Born in South Africa, headquartered in the United States, and powered by filmmakers stationed around the globe, Daydream Reels is a production company dedicated to highlighting the stories too often left unheard. We specialize in documentary filmmaking and music supervision. Our sister company, Metamension, is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Founder/director Laura Gamse‘s work has been featured on NPR, the National Geographic Channel and Netflix. Her first documentary, The Creators: South Africa Through the Eyes of Its Artists, was named Best Documentary at the National Geographic Society’s All Roads Film Festival. She is currently in production on Brigidy Bram, a feature documentary whose shorter incarnation was named Best Short Film at the Bahamian Oscars.
Born in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, Anda Ngxekana is a Xhosa spiritual healer and photographer based in Durban. She has spent eight years honing her skills as a photographer for Ike&Andy. With a keen interest in visual media, she has since spent the past two years learning more about graphic design as well as video editing. Anda enjoys learning new skills, reading, travel, hiking, and spiritual introspection. Anda serves as Daydream’s Global Communications Manager, overseeing our social channels, online releases and press announcements.
Filmmaker, painter and visual effects artist Bernard Myburgh is based in Cape Town. As Creative Director for Daydream Reels, founder of Metamension and co-founder of Invictus Capital, he is happiest while working, carving out his dreams by hand. His first short film, Roger, features jazz pianist Roger Kosa from The Creators documentary. He made this website in 2011. He wants to update it.
Born and based in Cape Town, South Africa, Jacques de Villiers has edited both fiction and documentary features and shorts, as well as numerous music videos. The Creators, which he co-directed and co-edited as Daydream’s debut film, won the Best Documentary award at the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival. His features and shorts have premiered at major festivals around the world, including the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and opening the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival. He also teaches film theory and practice at the University of Cape Town, and is a participant in this year’s Berlinale Talents programme.
Inês Pedrosa e Melo is a documentary filmmaker, producer and editor from Lisbon, Portugal, who lives and works between her home country and the San Francisco Bay Area. Passionate about stories that tackle themes such as social justice and its intersections with politics, science, technology and trauma, Inês has worked within the independent documentary and commercial circuits, and has experience with grant-writing, development, archival producing, production coordination and editing. Her documentary work has been showcased in festivals in Europe, North and South America. She graduated with an MFA in Documentary Film and Video Production from Stanford University in 2019, and is a Fulbright and a Calouste Gulbenkian grantee.
Producer, anthropologist, and medical doctor Marta Sandres Corwin is based in Los Angeles. She is passionate about medicine, public health, and creating content that bridges the gap between art and science. She thoroughly enjoys learning, reading, medicine, traveling, and visual arts. Marta is our resident scientist, genomic fact-checker and researcher extraordinaire.
Producer Ufuoma Otu developed award-winning public relations and marketing communications campaigns for clients in various industries before embracing her passion of producing films and factual content programming. She focuses on creating content that showcases cultures and subcultures in ways that are entertaining, engaging and compelling in order to promote awareness and understanding. Born in the US, reared in West Africa, and an avid traveler, managing international projects is second nature to Ufuoma.
Producer Edith Mari is based in Chicago. Since joining Daydream Reels in 2012, Edie has had her hands in a little bit of everything, most recently as associate producer of Brigidy Bram. When she’s not working for the screen, Edie finds her creative home in climate science communication.
Photographer Shreya Goswami is a journalist born and living in Calcutta. She often paints with her camera, her favorite genre being candid street photography. She likes to travel and capture the essence of places you don’t usually find on the tour map.