CityVarsity: Academic Staff

CAPE TOWN
Acting Department
	Sanjin Muftic - Head Of Department Campus: Cape Town Sanjin was born in Bosnia, grew up in Ethiopia and travelled the world before arriving in Cape Town. He completed his undergrad in Drama and Computer Science in Quebec, Canada. He came to South Africa seeking a more adventure than the life a Web-Designer could offer. Enrolling at the University Cape Town to study Drama, he completed his Masters in 2006 with distinction. Since then he has directed more than several student productions, professional shows, and cabarets as well as doing videography design for various theatres around the country. His first solo project was the self- written, directed, and multimedia-designed work, The Life and Work of Petrovic Petar, which has been performed at the Grahamstown, Out the Box, and Musho festivals. Following that he directed the multimedia children’s show Under the Stars, Above the Tree which travelled to Rwanda. In recent works he has collaborated with Godfrey Johnson, MAGNET theatre, FTH:K and LaRosa Spanish Dance Company. He was awarded the GIPCA fellowship for 2011, and is working on his interdisciplinary project SAMPLE, when not watching cricket on TV.
	Shirley Johnston - Senior Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Shirley has been in show business longer than most people have been alive. She studied at UCT about five hundred years ago and spent the first half of her career on stage, screen and radio. Old people might remember her in some ancient plays and movies (Shadowlands, Cry, the Beloved Country, Heel Against the Head, Dancing at Lughnasa, Death of a Colonialist and about 100 more forgotten titles). During her theatrical career, sadly, she was best known for being Alex Jay’s newsreader on Radio Five. After about a quarter century she began writing and directing for television (Isidingo, Backstage, Madam and Eve, League of Glory, Montana, Shooting Stars) and lecturing/teaching in between. She is constantly exhausted. Her first stage play, “Plastics” won the Sacpac Playwright’s Award way back in the nineties, her first short film, “Clean Hands” won a New Directions Screenwriting Award at the turn of the century, and her first feature film, ‘Felix!’, (Sithengi Best New Screenplay, Quarter Finalist in Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Screenwriting Competition) is due to be released in cinemas in September 2013. Shirley hopes she will still be alive to see it on the big screen. She is currently developing a new 26 episode drama series which has been commissioned by e-tv. Shirley has received three Best Actress Awards and seven Best Actress nominations. She does not like being a nominee and hopes never to attend another awards ceremony where she pretends she’s not hoping she’ll win, and then pretends she’s really glad for the jerk who nabbed the big money prize. She loves her students and loves teaching Acting for Camera at CityVarsity.
Animation Department
	Rosalind Burr - Head Of Department Campus: Cape Town Rosalind started her education in Fine Art (drawing, anatomical studies) and Theatre, which lead into an Honours Degree in Animation, and a post graduate certificate in Character Animation from Central St Martin’s London (in advanced Maya animation) in which she gained a distinction. She believes a background in acting gives one an edge in character animation and story creation. Rosalind started her working career in the UK in children’s television production in 2D and mixed media animation and advertising. She has experience in managing pre-production, productions and liaising with partners abroad in India, Japan, and Hungary. Rosalind has lived and worked in London, Hamburg and Tokyo but now considers SA her new home. Before relocating to SA she worked on a number of block buster feature films and for SONY PlayStation as a 3D animator and motion capture facilitator. Rosalind has been teaching and managing academic departments in SA for 6 years. The last 3 years with CityVarsity as national head of department and previously lecturing at the University of Stellenbosch and the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography. Rosalind has also been called upon to use her experience to speak at gallery openings, as a judge at the Cape Town ‘Games Jam’ as held at UCT and as part of an academic board discussing strategies for animation education in South Africa. On a lighter note Rosalind loves dachshunds and ice-cream.
	Pierre Bezuidenhout - Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Pierre is an avid technical artist, since birth, and now, beyond. With his B-Tech behind him, he jumped straight into the advertising industry where he tread water like a pro (read “duck”). Now, with multiple broadcast ads behind his name, and countless hours of R&D, he dabbles in web- and game development in his down-time. And still, through it all, he manages to nurture his complicated relationship with the world of animation, and his tool of choice (read “mistress”) Maya. Long may they prosper in their unique relationship. Pierre is also at the forefront of curriculum development of the 3rd year specialisms of 3D Maya animation and our very popular games creations specialism. Pierre regularly makes game for fun and never cease to amaze staff and students with his technical skills and loving eye for beauty.
