Nduka Mntambo is a multidisciplinary artist and academic. Currently, he serves as the Head of the Masters Program at the Netherlands Film Academy. Previously, he led the Film and Television program at the Wits School of Arts. He is an advisory board member of Sonic Acts Organization, Amsterdam. Nduka's work spans urban spatial practices, experimental filmmaking, and pedagogy. He has also been involved as a jury member in various film festivals, including the 51st International Film Festival Rotterdam, the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival, and the inaugural Amsterdam Student Film Festival (ASFF) in 2023. Nduka's research focuses on the intersection of artistic practice and urban life in the Global South. He has received the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences Mobility Grant and the NIHSS Award for Best Visual Art. In addition to his academic pursuits, Nduka has collaborated on film productions and video installations that explore diverse themes and locations. His works have been showcased at forums such as the UN-Habit: World Urban Forum, the Videoex Internationales Experimental Film and Video Festival in Zurich, the Michaelis Galleries in Cape Town, and The Point of Order Project Space in Johannesburg.
Education:
PhD Film, Wits School of Arts, 2019
MA, Film and Television, Wits School of Arts, 2010
•BA, Dramatic Arts, Wits School of Arts, 2005
Work - Academic Experience:
Head of Master of Film Program at the Netherlands Film Academy, Amsterdam University of the Arts.
Lecturer and Head of Department, WSOA Film and Television Department, 2016-2021.
Chairperson of Wits School of Arts Transformation Committee, 2021
Manager: Academic Unit and Deputy Head of Department, WSOA Film and Television Department, 2018
Lecturer, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, University of Johannesburg, 2011-2015.
Lecturer, AFDA South African School of Motion Picture and Performance, 2008.
Creative Output:
Asymmetries Installation: Creative Component of Ph.D. Degree, presented at various venues including WSOA Point of Order Project Space, Videoex Internationales Experimental Film and Video Festival, Michaelis Galleries Cape Town, and Arts Research Africa Conference.
Prompts and Projections Artsearch Symposium, Afrikan Freedom Station, 2017.
Store in a Cool Dry Place exhibited at Wits Art Museum and Michaelis Galleries, 2016.
Human (e) Settlements: Urban Challenge, a documentary premiered at the UN‐Habit: World Urban Forum Naples, Italy, 2012, and screened at the Sustainable Human (e) Settlements Conference Johannesburg, 2012.
Production Designer for the play Woza Albert directed by Price Lamla, 2012.
Production Designer for Net#work BBDO - Destiny Man Ads, 2011.
Writer and director of the experimental film "IF THIS BE A CITY," 2010.
Postgraduate Supervision:
PhD: Shelley Barry (2022) - "Enter the Frame: Reflections on Cinematic Practice."
Masters: Matlou, Khutso Maupa Barnabas (2020), Botha, Kellyn(2021), Motlhamme, Jeffrey (2020), Szentesi, Anita Margaret (2018), Shameelah Khan (2021).
Publications:
"Asymmetries: Iterative Cinematic Cartographies" in Vol. 5 No. 2 (2020): GEECT Special Issue: Mapping Artistic Research in Film.
"Decartographical Sketches" in On Curating Issue 47 / Notes on Curating.
"Thinking through the visual: Cinematic practice as a productive site of epistemic inversion" in the Journal of African Cinemas, 2017.
"Ghanas Chale Wote Festival creates opportunities and fosters knowledge production" in The Conversation: Africa.
"How Marikana: The Musical has contributed to cultural amnesia" in The Conversation: Africa.
Research Grants:
Recipient of the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) AFRICAN PATHWAYS PROGRAMME (APP)/BRICS TEACHING AND RESEARCH MOBILITY GRANT 2021 for Artistic Research: Portals, Pandemics and Pedagogies.
Recipient of the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) African Pathways Programmer/BRICS Teaching and Research Mobility Grant 2018 for The Cinematic City of the Global South.
Conference Presentations:
Various presentations and screenings at conferences and events, including the UN‐Habit: World Urban Forum, Arts Research Africa Conference, American University of Cairo, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) Cities Project, Association of African Literature Conference (ALA), and Wits School of the Arts DFL 9TH Africa Research Conference.
Cinematic Cities Southern Cities Studies Conference, Durban University of Technology, 2015.
Wits City Institute Symposium: Cinema is wasted on Cinema Performative Urbanisms; Fighting for and over the city; Expressing the city; Knowing the city, 2015.
Marikana The Musical at After Marikana Third Commemorative Seminar, Department of Journalism, Film and Television, University of Johannesburg, 2015.
"A little piece of Heaven" Documentary and Diversity Doctoral School Intensive Conference, National Film and Television Institute, Accra, Ghana, 2015.
"Bua Le Yona" Southern Cities Studies Conference, Wits Cubes, 2014.
Professional Memberships:
Executive Committee Member, Africa Regional Assembly of CILECT (CARA) - The International Association of Film and Television School.
Member, CILECT Standing Committee of Diversity and Inclusion (SCEDI).
Film, Television & Theatre Industry Experience:
Assistant Commissioning Editor, SABC, 2008-2010.
Various roles in film, theater, and multimedia production, including production designer, multimedia video artist, set and costume designer, camera trainer, workshop facilitator, director, editor, drama instructor, etc.
Exchange student at Tisch School of Arts, New York University, producing short films using a 16mm Ariflex camera in New York City.
T. +31(0)6 578 19 223E. nduka.mntambo@ahk.nl