Cape Town - South Africa has an abundance of talented actors, directors and film producers, but we tend to overlook our local-is-lekker content because of Hollywood.
Here are four women who are flourishing in the film industry here and making SA's name known abroad.
Nadine Cloete
Nadine Cloete is a world-renowned film-maker who is best-known for Action Kommandant, her documentary about anti-apartheid fighter Ashley Kriel.
The film had seven sold-out screenings at last year's Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival.
Action Kommandant won the festival’s audience award for Best South African Film.
When she is not slaying at making documentaries, she is working at her role of Director at Ma engerè Film Productions and a production manager at Rainbow Circle Films.
When asked why she opts for working on documentaries instead of blockbusters that rake in the millions, she responded that it has to do with meaning and the differences it can potentially make in another's life.
"A documentary can get people's houses back, families talking, someone can watch a documentary and then never again say they did not know.
"We have to keep working so that black women in film doesn't come across as this momentary thing. We have to work harder to build our networks. Being black and a woman and in film is about being in a state of resistance all the time."
When we spoke to Cloete she was showing Action Kommandant in Philadelphia in the US at Blackstar Film Festival, where she says the following words of impact strategist resonated with her: "the biggest impact is that its you telling your own story".
Cloete says: "It is special when black people all over the world emotionally connect with the Action Kommandant film. One woman called the film a Sankarist document. That was great for me, to see it acknowledged as a Pan-Africanist work. I think me travelling, and this is talking about who and what I represent, means a lot to my people.
"A victory for a black woman is a victory for all of us. It means its possible. It means the work must continue."
Lucilla Blankenberg
"As a woman of colour, I have been underestimated considerably... It could be my hair, I'm not sure," laughs Lucilla Blankenberg, the founder of Off the Ground Media, a company aimed at helping smaller media companies grow and develop, and which produces all types of media including television, radio and print.
Blankenberg says she doesn't take it personally. "If I have to defend myself I will. I'm not scared of most people."
This fighting spirit comes in handy for Blankenberg, who has many roles including being on the board of directors of the Community Media Trust (CMT), an NPO that has produced HIV/AIDS and related public health education material for almost two decades.
With media production as her field of expertise, Blankenberg is the director and producer of most of the media created and produced at CMT.
She is passionate about addressing gender-based violence and social justice issues in South Africa and uses her films to highlight this plight.
She and her team are behind the health documentary series, Siyayinqoba! as well as prime time dramas Amaza and JAB. Her edgy reality TV series Counter Culture is currently on SABC3.
Bongiwe Selane
Happiness is a Four-letter Word, produced by Bongiwe Selane, smashed several records on its opening weekend, including that for revenue grossed: R2.3 million from about 45 000 tickets sold in the first three days on the big screen.
"I made a film wanting to fulfil a wish, a dream, and just wanted to do what I love, and I must admit, the response to the film just solidified in me that this is what I want to do," award-winning producer Bongiwe Selane says about her first feature film Happiness is a Four-letter Word.
She says she was pleasantly humbled and surprised by the response to Happiness, which smashed several records on its opening weekend. "It was through dedication, patience and allowing so many enablers in my space that helped me achieve my dream."
Selane admits that women still have a barrier to entry in the film industry.
"Most times its due to the fact that they are still confined to administrative roles in the industry - production management positions etc, but lately I’m encouraged by women taking up more creative roles as producers and directors.
"The recent transformation laws requiring the participation of women in the more creative roles, as well as developmental initiatives like the Female Only Filmmaker Project initiated by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) - are also enabling women to take up these roles and helping them move higher in the filmmaking hierarchy.
"More than ever, its now that women have to be make themselves more visible and to step up to the challenge," she says.
When choosing projects, Selane says she lets her gut feel guide her.
"Most times I choose projects that speak to me as a women; projects that feel will resonate with me and the audience I want to communicate with. I want to recognise myself in the work I choose, or at least recognise my friends, my aunt, my sister, mom, etc or even the many amazing hardworking, dedicated and yes, flawed human beings (like all humans are) - and women out there, who are just trying to make sense of the South Africa we live in."
"I try to choose projects that will inspire others and also have them reflect on their own lives."
In this tough and competitive industry, Selane says she draws strength from many women out there who have done amazing things through great adversity.
"My mom is my greatest strength and inspiration. But to name just a few - Helena Spring, Kethiwe Ngcobo, Thandi Brewer, Xoliswa Sithole, Desiree Markgraaf (all formidable women in their field as film and TV producers), Carol Bouwer (philanthropist), Sibongile Mkhabela (CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund) and so many others who continue to encourage me and give me strength to do what I do."
Charmaine Greyling
VFX, compositing and final online grading does not usually get a look in the film industry but it can be the difference between an average film and a good one.
Charmaine Greyling is a woman that dabbles in all of these. She has played a fundamental role in visual effects for commercials as well as films - 'photoshop on steroids' as she described it.
She is an online editor for Upstairs Ludus and was the person that was behind controversial and hard-hitting ads such as 'The first kiss' and the viral #ItCanWait ad.
Her journey was on of many ups and downs and even went overseas for training. She was thrown into the world of online from being an offline editor.
Believe it or not, Greyling is 'one of three women' in the country who does this sort of thing due to it being a 'man's world'.
However, that does not stop her from getting to her passion. After all, she has been doing this for just over 20 years.