Zwelethu Radebe spent much of his youth behind the lens, recreating his favourite film scenes with nothing but an 8mm camcorder, his BMX and his younger brother as the actor. By the time he was cast as a caricature of South African cricket legend Lance ‘Zulu’ Klusener in a washing powder commercial, the film bug had its fangs in deep.

Zwelethu finished top of his class throughout film school, winning numerous awards and the bursaries he needed to fund his studies. The trend continued at his first Loerie Awards, where, just months after graduating, he won a Student Silver for Ster-Kinekor Thato.

Still just 28, Zwelethu has spent a busy last three years directing commercials fulltime for both local and international agencies and clients, shooting in nine countries across Africa and Europe. In 2017, he won a Silver Apex Award for Creative Effectiveness for Strongbow .

Zwelethu also wrote and directed “The Hangman” which won Best Short Film and an Sembene Ousmane Award for Excellence in Filmmaking and African Storytelling at Zanzibar International Film Festival, he went on to win Best South African Short Film at Durban International Film Festival. Since then, Zwelethu has won Best Short Film in South Africa at the Jozi (Johannesburg) Film Festival, Best Film at Festival and Best International Drama at the Discover Film Festival in London and Silver Main Jury Award and Gold Young Jury Award at the Best of International Short Films Festival which took place at the mythical Lumiere Brother’s Eden theatre, the oldest cinema in the world in La Ciotat France.