Directors
Sacha Waldman
Between being born in Milan, raised in South Africa, living in London, and working in New York, Sacha Waldman received his training in the worldly school of life. A well-established international photographer, and a pioneer in his style, he is famous for his cutting edge, iconic images.
Avant-garde, even controversial at times, his images are guaranteed to be impactful, rich, textured and superbly crafted. But never ordinary. An uninhibited freethinker, he takes digital manipulation to a new level, and has the ability to create a new world from simple raw ideas, uniquely exploring the life from which the characters in front of his camera hail.
Having nurtured his creative genes, which have been spread across his family, and being completely self-taught, he is constantly reinventing himself and is the classic example of simple raw talent.
Sacha’s photos have been published in a number of top magazines including Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, GQ and Wired. His advertising and entertainment clients include Electronic Arts, Sony Music, Atlantic Records, Interscope, Adidas, Nike, Pony, Sun Microsystems and Kohler. Sacha has also received awards and recognition from Communication Arts, The PDN Photo Annual and American Photography.
Even though he has worked with some of the hippest, hottest celebs on the planet, leaving a legacy in his wake, in Sacha’s words: “It’s time for me to challenge myself again… You’ve got to keep yourself fresh and inspired.” So he has expanded his repertoire to include directing, with his successful directing debut collaboration with Groundglass, a heart-wrenching spot for “Tomorrow’s Trust” getting this ball rolling for him.
Justin Polkey
Justin has been photographing the beautiful and the hungry for the best part of the last decade. For him beauty is clearly in the eye of the camera holder.
Hailing originally from the gloriously laidback sun-swept beaches of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Justin found his niche in Cape Town as a fashion photographer where the colourful and flavorsome city has provided a perfect backdrop for his classically contemporary and stylized images. Without forgetting of course the myriad of other countries across the globe doing the same. In this time, his work has adorned the covers and pages of such SA and international magazines as GQ, Marie-Claire and Sports Illustrated, and he has worked with clients the likes of Levi's, True Religion, Mum Champagne, Absolut, Johnny Walker and LG.
Returning to his film school roots as a director was, for Justin, a natural progression, and he is relishing the adventure in bringing the stories behind his exquisitely composed images to life. Justin’s debut commercial, a spot for Woolworths/Puma with Jupiter Drawing Room, is a fine example of how well his years of experience in fashion photography translate into film.
Embracing the progressive sphere of New Media, and with a short film which he is writing in the pipeline, Justin sees no end to where filmmaking will take him:
"I have always enjoyed being involved in media. For the most part, it's the 'writing on the wall', especially now with the increasing access and popularity of the Internet. The Web has given choice back to the audience and forced a return to pure entertainment. It's an exciting time for creativity."
Erica Brumage
Erica Brumage’s unique interpretation to commercial filmmaking has been shaped by her experience in theatre, art, literature and music. She has a strong awareness and understanding of current styles and trends and their incorporation into the visual communication.
Although it is impossible to define her work as a particular genre, she is equally at home with cutting-edge and contemporary styling or quirky, tongue-in-cheek humour, and through her theatrical work as a dancer and choreographer, has reinforced a knack for creating memorable characters, and for directing intimate and tender performance pieces with graceful ease.
Since moving into film ten years ago, she has directed commercials for some of the world’s leading advertising agencies including Lowe Worldwide, Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi, and BBH.
Erica says of her passion for film: “I am totally in love with film – its texture, the way it deals with light, the way that a lens can shape the picture and the tone of the message, the way that it can manipulate time, the way that it enfolds and involves one so totally in some other life, and that it only allows you to see what is within that frame and lets the imagination fill in what is beyond it.”
In the midst of all this, she is also currently developing various screenplays to ensure the imminent migration into the long-form and feature realm.
Duvan Durand
Duvan Durand starting his film career as an editor in 2004. After thrashing out a year of editing local television, he went freelance, basically cutting anything he could get his hands on, with fierce determination to do music videos. “Freelancing,” he says, “was my university.” It paid off, and in 2007, he started cutting music videos.
From there, the logical progression into directing was almost easy, and his strengths as a director and storyteller are clearly illustrated in his debut music video shot in 2009 for SA Afrikaans rap sensation Jack Parow’s “Cooler as Ekke”, and his follow-up video for Jack’s next hit “Dans Dans Dans” in 2010, now both causing cyber hype and mayhem the globe over.
It was only a short time before Duvan was pitching on commercial spots, showing his propensity for the task with clever and witty interpretations of the scripts and innovative ways of dealing with budget restraints. Pushing the envelope on concepts and ideas is what he excels at.
“I honestly can’t tell you how I got here. Maybe it’s through the guidance of friends and family. Maybe it’s fate. Maybe I took the red pill. I do know that I love what I do. It gets better the older I get. I recently became a dad. I hope I can raise my son as well as my father raised me.”
187
A graduate of the New York Film Academy, 187 has honed his directing skills shooting music videos for all the hottest mainstream and underground bands in the country such as The Dirty Skirts, aKing and Jax Panik, New Holland and Zinkplaat, and has fast become the go-to guy for all the coolest musicians on the scene.
With a finely-tuned passion for filmmaking, he is fresh, shoot-from-the-hip hip, clever and slick, and is always one step ahead, figuring out what the public wants and needs before they do. Besides the throng of music videos, he also has a feature film under his belt “Footskating 101” which he co-directed, proving his aptitude for long-form and storytelling. On a budget! And he is also showing his talent in commercial work.
As he likes to say, "When making pictures move, perfected simplicity always outweighs mediocre complexity."
Natasja Fourie
Natasja Fourie, Image Maker (she prefers this to photographer!), Storyteller and Artist, describes herself as impulsive, colourful and raw, and has been called “an ambitious dragon disguised as a butterfly”.
“As an artist,” she says, “I don’t want to limit myself to one medium.”
A student of visual communication, art and advertising, Natasja Fourie decided to pursue a career in fashion photography and directing, and found herself in London interning at ultra hip culture magazine “Dazed and Confused”, after which she assisted numerous fashion photographers, including Emma Summerton. She has since returned to South Africa where she has fine-tuned her skills in photography, with her work being published in various magazines as diverse as Vice, Nylon, Colors magazine to The Times.
She depicts the sweet, the innocent, the sexy, the daring. Her style is expressive and intimate, a bold exploration into the human body and its identity, with serene and compelling visuals.
Whether shooting or directing, the camera is an extension of her eye, and as quietly unassuming as she may be, her edgy music videos and stylish photographic work are reflective of how the inner-beast emerges when she has her eye behind the viewfinder.
Iain Campbell
Iain's expertise in lighting food and liquid, combined with his remarkable eye and impeccable attention to detail, has made him one of the most sought-after tabletop directors worldwide.
Having begun his career in stills, Iain has continued to apply the same techniques and disciplines learned in photography in cinematography, mastering the art of new medium film-making and utilising high-speed digital cameras seamlessly combined with 35mm. Iain is also an accomplished and prolific artist and when he is not behind a camera he can be found behind his easel.