Fanney Tsimong (Director/Creative Director)

Fanney started working in the music industry at the age of 15 as a dancer and has since moved to being a choreographer and has worked with a number of South African artists as dancer and/or choreographer. Fanney was given the rare opportunity to work on the South African launch of superstar Janet Jackson, both as an event organizer and a South African dancer – an event, which won him a golden disc award.

Fanney has also worked extensively within the South African music industry as artist promoter for EMI South Africa, club and tour promoter for Brenda Fassie, choreographer and dancer for TK, Brenda Fassie and Andile on tour and for music videos. He has worked as production assistant, road manager and promoter for Nativz Music and Entertainment.

His introduction into film and television began as a production assistant for both the annual gay and lesbian film festival and the encounters documentary festival. Fanney, under mentorship from Underdog, received the 'Raw Talent Award’ for his PSA at 2003 Vuka Awards which also won him a scholarship to one of the finest film schools (AFDA) in the country were he was awarded a certificate for directing and script-writing. He was nominated in the newcomer category for 2004 Vuka awards. Since then he directed and produced a number of short films: Mountain Shade and A page from my Journal were both screened at the Out in Africa film festival and the London Film Festival. In 2005 he directed a mini documentary for Out in Africa called ‘Silenced’ under the project 4more and it was screened at the Brazil Mix Festival as well as the Out in Africa Film Festival.

Fanney worked as camera assistant for an SABC 3 documentary Flush and as camera assistant for Oscar nominated film, Hotel Rwanda. He directed a documentary for SABC 1’s sex and secrecy slot: Black Beulah's, in collaboration with Underdog Productions. He also took part at the Sithengi talent campus in 2004. Fanney conceptualised and completed a 13 part series of “Intimate Connexionz” (2005) as creative/series director and executive producer of the talk show. He has worked as a creative stylist for South Africa’s most successful, award-winning music team Malaika. In 2006 Fanney worked as a stylist for a 4-part mini series titled Society and as a creative and story plot consultant. He made his debut as an actor in a 4-part mini series for SABC 1 titled After Nine. In 2007 he got an invitation to be part of a panel of judges at the Berlinale Film Festival in Germany. In 2008 Fanney directed a short film titled Beautiful Contradictions, which is intended to be a pilot for a feature film he is co-producing titled Rewind. He also worked as assistant director and production assistant for the 2008 Community Builder of the Year award with Underdog Productions. Fanney has directed two episodes of Top Billing – Basetsana’s Book Club and the Tony Rich Project Interview. Fanney co-produced a documentary titled Queen Diva 2010.

Nhlanhla Ndaba (Producer and Project Manager)

Nhlanhla worked as a musical line-up producer and backstage director on a number of events, such as the Miss Gay Soweto pageant and Miss Confidence South Africa (a pageant for people with disabilities). He has also worked as production manager for the Out in Africa Film Festival (2002 to 2008) and Encounters Documentary Festival. He has worked on music video concepts for Brenda Fassie and Andile and conceptualised and contributed to CD cover for Brenda Fassie’s album, Mali. Nhlanhla organised the artist line-up for the launch of the gay and lesbian film festival in 2003 and has also edited a number of articles written by his company for Campus Times and the Mail and Guardian newspapers.

Nhlanhla worked as producer on a documentary series for SABC 1’s sex and secrecy slot in collaboration with Underdog Productions titled Black Beulah’s whilst at the same time pursuing a diploma in Project-Management.

Nhlanhla completed a 13 part series of “Intimate Connexionz” (2005) as producer, content producer and executive producer, led the research & development and was also script supervisor on the series. Nhlanhla completed a short course on documentary producing with Monash University. In 2006 Nhlanhla worked as an assistant stylist for a 4-part mini series titled Society and shortly thereafter as creative and script consultant in a 4-part mini series for SABC 1 titled After Nine. In 2007 Nhlanhla worked as a production assistant for an action x be an action hero promotion for Mnet. In 2008 Nhlanhla produced a short film titled Beautiful Contradictions, which is intended to be a pilot for a feature film he is producing titled Rewind. Nhlanhla co-produced a documentary titled Queen Diva 2010.