Introducing the Crew
Lauren Gebka
Libby
Lauren is a 20-year-old acting student. She got offered a scholarship to study at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic arts, but ultimately decided to go to Cape Town to be closer to family whilst studying. She grew up in Johannesburg and moved to Cape Town when she was 18 to study at AFDA. Lauren was a born performer and used to make her family pay her R5 to watch her perform in their living room, her friends and family say that she is born for this. Lauren has a light and bubbly personality and loves to be around people and make them laugh. Lauren is eager about helping others as well as animals. She is not afraid to stand up for her beliefs and use her voice to do the right thing.
Siobhan Gabaake
Sal
Siobhan is an actress born and raised in Botswana. She has studied a BA in Live Performance in Cape Town. With the love for storytelling and community, she has committed to engaging with the human experience through the lens of performance. She enjoys challenging herself by exploring complex narratives with different forms of medium discourse, and expression. Through her ongoing journey of learning and expanding her craft, she intends to share her creativity and participate in the culture of film and with people that want to tell human stories.
Megan Choritz
Ida
Megan Choritz is a South African born playwright, actor, writer, director and improviser. She has spent all of her life involved in theatre and make-believe. She has written and co-written numerous plays and musicals, performed and directed theatre, and she creates industrial theatre with her company Improvision. Megan loves improvisation the most, and performs regularly with ImproGuise, and teaches and facilitates improv. She has self-published a novel, has just finished writing her second one, has just published her first rhyming children’s book The Big Bird Battle published in June 2020. She has just finished filming the sequel to Showmax’s hit Tali’s Wedding Diary, Tali’s Baby Diary, where she plays Tali’s mother-in-law, Janice.
Meet the Crew
Valerie Britz
Writer & Director
Valerie grew up in a small town in rural Mpumalanga where her love for storytelling blossomed from an early age. After graduating high school, she completed her diploma in fashion design and went on to be a finalist in the 2013 Elle Rising Star design competition, and showcased her work as part of the 2014 Emerging Creatives program at Design Indaba. After working as a freelance designer and wedding dress seamstress for a number of years, she decided to revisit her love for storytelling and pursue a degree in film, majoring in writing & directing
Isabella Duisberg
Producer
Moving from Munich to Cape Town in 2004, Isabella did castings from a young age and loved the dynamic energy of being on set. After being awarded a scholarship to study film in Munich and taking a filmmaking short course at the New York Film Academy, Isabella ultimately decided to stay in Cape Town for her bachelor’s degree in producing and production design at AFDA. Taking multiple online courses during the Covid-19 lockdown, amongst them Digital Marketing and Graphic Design, Isabella is invested in continuously learning and sharpening her skillset in her various interests. She plans on working in Cape Town and contributing to the growth and recognition of its film industry.
Eduard Rautenbach
Script Supervisor
Eduard was born in Nelspruit but grew up in Polokwane for most of his young life. Needless to say it wasn’t the biggest film scene, so he decided to pack his bags and do what all young and impulsive dreamers do: move to the big city to follow the dream. In his third year at AFDA, he has learned so much, not only about the actual process of making films, but also qualities in himself and others that he never would have discovered otherwise. Simply put, we all have a passion for telling and hearing good stories. As a script supervisor, he has had the privilege of seeing this story develop from the tiniest seed into what it is today. The ups, the downs, the victories, the doubts, all of it a worthwhile process in developing our creative voices as storytellers. He loves being a part of a good story.
Marlé Retief
Director of Photography
Marlé grew up in a small town named Wellington situated on the foot of the Limietberg and spend most of her life engulfed by nature. She is currently in her final year, studying cinematography. Her creativity is spiked by literature and the translation thereof. Literature is a well-celebrated topic in her household and encouraged to love by her grandparents from a young age. She found her love for photography when she realized that it can act as a form of subjective expression, focusing primarily on documenting emotions and specific time frames in life. Although her outlook on life changes by the week, she aspires to be an active creative regardless of profession or title and live a full, fruitful life.
Jared Schaedler
Editor
Jared Schaedler, as a professional dancer and choreographer, has had the privilege of working with famous artists such as Rouge and choreographing the music video Good Bad Boy (2019) for Kenyan artists Dela and Reign. Jared has performed for corporate companies such as Bidvest, Red Bull, Cosmopolitan and many others making him no stranger to the understanding of performance. His passion for film, especially film editing, started from an incredibly young age, with Jared editing many school videos, church and youth services for View Church, dance videos and self-tapes for theatre auditions. Jared’s interest in filmmaking grew exponentially after being scouted for the movie Honey 3 Dare to Dance, produced by Universal Entertainment (2016). As an ambitious young editor he is ready for any opportunity and looks forward to the future.
Jennifer Blore
Costume & Makeup Stylist
Jennifer Blore grew up on a dairy farm in the rural parts of KZN and is now living in Cape Town, while studying a Bachelor of Arts in motion picture medium and majoring in Costume, Makeup and styling. It is during this time that she has had the opportunity to meet and work with the amazing creatives at AFDA on both inside and outside projects. She has a passion for makeup, all things creative and the outdoors. She hopes to further this into a full-time, fun career of filmmaking and traveling the world.
Roark Mudde
Visual Effects Artist
Roark Mudde was born and raised in Ballito but currently resides in Cape Town. He initially began his tertiary education at Stellenbosch University studying Mathematics and Computer Science. Roark has always been passionate about animation and visual effects, motivating him to change his choice of studies. His goals are to further develop his digital sculpting skills in order to work for an animation studio.
Benjamin Jacobs
Sound Designer
Benjamin, known as Benji, was born in Cape Town but grew up in Namibia, Windhoek for the majority of his life. His time with film began when he got inspired by film as a youngster seeing how advanced film can be behind the scenes. Not only does he strive to make epic sounding and epic looking films through Sound Design and VFX, but he loves the challenge of these disciplines, and therefore he is out to learn everything he can so that he can build on that to develop new ways of thinking around these subjects. He is always out to find what it takes to immerse the audience sonically or inspire them on a subconscious level. Trying to see how he can push limits on every project he works on and lives by a motto that innovation starts with your ambition.
Willa Lyle
Music Composer
Growing up in Durban, Willa has always had an affinity for the nature that surrounds them. Drawing inspiration from the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and the tall canopies of the inland gorges, they try to compose music that is vibrant and full of life. They were drawn to music from a young age, falling in love with its beautiful and expressive quality, as well as its way of universally connecting us. Through their experience in learning musical instruments and discovering digital music production, they developed a strong attraction to the experimental side of music and the pursuit of new and unsual sounds.