Best Director
Romford Film Festival / 2024
The filmmaker. The creative leader. The person.
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


Inside the work / On set with Muneera
01 / The story begins at home
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
A Cape story, heard around the world.

“I want the audience to experience a life-lived.”
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.
Romford Film Festival / 2024
97th Academy Awards
Septimius Awards
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.”
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

Co-writer & director
A festive ensemble feature shaped by humour, family friction and the possibility of reconciliation.
Watch trailer ↗
Director
An Athlone-set musical drama about a young penny-whistler imagining a different future.
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In development
Writer, director & co-producer
A mother and daughter confront their shared past in a drama rooted in Cape Muslim family life.
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In development
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 ↗
Factual series / Director, selected episodes
Forensic depth and human consequence in a series confronting gender-based violence.
Watch trailer ↗04 / Creative leadership & mentorship

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
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
Content Supervisor & Executive Producer
Drama series
Executive Producer & Story Supervisor
Crime thriller series
Executive Producer & Story Supervisor
Documentary series
Executive Producer & Story Supervisor
Crime documentary series
Executive Producer & Story Supervisor
Executive production, story & production mentorship
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 ↗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.
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
What Old Righteous Blues reveals about cultural specificity, community and the journey from a South African production to international recognition.
Building trust, working with ensembles and turning an understanding of character into choices that can be seen and felt on screen.
Designing practical training and supporting filmmakers through script development, directing, production and final delivery.
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
Begin with a conversation about the people, decisions and experiences behind the work.
The Artist’s Voice / Petra Sittig
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
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 ↗06 / Ready for your desk
For journalists, event organisers, producers and collaborators. Start with the seven-page visual kit, or take the individual resources you need.

Short and professional biographies, plus an introduction for hosts.
Download biographies · Text ↓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.
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+.
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
Original supplied portraits, available separately. Contact Muneera for photographer credits and reproduction permissions.


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