Film and Television
Wits Film and Television, situated in the creative capital of South Africa, produces trailblazing filmmakers who challenge and redefine the filmmaking process.
By offering our graduates an excellent intellectual and practical education they are additionally equipped for participating in the global film and media industries. Through our established filmmaking programmes our students develop conceptual creativity, intellectual rigour, and strong practical filmmaking capabilities.
Wits School of Arts - Film & Television
Congratulations to our student filmmakers for the selection of “Where’s the chicken?” in the 45th edition of the Durban Film Festival running from 18 – 28 July 2024. This short drama was produced in the 3rd year production course. The creative team behind the film will attend the festival with support from the Department.
Wits Film and TV Kliptown set visit
Students visiting the film set of Mense Phola Hier at the Go Green Go Clean eco-park in Eldorado Park, a community-led feature film project of The Beehive Culture Worx in Kliptown and Eldos, working with Wits Film & TV lecturer Mocke J Van Veuren. The project is supported by the National Film and Video Foundation (PESP) and the Wits Film and TV Department.
Wits co-hosts legendary filmmaker Walter Murch
The multi-Academy Award winning editor and sound designer known for his work on Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, The English Patient, and many other notable films, was hosted by Wits Film & TV and AFDA for a screening of his new documentary Coup 56 directed by Taghi Amirani. The Q&A touched on the film’s storytelling of the overthrow of the Iranian prime minister in 1953 and spanned Walter Murch’s long and illustrious career in the film industry.
Film produced by Wits's alumni
A special treat for Witsies in Joburg The film I Am Here (2021) by award-winning producer Gabriella Blumberg (BA FT 2017) will be screened at Ster-Kinekor Rosebank Nouveau from 27 January 2023. Don't miss this inspiring documentary about Holocaust survivor Ella Blumenthal. Witsie Blumberg received the Alumni of the Year Award at the 2022 PIEoneer awards in London last year.
2022 CILECT - CARA Award
Congratulations to students and staff involved in the production of DOUBLE EDGED SWORD REVEALED for the Best Documentary Award for African film schools in the CILECT-CARA network. The film follows frontline doctors working under difficult conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic in hospitals in Gqeberha. Wits Film & TV is part of Wits School of Arts and is one of only three film departments in South Africa to enjoy full CILECT membership.
CILECT Conference 2022
Wits Film & TV Department congratulates our Head of Department, Dr Yolo Koba, on joining the CARA Council which is the regional association representing African member schools among CILECT’s world-wide membership which includes 180 audio-visual educational institutions from 65 countries on 6 continents. Kenneth Kaplan also represented the Department at this year’s CILECT Conference in Spain where he also presented a paper.
Artist in Residency 2022
The Film and Television Department welcomes Nelisiwe Xaba, choreographer, performer and interdisciplinary artist to a residency that explores performance and film. A series of collaborative, multi-media workshops with Nelisiwe, facilitated by Mocke J Van Veuren from F&TV and Kamogelo Molobye (Theatre and Performance) will also involve students from various departments in WSOA. The residency is funded by Arts Research Africa (ARA) with funding from the Mellon Foundation.