Staff

Damon Heatlie - Lecturer and Head of Division

Damon Heatlie has an MA in Literary Studies (cum laude) from UCT and an MBA from Wits Business School; he has taught at UCT, UWC, UNITRA and guest lectured at ARCADA University in Helsinki.  Prior to teaching at Wits he worked in the local film industry as a producer, editor, director and scriptwriter. His industry experience ranges over a number of different genres. Having produced over 60 music videos (from Brenda Fassie to Mandoza), he has also directed videos for musical heavyweights such as Hugh Masekela and Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), and has been nominated for SAMA’s several times.  He has made several documentaries for broadcast (including Waiting for Justice (52 min; 1999) which won the Sithengi 1999 Best New Documentary Award), and has been involved as a scriptwriter and script editor in feature film development and television dramas. He has also directed a few short films, including Ziyawa (2003) and Jackpot (2009).

Damon currently lectures in the fields of scriptwriting and directing, but also teaches in music video and film studies courses. His research interests include the profitability and sustainability of the South African feature film industry, scriptwriting and narrative theory, cinematic representations of history, auteur filmmaking, and postmodernism and poststructuralist theory.

Room SHB2

Tel 011 717 9743

Email
Damon.Heatlie@wits.ac.za

Taku Kaskela - Lecturer

On Sabattical

Taku has an MA from the University of Industrial Art and Design in Helsinki Finland and besides Film and Television has studied music and new media. She has worked across the globe and has an extensive professional background as a director and postproduction director with numerous awards for her work in television and film (New York Film festival, Emmy nomination, Fespaco to name a few). Taku has lectured in numerous institutions and has contributed to the development of a number of degree programs in her field of expertise.Besides traditional screen work Taku is often engaged with various experimental and art projects that play with the moving image.

Motto: Success before work exists only in the dictionary.

Pervaiz Khan - Associate Lecturer

Pervaiz Khan is a writer, filmmaker, visual arts curator and artist who has made documentaries, short fictions, music videos, new-media installations; and worked on feature films. He is an award-winning film curator, and was Head of Media at the Triangle Arts & Media Centre (Aston University). In the 80s and 90s as the director of the Third Cinema Focus (Birmingham Film & TV Festival) he brought together filmmakers, writers and critics from across the globe for the Third Cinema Focus Forum. He has programmed for the National Film Theatre (London). For a decade he was a contributing editor of ‘Sight & Sound’, the world’s longest established film magazine. He co-edited with John Akomfrah issue 36 of the journal ‘Framework - Third Scenario: Theory & Politics of Location’. He trained as an actor with the inspirational Joseph Mydell, and co-founded Duende Performance Company with actor/director Michael Aduwale. He has a MA in Scriptwriting. Khan’s passion for film ranges from experimental documentaries to popular cinema. He is interested in the role contemporary visual culture - photography, cinema, television and the web - plays in constructing our understanding of race, class, sexuality, migration and nationhood.

Nobunye Levin - Lecturer

Nobunye has a BA in Dramatic Arts and a MA in the field of Film and Television (with distinction). She works primarily in experimental film but is also interested in video art, installation and how the process of "documenting" intersects with these practices. Nobunye’s film Thymesis (2008) was screened at the Next Reel International Film Festival (2010) in Singapore.  While, I am Saartjie Baartman (2009) was selected for the international competition section of the 56th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (2010), in Germany and was also screened at the Durban International Film Festival (2010).  Her research interests are diverse and are often concerned with or seek to explore ideas related to alternative cinemas, postcolonial studies, gender studies, corporeality and cinematic representation as well as notions pertaining to experimental cinema with regards to both its theory and practice. Nobunye was also featured in the “200 Young South Africans You Must Take to Lunch” (2010), which is a yearly supplement that appears in the Mail and Guardian newspaper.

Lieza Louw - Senior Lecturer/Filmmaker

Lieza is a lecturer, filmmaker and photographer with a special interest in the elusive fragments of memory, both in the archive and in oral accounts.

She lectures in Film History, Film Theory, Documentary Filmmaking and Production Design. With a long career as a professional film practitioner, Lieza brings facets of theory and practice to her classes - a free radical approach brought about by the desire to constantly broaden her horizons and those of the students with whom she engages. She has immersed herself in the history of anti-apartheid protests at Wits and the creative outcome: two documentary films will be screened in the Great Hall in June 2012.

Mncedisi Mashigoane - Lecturer

Mncedisi Mashigoane studied a BA degree (1993) majoring in English and Political science at UCT. This was followed by an Honors degree (UCT 1995) in English literature. His MA degree (UCT 2000) in English literature was a study of the literature of South African poet, novelist and anti apartheid struggle icon Mongane Wally Serote. He attained his Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism (2000) from Rhodes University where he studied arts journalism, cultural studies, writing and editing, media and society and corporate journalism, among others.  He has had short stints as a corporate journalist for the University of the Western Cape (2005) and Eskom Corporate (2006). His main career focus has been academia and he has worked as a lecturer in English and media studies at UCT (2000 – 03) and as a Film and TV lecturer at AFDA –Johannesburg (2007) and currently at the Wits Film and TV division (2008 - ).  His academic and research interests are wide ranging including Documentary film history, theory and production, Fiction film analysis, Television studies, Scriptwriting and topics Media Studies. He is currently pursuing a PHD degree in Media Studies at Wits University.

