Nicky Newman

South Africa native Nicky Newman is a documentary filmmaker and photographer. A graduate of South Africa’s prestigious Rhodes University, Newman has a degree in Journalism and Media Studies as well as an honours degree in Psychology. Newman spent some time after graduation living and working in both Hong Kong and London in the field of print media. Newman eventually decided to return to South Africa where she would pursue more visual media forms: upon her return, Newman founded the production company See Thru Media. During the last years of South Africa’s apartheid struggle, Newman learned the power of media to promote social change and frequently explores this power in her work. Newman has produced, directed, shot and edited a number of documentaries, educational programs, short films and music videos. Some of her documentary titles include The Architecture of Fear, Whole World Comes Out to Play and Across the Line. Until recently, Newman served as the Vice President of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television. She is currently developing a script for a feature film and is working closely with the Maurits Binger Film Institute on the project. (07/09)

A member of the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk, fiolmmaker Shelly Niro was raised on the Six Nations Reserve in Brantford, Ontario. Niro graduated from the Ontario College of Art with an Honors Fine Arts degree in painting and sculpture. Niro also completed an MFA at the University of Western Ontario, where her thesis contended with the re-discovery and re-addressing of basic myths, legends and history of the Iroquois people. Her research resulted in an intensive study of the Diaspora of the Mohawk Nation as a result, Niro has devoted her time to making films that create roles for Native women like herself and provide them with a voice in the community. Through film and installation art, Niro addresses questions of identity and how it is molded both my internal and external forces. Shelly Niro co-directed her first film, It Starts With a Whisper, alongside Anna Gronau. The the 1992 short film has screened around the world

Niro is, perhaps, most well-known for her 1998 film Honey Moccasin. Honey Moccasin earned Niro international praise and was awarded Best Feature, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Director at Oklahoma’s Red Earth Festival in 1998. The film was also named Best Experimental Work at the 1998 Dreamspeakers Festival in Edmonton, Alberta. Some of Niro’s other works include The Shirt (2003) and Overweight with Crooked Teeth (1997). Aside from making films, Niro has also become somewhat of a critic, serving on panels juries and committees including the 1997 Native American Film and Video Festival. She was also named a fellow at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institute in 1997 and was acclaimed by the the New York State Historical Association for her exhibit "Where We Stand: Contemporary Haudenosaunee Artists."
Niro currently lives in Brantford, Ontario and is completing work on a screenply for her next film, Kissed By Lightning. (08/09)

Simon & I
A film by Beverley Palesa Ditsie and Nicky Newman, 2002, 52 min., Color
SIMON & I is an intimate and inspiring portrait of black South African gay rights activist Simon Nkoli, who died of AIDS in 1998, and his fellow activ...