Julia Jansch is a South African writer/director/producer living between New York and Cape Town. She is currently packaging her debut narrative feature, “Huberta.” Her previous work includes Narrative Shorts, Documentary Shorts and Commercials. Her short film, My Father The Mover, won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020. It was thereafter acquired by doc veteran, Sheila Nevins and MTV Studios.
With a desire to move audiences on a global scale, Julia went to New York to study filmmaking at the New York Film Academy. She then completed two Masters degrees from the University of Oxford. Her Masters thesis centered around the discursive power of narratives and ideas to shape global norms. And her MBA took her to TED in NYC where she worked within a team of three to roll out TEDx – a community platform that would democratize the prestigious festival and open it up to the world.
In 2010 she landed a position at FremantleMedia in London where she was pivotal in the development of online properties for digital platforms. Her role took her to FremantleMedia (LA) and then to RadicalMedia in New York. After 10 years in development, Julia’s thirst to tell her own stories became too much to bare and she plunged into indie waters, setting up her own production company, Point Pictures. Her films have seen recognition from many A-list international festivals. She sold her latest film to MTV Studios/Viacom.
With two lauded shorts and a feature screenplay under her belt, Julia doesn’t want to put herself in a box. As a narrative and documentary filmmaker she treats her subject matter with the same approach. Whether fact or fiction the story needs to hit a nerve and send a message. And it’s the characters and subjects that become the transmitters. For Julia, filmmaking comes with huge responsibility. Stories and films reflect the times but they also impact the global consciousness. Their messages go out into the world and are downloaded by audiences. They can uplift, change perceptions, change priorities, garner awareness. They can do this because they can move audiences. And when we’re moved, we act, we change, we do things.
