South Africa

Judy Naidoo is a South African independent filmmaker. She holds a Masters in Producing from the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in the UK. She was the recipient of two scholarships that enabled her to pursue this degree: The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Award and the Trevor Jones Scholarship. Judy also completed a Certificate in Filmmaking at the New York Film Academy (NYC) in 2006 and holds a BA (Dramatic Arts) Honours Degree from Wits University (majoring in Directing and Television). Under the umbrella of Ladybug Films (a company Judy had established in 2002, previously named Black Heat Productions), she had the opportunity to produce and direct several documentaries, corporates, commercials and short films, but her aspirations to tell fictional stories grew. In 2006 she attended a filmmaking course at the New York Film Academy in New York City. There, she wrote, directed, and edited several short film projects. These shorts introduced her to shooting on film (16mm). Later, while studying in the UK, Judy produced the award-winning animation short Kahānikār (The Storyteller). The film was long-listed for the Oscars in 2012 and won at several major festivals around the world. Here, Judy also had the opportunity to direct a short film titled Henry and June (a comedy which she also wrote). Judy made her directorial debut on the feature length film Hatchet Hour, which had its International premiere at the LA Femme International Film Festival (2016), where it won the Best Foreign Film award. The film’s Africa premiere was at the Joburg International Film Festival 2016. In 2017, the film won Best Picture and Best Director at the New Hope Film Festival (Pennsylvania, USA). Kings of Mulberry Street is her second feature.

Filmography

Hatchet Hour (2016)
Kings of Mulberry Street (2019)