Dylan Valley is a South African

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

, born and raised in Cape Town. He has directed work with SABC, Al Jazeera, and independently. He teaches in the television studies department at Wits University.

Early years and Education

Valley grew up i
Kuils River
and then the white suburb o
Durbanville
where he faced being the only coloured child in the neighborhood. From this experience, he was pushed into the hip-hop music that constructed his identity. The Hip-Hop music genre led valley to incorporate this style within his another passion that is documentary

filmmaking Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, cast ...

. And now, we can see his work which is a mix of music, art, performance, that tell stories about real people. After graduating from Fairmont High School , Durbanville, he started to study Film and Media at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

and during this time, he did an internship at E-TV for 2 months. In 2005, as his final university project, he made a 10 minutes documentary about the history of the Cape

Capoeira Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Born of the melting pot of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese influences at the beginning of the 16th cent ...

(Brazilian martial arts) scene. In 2006, he got his Honors degree in Film Theory and Practice from UCT and also produced a film, as his final thesis, called '' Lost Prophets'' with his co-producer and collaborator Sean Drummond, talking about Prophets of the city which shows the history of personal stories of South Africa's Hip Hop. The documentary was screened at various film festivals in South Africa.

Career

In 2007 he worked at Plexus Films on the HEADWRAP team as a researcher and trainee director. And he got promoted to director straight away. Later, he was invited to direct some of the famous episodes from the series Headwrap including “Hip Hopera” and “Awareness thru Colours”. With Plexus Films, Valley developed a feature-length documentary, called ''Afrikaaps'' which explores the history of Afrikaans using Hip Hop, humour and personal perspective. The film, follows a group of local artists, creating the stage production, Afrikaaps, as they trace the true roots of Afrikaans to slaves in the cape. The documentary won Best South African Documentary at the Cape Winelands Film Festival. Valley was also nominated for Best documentary director at the 2012 South African Film and Television Awards for his work on Afrikaaps. In 2009, he was selected in The Mail and Guardian's list of 300 Young South Africans you have to take to lunch. He has also directed two documentaries for Al Jazeera's Arabic documentary channel, on struggle icons Fatima Meer and Tatamkhulu Afrika. Valley's last film was about a gang member who becomes a gospel rapper. The movie calle
“Incarcerated Knowledge”
follows Peter John Christians' release from prison for murder, and tracks his progress on his way to become a hip hop artist.

References

External links

*http://www.dylanvalley.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Valley, Dylan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people South African film producers South African guitarists Male guitarists People from Cape Town University of Cape Town alumni