Keneilwe Matidze — lawyer, casting director, intimacy coordinator — is changing what it means to feel safe on a South African set.
There is a particular kind of intelligence that moves sideways. Not up a single ladder, but laterally — gathering tools from unexpected places, arriving somewhere no obvious path could have predicted. Keneilwe Matidze...
Cleo Notcutt has spent a lifetime reading rooms. Now she's doing it in service of something larger than herself.
The first thing Cleo Notcutt does when she walks into a room is read it. Not the lights, not the monitor, not the schedule. The people. It happens in the first few seconds, before she has put down her bag, and...
Lea Vivier has spent more than a decade acting on stage and screen in South Africa. Now based in Portugal, she is venturing into a new chapter: intimacy coordination. It's unfamiliar terrain, but one where her experience as a performer gives her a rare perspective on what actors need in vulnerable moments
Every day, on sets around the world, children are asked to perform scenes of grief, violence, terror and loss. They are directed by adults, surrounded by crew, and expected to deliver emotionally raw performances - often without any specialist support mitigating the performances or cost of this experience. There are permits that govern their...
There is a particular vulnerability in being early to a role that hasn't yet settled into the industry's bones. For Tina Redman, stepping into intimacy coordination has felt less like claiming authority and more like learning to walk in a space where the floor is still being laid. They speak about the work with a careful candour—never grand, always...
There is a moment Carla Classen returns to often. She is younger, still studying, watching films with the double vision that actors rarely lose. On screen, characters kiss. Off screen, her mind lingers elsewhere. "How are people just fine?" she remembers wondering. Not about the story, but the bodies behind it. "How do you just know you're supposed...
In the evolving world of intimacy coordination, new voices are emerging with quiet confidence and deep care. South African-born, UK-based intimacy coordinator Hlamalani Georgina Graaff Makhubele, speaks with refreshing honesty about fear, trust, and finding her voice on set. In conversation with fellow intimacy coordinator Sara Blecher, she...
In the fast-evolving landscape of South African film and television, the welfare of young performers has become an increasingly urgent and complex issue. Productions now recognize that working with minors requires more than logistical compliance — it demands emotional intelligence, clear communication, and trauma-informed care.
In Johannesburg's fast-paced film industry, intimacy work is still carving out its place. For Mpolokeng, the role of intimacy coordinator emerged naturally from a background in theatre and a longstanding commitment to storytelling, care, and truth-telling. She speaks to Loren Loubser with a mix of candour and generosity, weaving stories from early...
Safeguarding children and young people on set is integral to ethical filmmaking. Safe Sets is launching its Young Performer Support Specialist (YPS) course. A YPS is an on-set professional focusing specifically on diffusing traumatic, difficult, sensitive and possibly harmful content for minor actors through imaginative play, acting coaching and...