Art Department
	Hansie Visagie - Head Of Department Campus: Cape Town Hansie Visagie received his BA Honours Degree in Information Design from the University of Pretoria in 1981. He was appointed Head of CityVarsity’s Art Department in 2004 after spending 30 years as freelance artist and Art Director in Television, Film, Theatre, and Advertising. Hansie was a part-time Lecturer at the University of Pretoria for 20 Years as well as Pretoria Technikon. He was responsible for the designing and manufacturing of numerous sets, props, costumes, make-ups and masks, for major productions for the SABC, M-Net, Rand Afrikaans University, The State Theatre, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Artscape etc. and has travelled extensively to Europe and the USA with The Little Marionette Company for which he served as Artistic Director for 30 years. He has received national and international acclaim for his involvement with puppetry and the arts. Hansie is an ardent designer who enjoys drawing, painting, sculpting, casting, performance arts, as well as constructing and manipulating puppets.
	Aletta Laubscher - Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Aletta Laubscher completed her Certificate in Motion Picture Make-Up and Diploma in Motion Picture Production Design at CityVarsity in Cape Town. Her passion for creative arts stems from her childhood and she has always had a keen interest in design, drawing, sculpture, painting, make-up, prosthetics, casting, mold making and props fabrication. Aletta is an extremely talented person who has always produced artworks of a very high aesthetic standard. She has worked in the Art Department on numerous film and television productions.
	Jo Roets - Senior Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Jo is a proud product of the CityVarsity Art Department. After her studies she started working in the film industry until CityVarsity invited her to join the lecturing team in the Art Department. She stayed with CityVarsity for two years after which she went back to work in the film industry furthering her experience and skills. While away from CityVarsity Jo was head-hunted to work on numerous sets (for stage, film and television) both international and local in all her areas of expertise. Now she is back to lecture in the Art Department and excited to pass on the extended knowledge. She is passionate about the different mediums of art and strives to impart this to the students she teaches. Her knowledge of not only technique but also of products, in each of the subjects she lectures, serves as a great advantage to the students. It gives her immense satisfaction to see how the Art Department students develop into great artists acquiring the skills and knowledge they need out there whether it be in the fields of make-up, special effects, props fabrication, prosthetics, set dressing, sculpting or any other in the broad spectrum of the Art Department.
Film Department
	Danielle Flockton - Head Of Department Campus: Cape Town Dani completed her first BA degree at Rhodes University majoring in Drama and Anthropology. After a year of travelling and working in Spain she returned to SA to study a second degree in Film. Since then Dani has worked in the industry for nine years starting out as a runner and PA working her way up to be a Producer. With experience in commercials, features, short films and television, Dani has a passion for filmmaking. She lives in Hout Bay and loves taking her dogs to the beach to destress and unwind!
	Mike Honeyman - Lecturer Campus: Cape Town After a few years travelling and working Mike studied at CityVarsity majoring in Camerawork and Lighting. His passion for cinematography earned him a Student Loerie award for the Corenza C ad “The Threat”. During his third year Mike discovered an interest in teaching his craft to younger students as a Camerawork resident. Following his graduation from CityVarsity, he spent a year working and then joined the staff at Kloof Street campus taking over as Gearhouse Supervisor and later joining the lecturing ranks as an Apprentice Lecturer in Camerawork and Lighting.
	David Pupkewitz - Lecturer Campus: Cape Town David Pupkewitz was born in 1951. He graduated with Bachelor of Business Science (Hons) in 1973, and was awarded an AE & CI Research Fellowship. In 1979 he graduated from University College London with a BA Philosophy (Hons). From 1982 – 1995 until Focus established itself as a feature film Production Company he was concurrently MD of a group of financial services companies. His financial background enabled him to develop a wide range of international co-financing relationships and has been instrumental in opening up new sources of finance to the film industry. He has occasionally spoken at seminars on development and finance for the NSCTP under the auspicious of the National Film School, London and at the Producers’ association, PACT. David Pupkewitz has a long and successful history of independent film production under his UK based development, production and finance company Focus Films. Since 1995 the company has concentrated on producing theatrical motion pictures. Films produced over the last 17 years range from action thrillers to romantic dramas, sci-fi/horror to black comedy.
