About

Maganthrie Pillay is an established filmmaker and poet. Born in Durban, South Africa she grew up in the Apartheid constructed Chatsworth designated for people of Indian Descent. She is a fourth generation(or more) descendant of Indian Indentured Labourers.  She graduated from the former University of Westville  with a Bachelor of Peadagogics and from the University of Cape Town with an Honours in Drama.

Maganthrie is a human rights and media activist fighting for transformation in those areas and through her work in television and theatre. She has performed in and directed several theatre pieces notably, Side by  Side Masizizane (Working together), Contours, Manje!(Now), Red Rituals, Maps of Memory.

She is a founding-member of WEAVE whose self published anthology INK at Boiling Point: 21st Century Writing by Black Women from the Tip of Africa was a milestone in South African Literature. She received several awards,  Cosmo Woman of the Year in 2005. She received other awards for contribution to Women and Film from Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design and Cape Town Siva Aalyam. Her poetry has appeared in various publications and blogs including O Magazine and Cape Times, SAFM, Bush Radio. She has performed live on many stages.

Maganthrie made history when she became the first black woman to direct a dramatic feature film in South Africa, 34 South which has shown at film festivals locally and internationally. Her documentaries around social justice/spirituality have been shown on E-TV and SABC. She has directed documentaries for ILO, UNICEF, Unifem, UNHCR, UKZN, OSISA  among others. She was Episode Director on the innovative social reality series Imagine Africa.

Shakti… Marks of a Warrior is her first solo collection.