THE CREW


“SOUTH AFRICA IS LIKE A ZEBRA. IT WOULD NOT MATTER IF THE BULLET STRIKES A WHITE STRIPE OR A BLACK ONE, THE ANIMAL AS A WHOLE WILL DIE”.

Roelof “Pik” Botha, South Africa’s former minister of Foreign Affairs

Mandy Jacobson : Producer/Director

The Executive Producer of the African Oral History, Mandy is a multiple award winning filmmaker, who works out of both New York and Johannesburg. Won two Emmy Awards for her documentary Calling the Ghosts: A Film about Rape, War and Women in Bosnia (HBO / Cinemax) and with the Bill Moyers team won the Peabody for PBS feature, Facing the Truth. She has produced and directed programs in the US, Brazil, Bosnia, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Cuba and South Africa, which have been broadcast on major networks worldwide, including CBS‘s Sixty Minutes, PBS, ARTE, Discovery, SABC and ETV. Mandy is heads Indelible, Media, a multi-media production company dedicated to showcasing African cinema and television for international broadcast and theatrical release.

Carlos Agulló : Director/Editor

Carlos is part of the lively core of Spanish auteur cinema increasingly being recognized outside its borders. He worked as an assistant editor “The Sea Inside” by Alejandro Amenábar, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and later as film editor for other award winning Spanish Directors such as “Back to Moira” by Mateo Gil, “Planet 51” by Jorge Blanco, “Historia de un Director Idiota” by Sergio Candel,“For the Good of others” by Oskar Santos and the TV series “Crematorio” by Jorge Sánchez Cabezudo. He has also directed several of his own short films such as “The Gift”, “The Wait”, “Ana Cronia” “Pizza Eli” and “Next Station”.

Stephen Smith : Scriptwriter/Historical Consultant

An academic, journalist, and writer, he worked as Historical Consultant for Olivier Assaya’s film “Carlos”, which premiered in Cannes in 2010 and won a Golden Globe and Emmy Award in 2011. As an adviser for Africa, he also contributed to Ben Moses’ “A Whisper to a Roar”, released at the Berlin film festival in February 2012. Since 2007, he teaches African Studies and Cultural Anthropology at Duke University and, as an adjunct Professor, at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC. Prior to becoming the Africa editor of the French daily Libération and then Le Monde, he worked as a correspondent for Radio France International (RFI) and Reuters in West and Central Africa. He is the author of sixteen books, among them a biography of Winnie Madikizela Mandela (2007), and a regular contributor to The London Review of Books.

Nhlanhla Mthethwa : Archive Researcher

Nhlanhla’s 15-year documentary output focuses on South African history and politics. As both archive researcher and producer, his recent work includes a series of documentaries, History of Political Parties in South Africa, and a 13-part Mandela tribute series. His work has been shown on SABC, ETV, M-Net; CBS, Channel 4 and BBC- UK; CAPA TV, France; NGOs; French and Indian national television. Numerous of the productions have received awards, amongst them Jihan El Tahri: Behind the Rainbow and Connie Field’s Have You Heard From Johannesburg series, and Danny Schechter, B Obama in Africa for Video-vision.

Antony Partos : Music Composer

Australian, Antony is an internationally acclaimed composer whose credits include the feature films Animal Kingdom, Disgrace, The Home Song Stories, Garage Days, Unfinished Sky and, most recently, the international Chinese co-production 33 Postcards (starring Guy Pearce). He has won numerous best music scores at the Australian Film Institute Awards. His music was included in Mexican feature film Dias De Gracia (Days of Grace) along with Nick Cave and Atticus Ros. The film screened out of competition at Cannes Film Festival in 2011. Animal Kingdom premiered at Sundance to critical acclaim and won the AFI Best Original Music Score. Antony’s most recent projects include acclaimed TV drama series The Slap, Rake, and Crownies as well as ABC TV’s tele-movie MABO.

Gabriel Gutiérrez : Sound Designer

As a Sound Editor & Sound Designer, Gabriel has created sound design for different artistic disciplines such as music, fashion, and video art. These past experiences have developed an interesting perspective when approaching sound for feature films and television. Gabriel’s great skills and experience have led him to work with acclaimed directors such as Tran Anh Hung, Roland Joffé, Steven Soderbergh, and Santiago Segura among others.