	Stephen Schmidt - Senior Lecturer And Head Of Undergrad Studies Campus: Cape Town Stephen Schmidt was born and raised in South Africa. Between 1984 and 1990 he directed and produced documentary and educational films for the Democratic Movement and also photographed Television News Material for ZDF, ARD and PBS in the United States. In 1991 he received a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the Department of Graduate Film at New York University. After receiving a Masters Degree in 1995 he remained in the United States to gain experience in the feature film industry as a Director and Producer. He returned to South Africa in 2000 to work in the local industry and to teach aspiring film makers. His works as a Cinematographer and Director have been extensively broadcast on SABC and M-Net.
	Riaz Solker - Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Riaz Solker (BSc Hons; HDE) has vast experience in both film and video editing. He has a Higher Diploma in Education, and has taught at UCT, AFDA, Cape Tech, high schools, as well as internationally in the UK. His knowledge ranges across all aspects of filmmaking, both behind and in front of the camera. As an actor Riaz has appeared in local films, TV dramas, sitcoms, and commercials, and as a crew member has worked behind the camera on numerous local and international features and commercials. Back in the day when there were no courses one could take to study filmmaking in South Africa, Riaz studied and earned degrees in Zoology and Applied Anatomy at UCT. But he has had a lifelong passion for motion pictures. Riaz firmly believes that the first step in making movies believable is to create convincing characters and to fulfil the audience’s expectations of the genre the film is placed in. “CityVarsity Film students are given total creative freedom,” he says “yes, they are obliged to pitch their ideas to their lecturers, who will make suggestions and recommendations, but their vision is theirs to realize.”
	Tim Spring - Senior Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Born in Liverpool and is a supporter of the club. He has been in movies longer than he can remember, in South Africa, Rhodesia and Los Angeles. He has directed nine features films and over twenty TV drama series, the last being “Interrogation Room” on SABC, and is a passionate left-hander. Motto –“I’ll teach you to make movies, not to pass exams.”
Journalism Department
	Lucinda Jolly - Head Of Department Campus: Cape Town Lucinda started her career in 1982 as a freelance journalist for the Argus & Cape Times newspapers and doing art teaching locums. She then worked as a Copywriter for a number of advertising agencies before joining the Groote Schuur Hospital as a medical illustrator until mid-1994. She has been involved in producing and presenting a weekly magazine radio programme on Bush Radio and served on the Film and Publications Board as an examiner. Before joining CityVarsity fulltime in 2007 as the HoD, she spent 11 years as a secondary school teacher teaching Art, Graphic Design, English and Life Orientation while running two evening short courses for CityVarsity namely Creative Writing and Magazine Journalism. Lucinda is a graduate of Michaelis School of Fine Art (UCT) with a BA Fine Art majoring in Printmaking and an HED (UCT).
	Dawn Kennedy - Lecturer Campus: Cape Town To finance her studies in English and Philosophy at Bristol University Dawn got a job as the arts reporter for The Bristol Post. In between reading Kierkegaard and Wordsworth, she watched hours of obscure Japanese movies. The shock of discovering that there's a job – journalism - that pays you to write about movies prompted her to enrol in a postgraduate diploma at The London School of Journalism. Since graduating, she’s worked as a journalist in many different capacities: as a feature writer for the Cape Times; arts writer for The Sunday Independent; features editor of Oprah magazine and editor of Sync ‘Up, the Peter Stuyvesant magazine. For three years prior to joining City Varsity, she co-edited a new magazine title, 021. She is now a contributing editor. Over the years, she has written thousands of freelance articles on both hard and soft news topics. Dawn’s great passion in life is for narrative journalism – where news, features and creative writing collide. Dawn is a Senior Lecturer in Print Journalism and Creative Writing, which form a major part of CityVarsity’s Certificate in Journalism. She also runs short courses in Feature Writing.
Multimedia Department
	Lesley Caplan - Head Of Department Campus: Cape Town Lesley’s origins are in Great Britain where she qualified with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design in London. She has worked for the BBC and Independent TV in the UK as well as Computer Animation companies as Graphic Designer. Her experience ranges from TV, film, animation graphic design and photography, to lecturing and management in the educational sector. She has a passion for design and imagery and continues to draw, paint and illustrate her own work. Lesley has been with CityVarsity for 13 years, since its inception, as a lecturer in Graphic Design and as a Head of Department. She recently returned to CityVarsity having worked for TSiBA Education for 3 years, and is now enjoying being involved again with her primary passion of design in all its wondrous forms.
