Michael is a filmmaker, writer, academic, and artist based in Durban, South Africa with a passion for meaningful storytelling. He has a significant interest in using various mediums to craft stories with the potential to deconstruct the myths we call history and the histories we call myth. Alongside a professional academic career in teaching film, philosophy, and political science, he has written several award winning plays (the PANSA national award winning play, Things We Found in the Silence) and screenplays; written and directed for television; directed and produced a feature film, Dreams of Gomorrah (which won three 2020 Simon Sabela awards and two 2020 African Emerging Filmmaker Awards; the film is currently being distributed by Multichoice across all African territories); and has directed and produced several short films and documentaries that have gone on to win numerous awards at both local and international film festivals (the award winning documentary Free Education: The Story of Bonginkosi Khanyile, which premiered at the 2018 Encounters Documentary Film Festival in Cape Town and went on to win three awards at the 2018 African Diaspora Cinema Festival in Florence, Italy).
As the writer and director of his next feature film – a film that sets out to explore the oppressive colonial legacy of religion in South Africa, Those Who Dwell In Darkness – he has represented the film at the Rotterdam International Film Festival Cinemart 2020, at Durban Filmmart 2019 - where the film won the “Versveld & Associates” Award – and as a shortlisted film at the Cinephilia Bound Filmmart section at the Cannes Film Festival 2020. At the foundation of both his filmmaking and academic career lies a passionate and curious desire to deconstruct and reconstruct the historical narratives that have so deeply informed our identities regarding race, gender, class, sexuality, and faith. These social and historical realities inform the direction, consistency, and relevancy of his work.
His growing cinematic vision has been influenced deeply by the likes of Andrei Tarkovsky, Jean-Luc Godard, and Terrence Malick, both for their desire to test the limits of cinema as well as to poetically expand the boundaries of what the art form has the potential to do in the world.
present): As a freelance scriptwriter & editor I have written two full 20 episodic radio plays, as well as a full
40 episodic radio play, all of which has been recorded and aired nationally via SABC/Lotus FM 2020 - Present)
present): As a director, writer, and producer I have successfully headed up "Content Creation" as a codirector for a production company called "Maverick
Resistance" - directing, writing, and producing numerous award winning films (including the award winning "Dreams of Gomorrah", which is currently being distributed across all African territories by Multichoice),
commissioned documentaries, short films, and commercials
particularly a series of Discovery Health brand content with Chad le Clos in the build up to the 2020 Olympic
Games
("#AmINext") that aired on national television throughout
2021
Zuma's trial as well as the trajectory of the Covid 19
pandemic, amongst other events.
University of South Africa (2016-2018)
