Rehad Desai

Chair

Rehad Desai is a Cape Town-born filmmaker who returned from exile in 1990 and now lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. Rehad has a Masters in History and began making documentaries in 1998. He formed Uhuru Productions in 2003 and has been the driving force behind the company ever since. He is also the Chairperson of the Human Rights Media Trust, formed in 2004. 

Over the course of his time as a filmmaker, he has conceived and produced over 20 documentary films, many of which he has directed or co-directed. Six of these films have been feature-length documentaries, produced with significant international participation and have received critical acclaim and wide festival take-up. Rehad is the founder director of the Tri-Continental Human Rights Film Festival. 

Anita Khanna

Executive Director

South African based scriptwriter and producer, and impact producer, Anita Khanna,
has writing and producing credits that include award winning documentaries, Miners
Shot Down, Everything Must Fall and How to Steal a Country, She has conceived
and produced three documentary series plus a drama series for the South African
Broadcasting Corporation, The Mating Game. Between 2011 and 2018 she directed
the Tri Continental Social Impact Film Festival. Anita drove the first live event of Doc
Society’s Good Pitch on African soil (Johannesburg 2011). Passionate about climate
and social justice, Anita is a co-director of Climate Story Labs ZA and the lead
producer of the Hotspot Film Series, plus a proud winner of the BritDoc Impact
Award 2015, for her film campaign work on Miners Shot Down.

Zivia Desai Keiper

Treasurer

Zivia Desai is a Cape Town based producer who grew up in exile in England, where she worked in publishing before returning to South Africa in 1990 and joining the film industry. In 2003 Zivia was central to the establishment of South Africa’s only documentary film festival to showcase cinema from the global south and the setting up of Uhuru Productions with her sibling, filmmaker Rehad Desai. Zivia’s dedication to the genre of documentary includes producer credits on several highly acclaimed and award-winning films, among them, Born into Struggle, Death of a Bushman, Taking Back the Waves and Bushman’s Secrets.

Terry Bell

Political Journalist

Pretoria-born Terry Bell, a former political detainee and 27-year exile, is a journalist and social activist who has worked as a broadcaster, editor and educator. He has written mainly on politics, economics and labour issues. His latest book, A hat, a kayak & dreams of Dar, with recipes by Barbara, follows the 2016 biography of MK volunteer Amin Cajee, Fordsburg Fighter. The first principal of the primary division of the ANC school in Tanzania, he and Barbara co-wrote the primary school curriculum adopted by the ANC in 1980. His formal qualifications are in international law and in media studies.

Shaeera Kalla

Researcher & Activist

Shaeera Kalla is an activist, scholar and filmmaker from South Africa. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Wits University and a Masters in African Studies from Oxford University. As a student she served as the President of the Student Representative Council and was one of the leaders of the #FeesMustFall protests. Shaeera sits on the board of public interest litigation and human rights organisation Section 27, works as an independent filmmaker and has been selected for the 2023/2024 Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris programme for emerging producers which commences in October 2023.

Dylan Valley

Filmmaker & Lecturer

Dylan Valley is an award winning filmmaker and educator who sees film as a tool for social change. His virtual reality/ 360 documentary Azibuye- The Occupation premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2020.  

He is currently a lecturer at The University of Cape Town’s Centre for Film and Media Studies.

Dylan has directed work for Al Jazeera, Arte, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation. He’s on the editorial board of Africa is a Country.