Ingrid Martens: Producer, Director, Camera Operator and Off-Line Editor

While attaining my Masters Degree in Culture and Media Studies I documented the beginning of Regional Television in South Africa. During the process I trained with various journalists and found my passion for telling stories in a powerful medium that can impact positively on people's lives.

The South African Broadcasting Corporations (SABC) Television News then appointed me as a reporter/journalist in 1998. For two years I specialised in people-driven feature stories on a wide range of critical human rights issues and tested my theories of solution-driven journalism, which were largely successful considering the positive audience response.

I was then asked to jointly pioneer SABC's first ever Features and Investigations Desk to be run under the Current Affairs Department. After a successful year of production I won the CNN African Journalist Health Category Award in 2001. I was chosen for the International Professional Programme for Journalists at CNN in Atlanta. One of Africa's most awarded production houses in Kenya, namely Camerapix, then approached me to become the executive producer/bureau chief of its first ever South African office.

I produced and assisted in the production of news and features in countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Angola for clients such as CNN, BBC, SABC and e-TV. I also produced advocacy videos for organisations such as the Planned Parenthood Federation and the United Nations University for Peace. During this period I presented a speech on Journalism in Africa at the International Institute of Communications Conference.

I left Camerapix in 2003 to start my own company, I'M Original Productions and become more focused on my passion to produce and continue to develop my skills as an independent journalist/storyteller across the continent travelling to various destinations and producing for local broadcasters like M-Net and SABC and as a freelance producer of Al Jazeer English in countries like Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya to name a few.

I have also been focusing on my passion to produce more in-depth documentaries that deal with issues I am passionate about and have produced, directed, filmed and edited two documentaries called "Be Amazing" and "Love Me For Me" for a Unicef funded project that allowed young girls to tell their own stories. During this period, I also designed, created and implemented a training plan for two projects that taught young people television skills, and producers how to work with them. I was also commissioned to create a monitoring report for the outcome of one of the projects for Unicef.

In 2008, I consulted for a Nigerian company called Multimesh Broadcasting Company (MBC) in the area of content and launching a DTH, pay-tv brand. One year later I moved to Nigeria as an AMSCO manager (African Management Services Company), run by the United Nations Development Programme, as the Head of Content at MBC. I have recently returned to South Africa, where I continue to consultant, while completing my first self funded documentary, Africa Shafted: Under One Roof, that has been four years in the making, as the producer, director, cameraperson and off-line editor.

Source:
http://africashafted.co.za/about-im-original/21-the-team/34-the-team