About
Mark is a South African writer and director. He graduated with Honours in Dramatic Art from the University of the Witwatersrand. After completing his studies, he taught himself screenwriting and film appreciation before traveling to Los Angeles, where he worked as a script reader for several production companies.Since then, Mark has worked as a freelance writer and director. International production company Focus Features (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Brokeback Mountain and Lost In Translation) produced his short film, Security. It screened at numerous film festivals around the world in 2013 and 2014, among them the London International Film Festival and Seattle International Film Festival. Locally the film was nominated for Best Short Film at the South African Film & Television Awards, and won Best Short Film at both the Jozi Film Festival and Independent Mzansi Short Film Festival.
Mark’s music video for SAMA award winning musician Nakhane Toure was nominated for Most Beautiful Object In South Africa at the 2014 Design Indaba.In 2015, Mark was selected as one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans. He recently returned from Los Angeles having made a short film starring Oscar award winner Adrien Brody. The film was produced by Trigger Street Productions (House Of Cards, The Social Network and Captain Phillips), an international production company formed by Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti. Mark is currently developing a feature screenplay with the support of the South African National Film & Video Foundation, while working on several other feature projects.
My Definition Of Success | Like all young people, success used to mean outward affirmation, but now I actually try not to think about that. If too many people like my work I often wonder if I’ve done something wrong. For me, success has to be about you. You have to be doing something that makes you happy, results in work that you’re proud of and is true to who you are.