The filmmaker. The creative leader. The person.

Muneera
Sallies.

Director. Writer. Producer.
Creative executive. Mentor.

Cape Town roots.
Stories that travel.

The director behind Old Righteous Blues, South Africa’s official submission to the 97th Academy Awards. A filmmaker whose work moves from the intimacy of family stories to the responsibility of leading teams and nurturing the next generation.

Media & industry profile / October 2026

Muneera Sallies smiling in a red jacket
South African filmmaker / More than 20 years in film & television
Muneera Sallies reviewing a script beside the cinema camera

Inside the work / On set with Muneera

01 / The story begins at home

Before the credits,
there were the people.

Before film became a career, it was part of home. Muneera grew up in Cape Town with a mother who wrote for the stage, page and screen, and a father who worked with paint and cameras. Stories were things people made together.

That inheritance is visible in the work: families negotiating love and conflict, communities carrying their histories, and people searching for a place to belong. Her films make room for the particular textures of South African life while asking questions that travel well beyond it.

More than 20 years in film and television have taken her from directing actors and producing work to supervising stories, leading teams and creating training for other filmmakers. The thread is a practical one: understand the story, bring people into it, and do the work needed to carry it through.

Today, that creative family also includes collaborations with her brother Gasan.

Meet the person behind the work ↗

02 / A defining film / Director

Old Righteous Blues

A Cape story, heard around the world.

The Old Righteous Blues choir band on the field in Robertson
Robertson’s Christmas choir tradition / Old Righteous Blues

“I want the audience to experience a life-lived.”

Muneera Sallies / Director’s statement

Music, inheritance and a community divided by an old rupture. Old Righteous Blues brings a distinctly South African world to the screen, with family and belonging at its heart.

Muneera’s directing honour

Best Director

Romford Film Festival / 2024

Film recognition

South Africa’s official submission

97th Academy Awards

Film recognition / 2025

Best African Film

Septimius Awards

Film recognition / 2025

Outstanding Film Fiction Award

National Arts and Culture Awards

A producer’s perspective

“Seeing her skill and care on set … we had found the director for Old Righteous Blues.”

Catharina WeinekProducer, Old Righteous Blues

Reflecting on working with Muneera on Melody and choosing her to direct Old Righteous Blues.

Read her published reflection ↗

03 / Range, with a clear point of view

Different worlds.
A filmmaker’s eye.

Poster or key art for Twisted Christmas

Twisted Christmas

Co-writer & director

A festive ensemble feature shaped by humour, family friction and the possibility of reconciliation.

Watch trailer ↗
Poster or key art for Melody

Melody

Director

An Athlone-set musical drama about a young penny-whistler imagining a different future.

Explore the series ↗
Poster or key art for Salt Water

In development

Salt Water

Writer, director & co-producer

A mother and daughter confront their shared past in a drama rooted in Cape Muslim family life.

Explore selected work ↗
Poster or key art for Marjetsah: Rise of the Golden Gift

In development

Marjetsah: Rise of the Golden Gift

Producer & co-director with Gasan Sallies

An original fantasy adventure created by Gasan Sallies, following a young princess into a world fractured by shadow.

Watch teaser ↗
Official trailer still for David Klatzow: Looking Into Darkness

Factual series / Director, selected episodes

David Klatzow:
Looking Into Darkness

Forensic depth and human consequence in a series confronting gender-based violence.

Watch trailer ↗

04 / Creative leadership & mentorship

The work grows.
So do the people.

Muneera delivering training to filmmakers through Ombura in Namibia
Ombura / Namibia / Training & mentorship

Training designed.
Films mentored to delivery.

For Namibia’s Ombura project, Muneera created training in technical directing, directing actors and scriptwriting, and mentored the stories and films from development through final delivery.

Her contribution joined practical teaching with sustained work on the films themselves: the script, the performance, the choices on set and the work needed to finish.

Explore her contribution ↗

Selected executive portfolio

Creative authority. Across the slate.

From sustained television storytelling to crime and documentary series, Muneera’s executive portfolio brings together content supervision, executive production and story judgement. These selected highlights sit within a wider body of screen work.

Telenovela

Skemergrond

Content Supervisor & Executive Producer

Drama series

Reënboogrant

Executive Producer & Story Supervisor

Crime thriller series

Die Oord

Executive Producer & Story Supervisor

Documentary series

Dark Side of Glory

Executive Producer & Story Supervisor

Crime documentary series

False Glory

Executive Producer & Story Supervisor

Executive production, story & production mentorship

#OppiPlaas · Ataman · Speel Aan · Lubinda

Executive Producer, Story Supervisor & Production Mentor

A selection from a wider executive portfolio. Further credits include Die Rooftog, Dhina Boys and Dubbel Moeilikheid as Executive Producer; the selected filmography records additional screen work and exact roles.