	Neil Phyfer - Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Neil Phyfer began a career in graphic design and illustration in 2000, he studied Graphic Design at Mac Train design school. He then worked as a graphic designer and DTP operate for Atkinson Television for the next five years. During that time he furthered his studies at the Animation School, learning the fundamentals of Maya and Studio Max. Neil is a self-taught illustrator; his illustration skills landed him a three year contract illustrating a daily comic strip for The Voice. The strip had a huge fan base; the strip was called Die Drie Skelms. Neil was asked to pass on his knowledge of illustration and design by creating online video tutorial for Cartoon Smart. These tutorials covered illustration, beginners guide to digital painting, t-shirt design and advanced digital painting. Neil has also been involved in painting murals at various high schools and primary schools to create awareness about water conservation for The City Of Cape Town. Last year Neil traveled around South Africa painting murals at Love Life Youth Centers to promote upliftment for the youth through art and music. Neil has worked as a worked as freelance illustrator and a contract designer to many companies over the last five years those companies include: Saatchi and Saatchi, Ogilvy, Strika Entertainment, Nike, Reebok, BNRY.
	Mandy Ringdal - Senior Lecturer Campus: Cape Town After completing her full time Diploma, Mandy joined an agency as digital designer and worked on web-based campaigns for local and international clients. She then moved on as the senior digital designer for a software development company, developing interactive presentations for the American government. After completing her lecturing qualifications, she started lecturing in London and moved on to CityVarsity in 2008 as well as free-lancing in illustration, print and web for various local and international brands. Mandy is the shortest staff member with the most tattoos. Mandy has been lecturing for 8 years and been with CityVarsity for 5.
Photography Department
	Barbara Wildenboer - Head Of Department Campus: Cape Town Barbara Wildenboer was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1973. She completed a BA (Ed) with majors in English literature, Psychology and Pedagogics at the University of Pretoria in 1996. In 2003 she obtained a Bachelor of Visual Arts from UNISA followed by a Masters in Fine Art (which she obtained with distinction) from the Michaelis School of Art at the University of Cape Town in 2007. For her MFA exhibition Wildenboer used various photographic processes and techniques to bring over ideas of memory held and lost and the imprint of fleeting life recorded. Her dissertation Present Absence / Absent Presence specifically focussed on the manner in which we perceive photographic images to represent a presence in the absence of that which they refer to. Wildenboer has been awarded several international residencies such as the Unesco-Aschberg residency (Jordan, 2006), the Al Mahatta residency (Palestine, 2009) and the Red De Residencias Artísticas Local (Colombia, 2011).She has participated in several group exhibitions both nationally and internationally and will have her 5th solo exhibition entitled Library of the Infinitesimally Small and Unimaginably Large at ErdmannContemporary in 2011.
	Rima Geffen - Senior Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Rima Geffen achieved her Masters of Fine Art at the Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA, specializing in Art History, Printmaking and Photography. Rima Geffen then became a professor of Fine Art and Photography at VCU and also taught at other USA locations. Over the past 4 years she has exhibited in the USA and has won awards for her photography. In 2005 Rima had a photographic exhibition in Cape Town for the highly prestigious Month of Photography. She currently lectures photography full time at CityVarsity in both 1st and 2nd year programmes.
Sound Engineering Department
	Neil Leachman - Head Of Department Campus: Cape Town Neil graduated with B.Mus (Performance & Technology) from NMMU. After touring America in 2004 he joined Damelin’s Sound Department as Senior Lecturer where he lectured software, practical and theoretical subjects for the past 8 years. Neil is a live sound engineer with experience in stage management for Berlinda Carlisle's South African tour, Technical SM and FOH assistant for Ronan Keating southern leg of his South Africa tour to being FOH engineer for the Annual ECPO concert in the park. He has also done FOH for a number of festivals including the Durban One World Festival and Kenton New Year’s Music Festival. He spends a large amount of his time writing and recording music, with a style ranging from alternative industrial rock to orchestral compositions. His most recent orchestral work was commissioned by the Eastern Cape Philharmonic Orchestra for performance at the Eastern Cape Youth Orchestral experience. He has been an active member of this orchestra for the past 20 years holding the position of section leader for the lower brass for the last 10 years and serving on the executive committee for the past 8 years. Neil enjoys theatre performance and most recently was awarded Best Supporting Actor at the Showtime Awards in Port Elizabeth for his role as Jud Fry in the local G&S production of Oklahoma. He was also Musical director for Ian von Memerty's musical adaption of Fiela's Child while also playing as Elias van Rooyen in this popular production. Neil is an avid hockey player and umpire and can be caught spending his weekends umpiring and coaching on the side of the hockey field.
