Jenna Bass | |
|---|---|
 Bass in 2018 | |
| Born | Jenna Cato Bass 1986 Camden, London, England |
| Nationality | South African |
| Alma mater | AFDA |
| Years active | 2010–present |
Jenna Cato Bass (born 1986) is a South African film director, screenwriter, and author. She has written short stories under the pseudonym Constance Myburgh, one of which was shortlisted for the 2012 Caine Prize. [1] [2]
Bass was born in London, England and grew up in South Africa. [3] She practiced magic at the College of Magic. She went onto graduate from the Cape Town campus of AFDA, The School for the Creative Economy.
In 2011 Bass founded Jungle Jim, a genre fiction magazine. Issue 6 featured her noir detective story 'Hunter Emmanuel', featuring an investigation into a dismembered prostitute. The story was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2012. [1]
Bass's first feature film, Love the One You Love , was shot on a 'nano-budget' using hand-held consumer cameras and a partly improvised script. The film told the story of a sex phone operator negotiating her relationship with her boyfriend and considering a move to Korea. [4] The film won Best South African Feature Film at the 2014 Durban International Film Festival. [5]
High Fantasy (2017) was a satirical thriller about a group of young travellers who mysteriously exchange their bodies on a camping trip. Shot on iPhones, using improvisation, the film explored "the messy tangle of race, class and gender identity in modern-day South Africa." [6]
Flatland (2019), an all-female "South African kitsch-western genre mashup", was shot on a larger budget. [7] It was chosen as the opening film in the 2019 Berlinale Panorama. [8]
Bass first started using a pseudonym, Constance Myburgh, in 2011 when publishing stories in her literary magazine, Jungle Jim, to keep her author's profile separate from her role as a screenwriter in the film industry. [9]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Cinematographer | Other | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Tunnel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Part of Africa First: Volume One | ||
| 2014 | Love the One You Love | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Editor, production designer | |
| 2017 | High Fantasy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2018 | Rafiki | Yes | |||||
| 2019 | Sizohlala | Yes | Yes | Short film | |||
| 2019 | Flatland | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2019 | Neighbours | Yes | |||||
| 2021 | Good Madam | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Production designer, Casting | |
| 2021 | Tug of War | Yes | |||||
The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. Founded in the United Kingdom in 2000, the £10,000 prize was named in memory of businessman and philanthropist Sir Michael Harris Caine, former chairman of Booker Group and of the Booker Prize management committee. The Caine Prize is sometimes called the "African Booker". The Chair of the Board is Ellah Wakatama, appointed in 2019.
Taylor Kitsch is a Canadian actor and model. He is known for portraying Tim Riggins in the NBC television series Friday Night Lights (2006–2011). He has also worked in films such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Battleship (2012), John Carter (2012), Savages (2012), Lone Survivor (2013), The Grand Seduction (2014), American Assassin (2017), Only The Brave (2017), and 21 Bridges (2019).
Monica Arac de Nyeko is a Ugandan writer of short fiction, poetry, and essays, living in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2007, she became the first Ugandan to win the Caine Prize for African Writing, with her story "Jambula Tree". She had previously been shortlisted for the prize in 2004 for "Strange Fruit", a story about child soldiers in Gulu, Northern Uganda. She is a member of FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers Association and the chief editor of T:AP Voices. She taught literature and English at St. Mary's College Kisubi, before proceeding to pursue a Master's degree in Humanitarian Assistance at the University of Groningen. Her personal essay "In the Stars" won first prize in the Women's World, Women in War Zones essay writing competition. She has been published in Memories of Sun, The Nation, IS magazine, Poetry International and several other publications. She was one of the writers chosen as part of the Africa39 project unveiled by Rainbow, Hay Festival and Bloomsbury Publishing at the London Book Fair 2014, featuring a list of 39 of Sub-Saharan Africa's most promising writers under the age of 40.
Nadia Davids is a South African playwright, novelist, and author of short stories and screenplays. Her work has been published, produced, and performed in Southern Africa, Europe, and the United States. She was a Philip Leverhulme Prize winner in 2013. Her play What Remains won five Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards.
