Jahmil X.T. Qubeka - Writer / Director
Award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter Jahmil X.T. Qubeka's body of work has spanned over 15 years, covering a broad spectrum of disciplines. His documentary and feature film work has received accolades, awards and critical acclaim at prestigious international film festivals including Toronto International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, London Film Festival, and Pusan International Film Festival, amongst others. In 2005 an AIDS documentary he directed for Sesame Street won a prestigious Peabody Award in America. Among his many successes, Jahmil was the 2014 South African Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year in the Film category.
His second feature film Of Good Report (2013) has the inauspicious reputation of being the first feature film banned in Post-Apartheid South Africa. The first African film in Official Competition at the London Film Festival, it went on to win the BAFTA LA Best Feature Prize at the Pan African Film Festival and numerous awards at the Africa Movie Academy Awards including Best Feature. It also received an unprecedented seven awards at the South African Film and Television Awards, including Best Film and Best Director.
Jahmil is currently working on several directorial projects, including the gritty South African boxing story Knuckle City which has just completed production and the large-scale Hell’s Bells - about the sinking of the SS Mendi.
Layla Swart - Producer / Editor
After obtaining a post-graduate degree in film production from the University of Cape Town, Layla has been senior editor on numerous feature films and her writing work has enjoyed success at international and South African festivals. 2015 saw her move into production full time as coordinator on large-scale international television projects such as ABC’s Kings and Prophets and Paolo Sorrentino’s HBO series The Young Pope. At the tender age of 30 she has produced three films, the acclaimed Xhosa Sci Fi Short Stillborn, the epic Sew the Winter to my Skin which was awarded the Berlinale World Cinema Fund, and was part of the exclusive Cannes L’Atelier selection of 2017 and has just wrapped on the gritty township boxing film Knuckle City. Layla, through her company Yellowbone Entertainment has three other feature films in development, two green-lit. Layla is one of South Africa’s most exciting young producers, churning out a litany of impressive film work in record time. She is a creatively attuned producer, who has an eye for a great story.
Jonathan Kovel - Director of Photography
Jonathan Kovel is currently based in Johannesburg for the past eighteen years. A graduate of Columbia University Film School in New York, he has worked in Canada, Mexico, Peru, Curaçao, Ireland, France, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland, Nigeria, Kenya, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Jonathan is involved in commercial work as well as documentary and narrative features across the African continent and internationally.
Emelia Weavind - Production Designer
Emelia Weavind is an experienced Production Designer, Set Decorator and Art Director with strong on set and location skills. She has worked locally and internationally including Ethiopia, Morocco, Uganda and Colombia on genres ranging from period African, ( 'Bang Bang Club', 'Winnie') to period international ('The History of America') to science fiction ( 'Mad Max Fury Road', 'Dredd' ). Her work has garnered many award nominations including Oscar win Best Foreign film 'Tsotsi', an Emmy nomination for Best Art Direction in TV Series for 'Generation Kill' and an Art Director's Guild nomination for Excellence in Production Design 'District 9'. Her credits also include The Lost City of Z, The Queen of Katwe, Chappie, and 10 000 BC.
Pierre Vienings - Costume Designer
Pierre's early love for costume design led to the completion of a couture design course under the leadership of Prof. Victoria Toma at the International Institute of Design and a theater design
cause at PACOFS. He spent 3 years working under the leadership of acclaimed costume designer James Parker at the Preforming Arts Council of the Orange Free State. He then went onto the SABC where he designed the groundbreaking TV series Ballade vir 'n Enkeling. He designed over 30 television Dramas including Generations and Jackpot. This led to the natural progression to tv feature films and feature films. He designed the foreign language Oscar winning Tsotsi. He also designed Drum - Stories from Sofiatown, Master Harold and the Boys, Winnie Mandela, Five Fingers for Marseilles and Sew The Winter To My Skin.
He had just completed the costume design on Knuckle City for Jahmil X.T. Qubeka.
CREW
Michael Henrichs - Co-Producer, Die Gesellschaft DGS
Carolyn Carew - Associate Producer - Free Women Films
Theuns de Wet, Nolitha Mkulisi - Line Producers
Darryn Bennett, Brendan Fish - 1st AD
Florence Maluleka - 2nd AD
Unit Manager - Khanyeza Khanyeza
Art Director - Justice Nhlapo
Props Master - Surisa Surisa
Set Dec - Axel Hoebel
Armourer - Olly Steele
Animals - Faizel Salie
Horses - Gavin Mey
Costume Supervisor - Zureta Schultz
Gaffer - Alfred Manzini
Key Grip - Jo Malaudzi
Post Producer - Jade Kohler
Post Supervisor - Lauren van Rensburg
Sound Designer - Barry Donnelly
CAST - In order of appearance
The Frontiersman - David James
The Samson of the Boschberg - Ezra Mabengeza
Sketch Artist - Zapiro
The Judge - Rouel Beukes
Golden Eyes - Kandyse McClure
Simon Potgieter - Bok van Blerk
Dead Man Walking - Gabriel Fredericks
Black Wyatt Earp - Zolisa Xaluva
Fearless the Rabble Rouser - Bongile Mantsai
Birthmark - Mandisa Nduna
Old Matriarch - Nomhle Nkonyeni
Mole - Brenda Ngxoli
General Helmut Botha - Peter Kurth
Scar - Faced Kid - Dave Walpole
Beads - Shoki Mokgapa
The Rider - Carlo Radebe
Mrs Botha - Antoinette Louw
Old Prisoner - Yule Masiteng
Man of Influence - Robert Whitehead