	Simon Ratcliffe - Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Simon Ratcliffe is a qualified sound engineer, lecturer, musician and author who has been working in the field for over 18 years. Simon began his career in sound engineering as an assistant live engineer in 1994. After working with many South African artists he acted as a technical assistant for several international artists touring to SA such as INXS, UB-40 and Iron Maiden. Recent years have seen him mixing projects featuring Grammy Award winning artists such as Kanye West, R Kelly and Akon around the continent. His post production experience began in 1997 when he worked as a sound designer on Dreamwork's “Small Soldiers” computer game and fell in love with sound for picture. His sound design, mixing and surround sound skills can be heard on many adverts, films and documentaries on TV as well as the big screen, having mixed for a wide variety of channels including the BBC, Discovery, Mnet, the Emmy’s and MTV. He has also mixed and sound designed for several award winning theatrical productions, TV series, mixed live broadcasts for satellite TV and has travelled to many European, American and African destinations in pursuit of better sound.
	Michael Broomberg - Lecturer Campus: Cape Town Michael Broomberg has led an immensely interesting life. After having played music for a living with Capetonian jazz, pop and rock bands, he left South Africa to study drums, congas and ethnic percussion at Musician’s Institute P.I.T. in Hollywood, California. After his studies he notably toured, performed and recorded with Brian Auger (Oblivion Express), Eric Burdon (The Animals) & Robby Krieger (The Doors) Band among others. Michael became a member of the Screen Actors Guild Hollywood, to perform as a voice over artist and dialogue replacement (ADR) for various feature films including A Dry White Season, Biko, Mandela and De Klerk and A Far off Place among many others. He then directed his attention towards sound design by doing his apprenticeship at the Emmy, Grammy and Clio-Award winning Kent Gibson Soundesign. He has continued to work as a freelance Foley Artist for 20th Century Fox Studios, Disney, Paramount, Skywalker South, Sony/Columbia and Warner Bros. His impressive foley work on more than 130 feature films includes 6 Emmy nominations, 9 Golden Reel Award nominations (equivalent of the Oscars for sound) from Motion Pictures Sound Editors, with 1 win for Steven Spielberg’s ‘War of the Worlds’. Michael was part of the sound team nominated nominated for 3 Oscars for best sound editing and foley (3 Kings, War of the Worlds & Spiderman 3). In 2010, he was nominated for Golden Reel Awards for his work on Watchmen, 2012 and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. As if that wasn’t enough, Mike started the Rooibos Tea Co (www.africanredtea.com) with his partner which imports and supplies Rooibos tea to health food distributors and supermarkets throughout America. He is still partially invested in the business which continues to thrive. Mike continues to work as a foley artist for CSS Studios in Santa Monica, California on a project-by-project basis. Oh and did we mention he also lectures our Sound Engineering students in Foley we he’s not in Hollywood? (For a full list of films Michael’s worked on, as well as his awards, check out http://www.us.imdb.com/name/nm0004385/ )
New Media Development
	Jacques Roux - Senior Lecturer And Head Of New Media Development Campus: Cape Town Jacques completed his studied at the University of Stellenbosh where he achieved the pre-graduate degree BA Soc.Sc. and the post-graduate degree BA (Hons) Soc.Sc. He continued his post-graduate studies at the University of Johannesburg where he achieved the degrees BA (Hons) in Industrial Relations and a MA Soc.Sc. (Clinical). He also has a Diploma in Personnel Management and a Diploma in Public Relations. After working at the Office of the Family Advocate in Johannesburg specializing in mediating the dissolution of customary unions and the Parental Alienation Syndrome Jacques moved back to Cape Town to open a private practice. In his private practice he specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of Parental Alienation among separating and divorced couples. Jacques also commenced with further research in to Parental Alienation as part of his doctoral studies at the University of Stellenbosch. Jacques Roux has been lecturing Web Scripting languages at CityVarsity for the past 13 years. He also developed and teaches the full-time course in New Media Development.