Stanley Onjezani Kenani is a Malawian writer of poetry and short stories. He has performed at the Arts Alive Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, Poetry Africa in Durban, South Africa, Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) in Harare, Zimbabwe, and at the Struga Poetry Evenings in North Macedonia. He has read with some famous African and world poets, including Mahmoud Darwish of Palestine, Natalie Handal of Palestine/USA, Carolyn Forche of USA, Dennis Brutus of South Africa, Keorapetse Kgositsile of South Africa, Shimmer Chinodya of Zimbabwe, Chirikure Chirikure of Zimbabwe, Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga of Malawi and Alfred Msadala of Malawi among others.
Henrietta Rose-Innes is a South African novelist and short-story writer. She was the 2008 winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing for her speculative-fiction story "Poison". Her novel Nineveh was shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times Prize for Fiction and the M-Net Literary Awards. In September of that year her story "Sanctuary" was awarded second place in the 2012 BBC (Inter)national Short Story Award.
Steven Markovitz is a South African film and television producer. He has produced, co-produced and executive-produced features, documentaries and short films. Steven has been producing and distributing for over 20 years. Since 2007, he has worked all over Africa producing documentary series' and fiction. He is a member of AMPAS, co-founder of Electric South & Encounters Documentary Festival and the founder of the African Screen Network.
Rotimi Babatunde is a Nigerian writer and playwright.
Beatrice Lamwaka is a Ugandan writer. She was shortlisted for the 2011 Caine Prize for her story "Butterfly Dreams".
Meri Nana-Ama Danquah is a Ghanaian-American writer, editor, journalist and public speaker, whose name at birth was Mildred Mary Nana-Ama Boakyewaa Brobby. She is best known for her 1998 memoir Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression. Her short story "When a Man Loves a Woman" was shortlisted for the 2022 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing.
Yewande Omotoso is a South African-based novelist, architect and designer, who was born in Barbados and grew up in Nigeria. She currently lives in Johannesburg. Her two published novels have earned her considerable attention, including winning the South African Literary Award for First-Time Published Author, being shortlisted for the South African Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the M-Net Literary Awards 2012, and the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Literature, and being longlisted for the 2017 Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction. She is the daughter of Nigerian writer Kole Omotoso, and the sister of filmmaker Akin Omotoso.
Flatland is a 2019 South African drama film directed by Jenna Bass. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.
Irenosen Iseghohi Okojie FRSL is a Nigerian-born novelist and short-story writer working in London, England. Her stories incorporate speculative elements and also make use of her West African heritage. Her first novel, Butterfly Fish won a Betty Trask Award in 2016, and her story "Grace Jones" won the 2020 Caine Prize for African Writing. Okojie was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) in 2018, and in 2020 was appointed a vice-chair of the RSL.
Nora Fingscheidt is a German director and screenwriter. She has been a participant of the Max Ophüls Preis film festival since 2011 for her short films, winning the prize in 2017 for Without This World.
Idza Luhumyo is a Kenyan short story writer, whose work explores Kenyan coastal identities. In July 2020, Luhumyo was announced as the inaugural recipient of the Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award. She was the winner of the 2021 Short Story Day Africa Prize with her story "Five Years Next Sunday", which also won the 2022 Caine Prize.
Chikodili Emelumadu is a British Nigerian speculative fiction writer.
Oluwole Talabi is a Nigerian science fiction writer, engineer, and editor, who is considered among the Third Generation of Nigerian Writers.
Love the One You Love is a 2014 South African romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jenna Cato Bass and co-produced by director himself with Steven Markovitz and Lawrence Mattis. The film stars Chi Mhende and Andile Nebulane with Louw Venter, Dayaan Salie, Mzu Ntantiso, and Lise Slabber in supporting roles. The film revolves around the secretive romantic relationship between Terri, a sex-line operator, and Sandile, a dog handler.
Nicole Fortuin is a South African actress, dancer, and theatre maker. Her films include Flatland (2019), Indemnity (2021), and Late Bloomer (2022). On television, she is known for her roles in Roer Jou Voete (2015–2016) and Alles Malan (2019–2022).
Lina Roessler is a Canadian actress, director, writer and producer. She is best known as director of Best Sellers. She also has had many roles in TV and film.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)