Jurgen Meekel - Lecturer

Graduated cum laude (1989) at the Rietveld Academy of Fine- Arts in audio-visual design. From 1988 - 1996 he exhibited art installation pieces and then continued till present date putting his focus on free lance camera-work, sound-recording, compositing, visual effects, on/off line-editing, graphic/motion design and music scoring for video productions. In 2005-2009 he took the position of Head of Department Special/Visual Effects at AFDA in Johannesburg. At the moment he is a senior tutor in Post Production at the University, Wits Film &TV. Jurgen has been awarded for his professional work numerous times and also works actively within the arts sector.

Jyoti Mistry has taught at New York University, University of Vienna and Arcada University of Applied Science Polytechnic in Helsinki. Jyoti Mistry's filmography includes films, documentaries and film installations.  Her research areas include cultural policy, questions of identity and multiculturalism. Mistry has also worked as a photography and film curator. 

Her recent film Le Boeuf sur le Toit (2010/80min/HDv) premiered at the Durban International Film Festival and forms part of a new installation project that comprises of 4 separate installations that explore various facets of urban and city life. 09:21:25 (2011/10min/HDv) is currently part of WELTRAUM: Die Kunst und ein Traum; an exhibition at the Kunsthalle, Wien (April –August 2011) commemorating man’s fiftieth anniversary of space travel.The installation of ITCHY CITY from her highly acclaimed film i mike what I like (2006/50min/Dv) was part of the exhibition AFROPOLIS, Cologne (November 2010- April 2011)

Selected Publications:  “Seeing Communities out of Context: Notes on a Photographic Exhibition” In: Images and Communities: The Visual Construction of the Social (2007); “Johannesburg: Vocabularies of the Visceral and Expressions of Multiple Practices” In : African Cities Reader (2009); “The Eighth Muse: Sport and Film, Sport on Film” in Sport versus Art (2010) . 

João Orecchia - Lecturer

João Orecchia is an artist and musician focusing on alternative sound approaches. He has been exploring ideas of randomness and perceived meaning, composition using found sound and field recordings and creating graphic scores. Through experimentation and improvisation Orecchia investigates the physicality of sound, seeking a balance between computer technology, hand made electronics and real world sounds such as the human voice and traditional musical instruments. Orecchia performs in a large variety of situations, moving from band performances in the youth scenes to improvising with international greats such as Lukas Ligeti, Jill Richards (Johannesurg International Mozart Festival) and Joseph Suchy, with whom Orecchia inhabited David Krut’s gallery with a living sound installation that shifted repeatedly over the course of a week in search of a “perfect” relationship with the space. Following a residency in Zürich this network is constantly growing beyond the borders of South Africa. Orecchia’s discography spans songwriting, experimental music, improvisation and film and theatre soundtrack work.

Orecchia also contributes heavily to the building of networks in alternative sound practice in Johannesburg by curating events that engage artists, musicians and public in a collaborative, experimental spatial relationship with the city. Invisible Cities fleetingly inhabits transitional spaces, creating momentary realities and exposing hidden layers of possibility for what life in Johannesburg might be like with a bit of imagination.

Tanja Sakota-Kokot - Lecturer

On sabbatical

Tanja lectures within the areas of television fiction and documentary focusing on conceptual thinking and how to implement this when making a film. She has recently completed her PhD on how we understand conflict through fiction film focusing on how the global environment views Africa and the Middle East. She is currently re-visiting her PhD and working on her post-Doctrat.

Motto: You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

Anna-Marie Jansen van Vuuren began her career as a journalist at Beeld and the SABC. Since then she has worked as a scriptwriter, producer, and lecturer. Her written work includes the childrens’ series Lappies Leeu (Koowee – DSTV), Rivoningo and Thabang Thabong (SABC2); the feature films Wolf Wolf (which she also produced), Ja Boet (with Carl Stemmet for FC Hamman Films) and various factual inserts and documentaries. Anna-Marie holds degrees in Journalism and Film and TV Production and is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Scriptwriting. Presently Anna-Marie is a part time lecturer in Scriptwriting at the Film & TV Division of the University of the Witwatersrand and freelances as a broadcast journalist and producer at SABC Current Affairs. Anna-Marie is a proud member of the Writers Guild of South Africa (WGSA).

Having worked in Film and Television Production both locally and internationally for many years, Ian currently coordinates divisional productions. He is responsible for the practical management of the Divisions exchange programs and also ensures that student films are seen on festivals all over the world.Ian recently finished his MA at Wits.

Isaac is responsible for running the equipment stores as well as assisting with the maintenance and repairs of the units equipment. Isaac’s assistance is crucial for the students and staff at the division.

 Donald Dawson - Studio Engineer
Trained at the SABC studios before joining WITS TV, Donald is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance, repair and installation of all equipment in the unit.

Room SHB2

Tel 011 717 9754

Email

Donald.dawson@wits.ac.za