SHORT COURSES ...starting soon

Cape Town
Newtown
Contact us

Graphic Design
2013-06-19
Feature Writing
2013-06-19
Presenting for TV
2013-06-19
Desktop Publishing
2013-06-24
Basic Photography & Photo Editing
2013-08-19

Basic Camerawork and Lighting
2013-06-24
Basic Photography
2013-06-24
Digital Video Editing
2013-06-25
Fundamentals of Web Design
2013-07-01
Acting for Camera
2013-07-01
Production Design
2013-07-09
Short Video Production
2013-07-29
Presenting for TV
2013-07-29
Vocal Training for Radio
2013-07-30
Basic Scriptwriting
2013-08-03
Graphic Design for Print
2013-08-05
Photo Editing
2013-08-06
Web Application Development
2013-08-20

Please contact us for further information on any one of our short courses.

CAPE TOWN
Nicole Klein

+27 (0)21 488 2041

NEWTOWN
Marius Van Vuren

+27 (0)11 634 9840

2013 Term dates

Term 1:    25 February – 5 April
Term 2:    15 April – 5 July
Term 3:    22 July – 6 September
Term 4:    16 September – 6 December

2013 Open days

Cape Town Campus
    11 May 2013 (08:00 - 12:00)
    27 July 2013 (09:00 - 12:00)
    5 October 2013 (09:00 - 12:00)
    23 November 2013 (09:00 - 12:00)
Newtown Campus
    20 April 2013 (09:00 - 12:00)
    27 July 2013 (09:00 - 12:00)
    5 October 2013 (09:00 - 12:00)
    23 November 2013 (09:00 - 12:00)

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