S.J. van Breda was born on the 2nd of November 1991 in Durban, South Africa. She graduated Vancouver Film School with specialisations in Directing, Post-Production and Cinematography. Before arriving at VFS, she studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cape Town and worked in the aerospace research industry for two years.

She is currently a freelance editor, working on commercials, music videos and short films. Her debut short film, Sentience, is currently on the festival circuit and won the Golden Ibex at KIFF 2017. Her short documentary ‘I Can Do That’ was a top 10 finalist in the 2018 edition of Nespresso Talents.

She will be participating in the Blackbird Film Festival 2019 with her experimental short dance film ‘Grey’ and has been invited to the Pigneto Film Festival 2019 to shoot a short film in Rome. She is developing a short film and documentary which delves into the true story of transgender soccer coach Kaig Lightner and a feature length version of Sentience.