OCT 23 IDIDTHAT CRAFT AWARDS_header image (large)

Best in Craft awarded to Karien Cherry from Giant Films and Gareth Kaatze from Groundglass

This month’s IDIDTHAT.co Craft Awards were judged by the esteemed, distinguished (and more words that mean fancy) Glenn Jeffery, Executive Creative Director at Grey Africa and Zwelethu Radebe, Director & Partner at Egg Films. Congratulations to directors Karien Cherry from Giant Films and Gareth Kaatze from Groundglass for being awarded Best of Craft this month.

‘What are the IDIDTHAT.co Craft Awards?’ Every month we team up with ad industry leaders to award the finest in South African film and production craft across these different categories: Direction, Editing, Cinematography, Animation and VFX, Online, Original Sound, Sound Design and Final Mix. It’s just another way that we make it ridiculously easy to stay up-to-date with who’s doing the best work in the country.

City Lodge ‘Housemates’
Giant Films | Karien Cherry

BEST IN CRAFT (DIRECTION)
Awarded by Glenn Jeffery

CRAFT MENTION (DIRECTION)
Awarded by Zwelethu Radebe

‘What I really love about this spot (and the others in the campaign) is the subtlety of the direction. And how that subtlety amplifies the drama. The performances are tiny yet immense and work so powerfully to dramatise the messaging in the titles. It felt like it was an exercise in directorial restraint from Karien to pair back the performances until they were just enough, yet they become more intense for it. And that subtlety extends to everything about the spot, all of which is so carefully considered: the barely there lighting, the close-up framing, the slowness of the camera movements. Everything intensifies the drama of a single moment. A great example of how exceptional craft brings an idea to life. Beautifully made.’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Glenn Jeffery, Executive Creative Director at Grey Africa

‘The misdirection throughout this entire campaign kept me engaged creating tension from the very first frame. The text captions also give a great juxtaposition of tone by telling an alternate narrative of what is visually seen. This ending made me laugh out of relief and that it wasn’t that bad for the characters that I was worried about only moments ago. Cleverly crafted and well executed from the performance right through to the dramatic lighting and cinematography.’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Zwelethu Radebe, Director & Partner at Egg Films

BEST IN CRAFT (DIRECTION)

‘Stitched Up’ (Short Film)
Groundglass | Gareth Kaatze

Awarded by Zwelethu Radebe

‘I thoroughly enjoyed being taken on a journey with the narrative structure voice-over and characters of this film. Evoking in me the sounds of Fela Kuti and the visual intrigue of City Of God. Every scene was well considered from the casting, art direction, and wardrobe. There is a visibly consistent vision that displays the director’s ability to create worlds together with his team.’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Zwelethu Radebe, Director & Partner at Egg Films

CRAFT MENTION (DIRECTION)
Checkers Sixty60 ‘Not Tom Cruise’
Massïf | Dean Blumberg

Awarded by Glenn Jeffery

‘To condense all the action, nostalgia, and overall authenticity of so many of the iconic scenes from Tom Cruise films into a 60 second spot and do them all justice takes a lot including great direction. There’s always a risk with these kinds of spoof spots that it becomes kitsch but Dean captured the familiarity of the scenes and expertly inserted the local brand into them. It’s a fun spot that must’ve been a lot of fun to make!’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Glenn Jeffery, Executive Creative Director at Grey Africa

CRAFT MENTION (DIRECTION)
City Lodge ‘Couple’
Giant Films | Karien Cherry

Awarded by Zwelethu Radebe

‘This is another example of visual contrast and emotive performances that cause the viewer to interpret another narrative. I really enjoyed trying to figure out what they were really struggling with after seeing the first (Housemates) spot. Without the strong performances these films wouldn’t work, the director did an excellent job at creating the right atmosphere for the performers and again visual translation.’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Zwelethu Radebe, Director & Partner at Egg Films

CRAFT MENTION (DIRECTION)
Shoprite ‘Xtra Savings / Stokvel’
Your Girlfriend | Morgan Dingle

Awarded by Glenn Jeffery

‘Comedy is always a winner and there are so many lovely things in this spot. From the superb details in the art direction of the set (and the sound design) to the fast yet humorous pace of the edit. What I love the most though is both the casting and how perfectly directed they all were to give such super fun performances. Love directors who can extract such natural humour from the cast. Not over the top but not too subtle. Nicely done!’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Glenn Jeffery, Executive Creative Director at Grey Africa

IDIDTHAT GUEST JUDGES:

OCT Craft Awards_Glenn Jeffery GREY SMALL

Glenn Jeffery, Executive Creative Director at Grey Africa

Glenn’s career began in design in Johannesburg. Two years later he moved to London where he advanced his craft and tried to see as much of the world as he could fit into 104 weekends. While in London he worked on Sony PlayStation, Malaysia Tourism and EA Games.

Upon returning to South Africa he joined the Volcano Group, one of South Africa’s leading independent TTL agencies where he was appointed Creative Director. Here he won a multitude of local and international awards where he has also been a juror. His work on Sony, Mutual & Federal, Duracell and P&G culminated in Volcano being named AdAge’s Independent Small Agency Of The Year globally in 2014, the first South African agency to do so.

Today Glenn is the ECD at Grey Africa where his work has been recognised at Cannes and D&AD.

Zwelethu Radebe, Director & Partner at Egg Films

Zwelethu spent much of his youth behind the lens, recreating his favourite film scenes with nothing but an 8mm camcorder, his BMX and his younger brother as the actor. By the time he was cast as a caricature of cricket legend Lance ‘Zulu’ Klusener in a washing powder commercial, the film bug had its fangs in deep.
Following his passion, he went on to study directing at AFDA, winning awards and finishing top of his class throughout to achieve the bursaries he needed to fund his studies. The trend continued, winning a Student Silver Loeries for Ster-Kinekor Thato, just months after graduating. His career in advertising and long-form took off from here, directing commercials for local and international agencies and clients across nine countries in Africa and Europe.
Zwelethu’s short film The Hangman has won Best Foreign Film at the Oscar-qualifying LA Shorts Fest, Best South African Short Film at the Durban, Jozi and Shnit film festivals, and Best African Short Film at Zanzibar International Film Festival, among other accolades.
The same year saw Zwelethu winning his first Loeries Gold for SAB “Vuka” for Joe Public, also the campaign was voted 2^nd at the 2019 Creative Circle Awards. Other notable achievements include a Silver Apex Award for Creative Effectiveness for Strongbow, was included in Mail and Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans feature in 2018.
Zwelethu is was made a partner and shareholder in Egg Films in 2021.