The Crew
Producer: Cai Nebe
"When I was little, my parents told me that our TV was special because it didn’t have Cartoon Network – or any other kids’ programmes. Instead I watched endless hours of Walking with Dinosaurs, Life on Earth, the History Channel and many more. Since then I’ve always wanted to make documentary films! iKasi Heartbeat is my first music themed film and I'm hoping to have improved my dancing by the end of it!"
Cai is a 3rd year Film Production Major at UCT. He cut his teeth as part of UCT’s first Stepping Stones documentary filmmaking class overseen by ex-Carte Blanche producer Hein Ungerer and editor Dr Liani Maasdorp. A semester at film school at UC Berkeley cemented his desire to become a filmmaker. In 2014, he produced the student experimental Curl Up and DYE. His passions include environmental and social documentary filmmaking, hiking and travel.
Director: Zime Ntaka
"My time as a student at the University of Cape Town ignited a passion for filmmaking. My whole life I have been creating art using paint, but have now been given the opportunity to create art in motion picture. That is how I view the process of creating film. I soon learnt of the beauty of documentary. The idea of telling peoples stories to the world, trying to give a glimpse and understanding of a life they will never be a part of is truly magical."
iKasi Heartbeat is the second short film Zime is directing in 2014. It follows her moving documentary, Scars Unseen, which she worked on with Dana Toerien and Tal Aharonov.
Cinematographer: Dana Toerien
“I’ve always been attracted to the intrinsically eclectic nature of film, namely documentaries. As a documentary filmmaker, one can explore absolutely any aspect of life. I love meeting the strange and wonderful characters along the way, and experiencing things one would never normally expose oneself to in everyday life. Documentary filmmaking, to me, is the most adventurous career there is.”
Dana is a third year Film Production student at the University of Cape Town. She has worked as a cinematographer for the documentaries Visionary and Scars Unseen. Her passions include photography, documentary filmmaking, music and travel.
Editor: Tal Aharanov
“One of the strongest memories of my childhood is the burning desire I had for acting: in films, plays or on television. I think the idea of creating a character, living vicariously through her and being able to, in essence, be any one you desired was what attracted me to the art form. Similarly, when I discovered filmmaking, what struck me was the openness of the medium – providing the filmmaker the ability to invent. At the heart of filmmaking is this process of formation that allows the work to compel audiences. Fascinated immediately by directing, it was only natural that editing would be the next step in my discovery. When I happened to stumble upon it, there nurtured another hobby and passion. Editing is where the film is actually moulded – rhythmically splicing the usual and the unusual together to build the final product – a daunting but tremendously thrilling, and fulfilling process.”
Tal Aharonov is a 3rd year film production and drama student at UCT. She has produced, directed, filmed and edited various short fiction and documentary films for the past 4 years. Her latest work, in which she edited, is an experimental documentary entitled “Scars Unseen”. Her interests include writing, acting, filmmaking and musical composition. She admits that although the appeal of documentaries was not always present, the film form has manifested in the past year as an alluring area of real-life mystery and vigour. She looks forward to bringing to life the mystery and the vigour of the iKasi Heartbeat.
Sound and Production Designer: Evidence Sello Magaga
“‘When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a filmmaker.’ That’s actually not true. I actually started having an unquenchable and burning desire of wanting to be a filmmaker in my first year at UCT. It brought nothing but excitement packed together with a mission to tell authentic stories of South Africa through film.”
Evidence Sello Magaga is a 3rd year Screen Production and Drama student at UCT. At age 10 he recalls wanting to star in Xena: Warrior Princess. This fascination with fictional characters at an early age was the nethermost prequel for his current passion with film and storytelling. His interests include producing, writing, design, writing and social media. Evidence has written and directed films such as “An Early Encounter” for UCT’s premier filmmaking contest, Shotties; “The Balloon” for the UCT Arts Festival and has worked on numerous other fictional documentary projects. If he’s honest, it only takes some good storytelling to get Sello’s creativity flowing!