South Africa / 2012 / 83mins / Documentary / Afrikaans, English and Xhosa

Step into the lives of six artists sculpting South Africa's future from the fragments of a tumultuous past. Born in different areas of the formerly-segregated country, the artists separately re-craft history -- and the impacts of apartheid -- in their own artistic languages. How does creative expression traverse the divide? The Creators was shot and edited entirely by South Africans, the majority of whom were trained while on the job and now work professionally in South Africa's burgeoning film industry.

Laura Gamse

Laura Gamse is a director, producer and writer from Arlington, Virginia.  Her work has been featured on NPR, the National Geographic Channel and Netflix, and covered in The New York Times and The Washington Post among other media outlets. She is a Fulbright grantee and the founder of Daydream Reels, a production company dedicated to exploring stories often left untold. Laura's first feature documentary, The Creators: South Africa Through the Eyes of Its Artists, was named "Best Documentary" at the National Geographic Society’s All Roads Film Festival.  She is co-executive producer of National Geographic’s Underworld, Inc., a series inspired by the book, The Misfit Economy. Her film, Brigidy Bram, is a feature documentary whose shorter incarnation was named "Best Short Film" at the Bahamian Oscars. Learn More

Jacques de Villiers

Cape Town born de Villiers is a film editor, music-maker, educator and director. He is very active as a musician, having released the album sleepsongs (2010) and the More Wind For Lonely Suburbs EP in 2010. He has edited both fiction and documentary features and shorts, as well as numerous music videos. The Creators, which he co-directed and co-edited with Laura Gamse, won the Best Documentary award at the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival. His features and shorts have played at major festivals around the world, including the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and opening the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival. He also teaches film theory and practice at the University of Cape Town. Learn More