At just 25, Ntokozo Mlaba is part of a new generation of South African filmmakers reshaping the country's cinematic landscape through stories that are as visually arresting as they are socially urgent. As managing director of Umphakathi Artists, he balances creative ambition with strategic leadership, overseeing the organisation's operations while curating events, building partnerships and securing funding for new artistic ventures.
A graduate of the National School of the Arts, Mlaba holds a bachelor of commerce in law from the University of the Witwatersrand and an honours degree in motion picture. His films explore identity, power and social justice with striking visual confidence. His debut documentary, A Shadow of the Liberation (2021), was followed by the acclaimed To Be Seen (2022), which won Best Narrative Short at the Blackboard International Film Festival and a Special Mention for Direction at the Eastern Europe Film Festival. The trilogy continued with The Passage (2024), sponsored by Absa and premiered at the New York African Film Festival.
Recognised with the Joburg Film Festival Young Voices Award in 2024 and the SAFTA Emerging Filmmaker Award in 2026, Mlaba is driven by a belief that storytelling should illuminate and transform. Inspired by the late filmmaker Teboho Mahlatsi, whose work celebrated Black lives with dignity and humanity, he hopes his own films leave audiences with the same lasting impression. His advice to his younger self is simple: read more books, watch more films and remember, "ubumnandi abupheli" — the joy of learning, creating and discovering new worlds never ends.