and opened up the wonderful world of animated series. It also provided an opportunity to be mentored by Clive Endersby, acclaimed Canadian story editor.
Fifteen years in television later and Natasje has a list of children’s TV shows, international animated series and PSA’s and many SAFTA nominations under her belt. She is most proud of her work on an animated series of PSA’s for malaria awareness with Firdaus Kharas (Chocolate Moose Media) called Buzz and Bite that won multiple Aroras, most notably for Best Comedy. Most recently, Natasje was Executive Story Editor on three animated children’s series – Luminati, Fledgelings and Fishpaste for international release.
In 2015 she started The Storyteller Pod.
Pieter Lombaard
Producer, Director
Pieter Lombaard is an Art School drop-out, turned award-winning filmmaker. After his studies and a stint in the hotel and restaurant industry, Pieter started his career in the film industry as a cameraman in 2001 and by 2003 he was directing and editing,
honing his skills under South Africa’s most prominent film makers – Chris Roland (Charlie Jade, Hotel Rwanda, Darfur, Stander), Koos Roets (Faan se Trein, Koöperasie stories, The Angel, the bicycle and the Chinaman’s finger, Die Mannheim Sage) and Katinka Heyns (Die Wonderwerker, Paljas, Die storie van Klara Viljee).
Today he is the co-owner of the award-winning production house, Binary Film Works where he has written, produced, directed, shot and edited various productions for South African and international TV.