Filmmaker & Writer
I’m fond of caramelised onions, thinking about the world and belly-laughs.
My independent documentaries and art shorts have screened at festivals in Durban, Edinburgh, Makhanda, Vancouver, Cape Town and Berlin. In 2011, my environmental short film, Custom, won the international “Letters from the Sky” climate change art-film competition. My debut novel, The Sea of Wise Insects, won the University of Johannesburg’s Prize for Best Creative Debut.
Some of my interests are memory, the individual in society, animal and environmental rights, and the Anthropocene. I’m currently a Mellon Foundation postdoctoral fellow in Creative Writing at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa.
Writing
The Sea of Wise Insects
My debut novel, The Sea of Wise Insects, won the 2012 University of Johannesburg Creative Writing Prize – debut category.
Writing
As with my video work, I’m a versatile writer. I script copy for clients, pen poems, and write odd novels.
As I’m concerned about the Anthropocene, for my PhD in Creative Writing I looked at South African speculative fiction through an ecofeminist lens.
Video Work
Custom
Art short
My 2011 film on the global environmental crisis.
Top Award:
Letters from the Sky – International Festival of Experimental Films on Climate Change.
Letters from Teddy
Documentary
Screened at the Durban International Film Festival.
An intimate family portrait.
“In those times, in that society, it was a scandal…”
The Electrician
Art short
Poem by Tania Haberland (van Schalkwyk).
Visuals and editing by Terry Westby-Nunn.
A collaboration between Tania and Terry.
My impartial handbag