Explore the wider screen record ↗

Building talent

At NEWF, she led Training and Development, coordinated storytelling and filmmaking labs and created course content. Her writing mentorship includes Longhope TV Writing with the Jakes Gerwel Foundation and M-Net Channels. She co-founded FHS Academy with her brother Junaid and coached Western Province junior girls’ touch rugby.

Current appointment

Commissioning Editor for Premium Scripted Content at MultiChoice / CANAL+. Her wider practice brings together directing, producing, story development, creative leadership and mentorship. Her career includes work on individual projects with budgets ranging from R500,000 to R100 million.

View the career record ↗

05 / Interviews, panels & masterclasses

There is a conversation
worth having.

01

A local story on an international stage

What Old Righteous Blues reveals about cultural specificity, community and the journey from a South African production to international recognition.

02

The director and the actor

Building trust, working with ensembles and turning an understanding of character into choices that can be seen and felt on screen.

03

Mentorship that stays for the whole film

Designing practical training and supporting filmmakers through script development, directing, production and final delivery.

04

Creative leadership with a filmmaker’s eye

Bringing story judgement and production experience to executive work, developing talent and making decisions that serve both the work and the people making it.

Beyond the set: a certified Dive Master, a touch rugby coach and a filmmaker shaped by family, community and the natural world.

In conversation / In her own voice

Meet the person.
Hear the perspective.

Begin with a conversation about the people, decisions and experiences behind the work.

The Artist’s Voice / Petra Sittig

Community, choirs & creative choices

Childhood creativity, the making of Old Righteous Blues and the contribution of Robertson’s residents, on screen and behind the scenes.

Watch or listen to the interview ↗

eNCA / Thami Ngubeni

Taking a local story to the world

Muneera and actor Simon Bruinders discuss Old Righteous Blues during its campaign as South Africa’s submission to the 97th Academy Awards.

Watch the television interview ↗
Explore more interviews & conversations ↗

06 / Ready for your desk

The story, beautifully told.
The essentials, easy to find.

For journalists, event organisers, producers and collaborators. Start with the seven-page visual kit, or take the individual resources you need.

Cover of Muneera Sallies’s seven-page visual media kit

Ready-to-use introductions.

Short and professional biographies, plus an introduction for hosts.

Download biographies · Text ↓
Short biography

Muneera Sallies is an award-winning South African director, writer, producer and creative executive. Raised in a Cape Town filmmaking family, she brings more than 20 years of experience to stories about family, identity and belonging. She directed Old Righteous Blues, South Africa’s official submission to the 97th Academy Awards, and creates training and mentorship that helps filmmakers take their stories through to delivery.

Professional biography

Muneera Sallies grew up in Cape Town in a home where stories became productions. Her mother, Zulfah Otto-Sallies, worked across writing, theatre and film; her father, Shahied Sallies, was a painter and cameraman. That creative inheritance runs through a career spanning more than 20 years of directing, writing, producing and leading screen work. She directed Old Righteous Blues, South Africa’s official submission to the 97th Academy Awards, and received Best Director at the 2024 Romford Film Festival. The film went on to receive Best African Film at the 2025 Septimius Awards and the Outstanding Film Fiction Award at South Africa’s 2025 National Arts and Culture Awards. Her directing work includes Melody, Twisted Christmas and selected episodes of David Klatzow: Looking Into Darkness. Her wider executive portfolio includes Skemergrond as Content Supervisor and Executive Producer, and Reënboogrant, Die Oord, Dark Side of Glory and False Glory as Executive Producer and Story Supervisor. Her work on #OppiPlaas, Ataman, Speel Aan and Lubinda combines executive production, story supervision and production mentorship. Alongside filmmaking, she creates training and mentors emerging talent, including Namibia’s Ombura project. She currently serves as Commissioning Editor for Premium Scripted Content at MultiChoice / CANAL+.

Host introduction

Our guest is Muneera Sallies, an award-winning South African director, writer, producer and creative executive. She directed Old Righteous Blues, South Africa’s official submission to the 97th Academy Awards, and won Best Director at the Romford Film Festival. Her work spans feature films, television, factual storytelling and animation in development. She also creates training and mentors filmmakers from the first work on a story through to final delivery. Please welcome Muneera Sallies.

Supplied portraits

A face to the name.

Original supplied portraits, available separately. Contact Muneera for photographer credits and reproduction permissions.

Muneera Sallies smiling in a red jacket
Download portrait · JPEG ↓
Alternate leadership portrait of Muneera Sallies
Download alternate · JPEG ↓

For the next story, the next room, the next collaboration.

Let’s make it
a conversation.

hello@muneerasallies.com

For interviews and events, share the topic, audience, date, location or online format, and deadline. For film work, include the project stage and the role you have in mind.

Explore press & conversations ↗