Director Kit, 29, a South African Director, Writer and Producer. When Keitumetsi Qhali, also known as Director Kit, walks into the studio for the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 photoshoot, her demeanor is that of a hard-talking businesswoman, but with a creative twist. Qhali, who hails from the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, is a multi-award winning director. She works in long and short form films and videos and to date, has directed over 29 videos.
Early years
Her early work dates back to 2014 when she directed an African hit music video Rands and Nairas by Nigerian artist Emmy Gee featuring AB Crazy & Dj Dimplez. The music video won the Best Music Video of the Year award at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards and was nominated for the Channel O music video award, for the most gifted music video of the year and Most Gifted Newcomer. Qhali bagged all these wins at the age of 24. Later, she was signed to the prestigious Darling Films production company as their first black female commercials director. “It is a big deal to be recognized in this industry. My mom always said I need to work twice as hard as the men. I need to be twice as fast and twice as smart,” she tells Forbes Africa.
Fast forward to recent years, her talent continued to stand, on stages locally and internationally. In 2018, she directed a short film titled The Initiate which was bought by Showmax. And last year, she was nominated for a Loerie Award for her fashion film Winter Blues for the Edgars winter campaign. She also won a SAFTA (South African Film and Television Awards) for Best Factual Educational Documentary Programme for her short film titled KICK IT. Last year, she was also listed as one of the Mail & Guardian Young 200.
She is currently doing some work with Netflix which she says she is not at liberty to talk about right now. It’s lights, camera and action until then.
