South Africa

Born and raised in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, Shelley Barry completed graduate studies in English and Drama at the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape. She has worked extensively as a disability rights activist, following a shooting in the Cape taxi wars of 1996 that resulted in her being a wheelchair user. She worked as the Media Manager in the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons in the Presidency in South Africa. She initially worked in disability politics in South Africa's Parliament as the National Parliamentary Policy Coordinator for Disabled People South Africa, during the Presidency of Nelson Mandela. In the area of visual media, she has worked in television as a program compliance advisor for South Africa's first independent television station, ETV, where she was instrumental in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and disability through championing certain programming. She completed short training in video, including a short course by acclaimed director Mira Nair and training by Deutsche Welle TV. She was based as an intern for a brief period with the BBC's Disability Production Unit in London. She was appointed as a Chief Examiner of the South African Film and Publications Board. Shelley also served on the board of Mediaworks, a community media organization and on the board of Children and Broadcasting Foundation for Africa. She is also an office bearer of an organization in South Africa: Art for Development, run by South Africa's first black female feature filmmaker, Meganthrie Pillay. Shelley is an active anti-gun lobbyist who has addressed the United Nations in NYC. Shelley is currently the founder and director of twospinningwheels productions – a production company that aims to explore new languages in cinema and marginalized voices having access to the craft of filmmaking.

Filmography

Whole: A Trinity of Being (2004)
Retrato/Portrait (2005)
Where Are My Heels? (2005)
Inclinations (2005)
Str/oll (2006)
Umbilical Cord (2006)
Cry like the Loons (2006)
New York/New Brighton (2007)
Cellphone (2008)
Pants? Skirt? Lipstick? (2005)
Where We Planted Trees (2011)
The Traveling Poet (2011)
Place of Grace (2011)
Mr. Shakes: The Passion to Live (2013)
Diaries of a Dissident Poet (2014)
I’m Not Done Yet (2015)
Re:incarnation (2018)
Out of Reach (2018)
Ink/Visible (2018)
Here (2019)