Shameela Seedat

Shameela worked for several years in the field of law and research – including at the Constitutional Court, Unifem and Idasa, before turning to filmmaking. Her first feature-length documentary WHISPERING TRUTH TO POWER (2018), about the last year in office of South Africa’s first female Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, opened several film festivals, and won multiple international awards including from HOT DOCS, FESPACO, the Luxor African Film Festival, Minneapolis St Paul’s Film Festival, Jozi Film Festival and the African Studies Association. Shameela’s second feature-length documentary AFRICAN MOOT (2022) had its world premiere at Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary film festival, and is also screening at the Sydney Film Festival and Encounters, amongst others. Shameela has also directed several programs for local and international television stations and civil society organizations and published widely on law and social justice in journals, newspapers and book chapters. She was the first in-resident film activist at the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education in Cape Town in 2019, and served on several documentary film juries over recent years, including at the Sydney Film Festival and the Adiaha Women filmmakers Awards.