Jenna Cato Bass (born 1986) is a South African film director, photographer and writer. She has written stort stories under the name Constance Myburgh, one of which was shortlisted for the 2012

Caine Prize The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...

.Alison Flood
'African Booker' shortlist offers an alternative view of continent
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 1 May 2012.

Early life

Bass was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England and grew up in South Africa. She practiced magic at the College of Magic. She went onto graduate from the Cape Town campus of AFDA, The School for the Creative Economy.

Career

In 2011 Bass founded ''Jungle Jim'', a

genre fiction Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

magazine. Issue 6 featured her noir detective story 'Hunter Emmanuel', featuring an investigation into a dismembered prostitute. The story was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2012. Bass's first feature film, '' Love the One You Love'', was shot on a 'nano-budget' using hand-held consumer cameras and a partly improvised script. The film told the story of a sex phone operator negotiating her relationship with her boyfriend and considering a move to Korea. The film won Best South African Feature Film at the 2014 Durban International Film Festival. '' High Fantasy'' (2017) was a satirical thriller about a group of young travellers who mysteriously exchange their bodies on a camping trip. Once again shot on iPhones using improvisation, the film explored "the messy tangle of race, class and gender identity in modern-day South Africa." '' Flatland'' (2019), an all-female "South African kitsch-western genre mashup", was shot on a larger budget. It was chosen as the opening film in the 2019 Berlinale Panorama.Sophie Mayer
Berlinale 2019 Review: Flatland
''Berlin Film Journal'', February 2019.

Works

Short stories

* (as Constance Myburgh) 'A Hole in the Ground', ''Jungle Jim'', No. 2 * (as Constance Myburgh) 'Hunter Emmanuel'', ''Jungle Jim'', No. 6

Filmography

References

External links

* * Geoff Ryman
Constance Myburgh a.k.a. Jenna Bass
''Strange Horizons'', 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bass, Jenna 1986 births Living people English emigrants to South Africa Female magicians South African short story writers South African screenwriters South African film directors South African women film directors South African photographers South African women photographers