Janet van Eeden
I’ve written eighteen feature screenplays as well as numerous short films, written and produced six stage plays (and directed two) and taken each one to the Grahamstown Arts Festival, with funding from the National Arts Council.
A full-length feature film I wrote, White Lion, premiered at the Durban International Film Festival in July 2009 and was released internationally in February 2010.
Since 2011, I have offered an online Scriptwriting Course which has attracted students from across the world and continues to do so.
I won the 2011 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award as a Columnist for The Sunday Independent.
I wrote and produced the short of A Shot at the Big Time. Shot, the Short was filmed in July 2012, directed by Stephen de Villiers, and premiered at the Durban International Film Festival in July 2013. In November 2013 Shot, the short was nominated for an eThekwini Award. It won for Best Cinematography (Luke Pallett, DOP). In May, 2014, Shot, the short was selected for the Cannes Short Film Corner, Metrage.
In 2015, the Writers’ Guild of South Africa nominated three of my stage plays for the Award of Outstanding Achievement in Produced Stage Plays. I was given the Muse Award for A Matter of Time. My stage play, The Space Between, was nominated for a Muse Award in the same category, in March 2017.
I am currently producing A Shot at the Big Time, the feature. I raised R100 000 on Indiegogo.com in January 2016. We received funding from the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission in June 2017 and we will start production of the film in 2018.
I have my Masters in English (cum laude), and graduated with Doctorate of Philosophy on 7th September, 2017, in English Studies. My thesis was entitled "Beyond the Biopic: An Exploration into the Nature of Biography through the Medium of film". The degree was awarded by the University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Humanities, Pietermaritzburg.
I am the Head of Post Graduate Studies at AFDA Durban Film & Performance School.
Book snaps for Christmas Shopping
2011-11-24 A pile of books landed on my desk recently which would fall into the category of good reads and great Christmas presents. I’ve done a quick snapshot of each one to whet your appetite for the Christmas shopping season.
Phillippa Yaa de Villiers on her experience of Poetry Africa
2011-11-09 What did being invited to Poetry Africa mean to you?It was a great honour and an opportunity to share ideas with brilliant minds from around the world.
“Stranded without hope” deur JP Jansen van Vuuren
2011-11-09 My heart is stronger than yoursBigger than yours
pumps up more blood than yours
harder than yours
feeling more emotion than yours
feeling it more than yours!
Writer and director Tim Greene on his feature film Skeem
2011-11-01 Tim, Skeem seemed to burst on to the scene out of nowhere. As a film writer I know this can’t be true. What inspired this film and how did the script come to fruition?
The Other Booker Prize: Amusing, gentle and full of natural wisdom
2011-10-20 Azila Talit Reisenberger has made a name for herself as a poet and short story writer, and also as South Africa’s only female rabbi for the Temple Hillel community in East London. She also heads the Hebrew section of the School of Languages ...
Shafinaaz Hassim in conversation with Janet van Eeden
2011-10-19"The common theme running through the stories is that of disempowerment, either through sexism, poverty, racism or war. The phrase 'belly of fire' refers to the churning anxiety inside each soul whose voice has been suppressed through fear of reprisal."
Mandisa Haarhof, creator of Crush-hopper, in conversation with Janet van Eeden
2011-09-30 One of my favourite plays at the recent Hilton Arts Festival was the charming and touching Crush-hopper, Mandisa Haarhof’s semi-autobiographical story about coming to terms with her mixed heritage.