Team

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Jenna Cato Bass (Founder, Management Team, Facilitator) is a South African writer, filmmaker and former magician. Her award-winning films include Love The One You Love (2014), High Fantasy (2017), Flatland (2019) and Good Madam (2021), and have screened around the world, including at the Sundance, Berlinale and Toronto Film Festivals.

Qondiswa James (Founder, Management Team, Facilitator) is a freelance cultural worker living between Cape Town and Johannesburg. She is an award-winning writer and theatre-maker, performance artist, film and theatre performer, installation artist, arts facilitator and activist. Her work engages the socio-political imagination towards mobilising transgression.

Simone Momplé (Management Team, Facilitator) is a creative who uses motivation, film and dance to improve holistic wellness. She has a Master’s Degree in Psychology at UWC, where her research explored the influence of dance on the self. Simone has built a movement wellness company called GODANCE based on her research. Additionally, she has directed, edited and produced short documentaries and films; dance and other creative work. Currently, she works as the Media Coordinator at the Centre for Humanities Research (UWC).

Mamello Makhetha (Management Team, Facilitator) is an actress, voice artist and filmmaker. Her experience with the Queer Writer’s Incubator in 2021 led her to developing a feature length script. She then produced the short film Surprise written by Céline Tshika and directed by Yonnic Carelse , with the mentorship of Imran Hamdulay, under the FFS x QWI Mentorship Programme (2023). As an actress you can find her starring as Jamilah in Hulu+Hotstar show Lootere or guest starring in Amazon Prime’s The Morning After as Mandi. She currently also coaches at ACT: Cape Town Film Acting School.