Nicolas Velini was one of the producers on Bird Boy, a heartwarming family movie set and filmed in South Africa. Internationally financed, the project was filmed in the Western Cape in 2024 using an all-South African crew, except for the director.
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Bird Boy has seen tremendous success overseas and is currently streaming on Angel Studios in the US. It premiered at Schlingel Film Festival in Germany, one of the leading children’s film festivals in the world. It has participated in over 20 international film festivals and has garnered many accolades, such as best film, best actor, and best actress awards to the South African cast.
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He has demonstrated enthusiastic support for the whole of the South African film industry and has reached out around the globe to bring international projects to South Africa.
Nicolas Velini
Producer / Head of Production
Michael S. Murphey
Producer
Michael S. Murphey is an American producer based in Cape Town with 35+ years in feature films and television.
His credits include District 9, Dredd, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, and From Dusk Till Dawn II: Texas Blood Money and III.
District 9 earned a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Dredd was the first 3D feature shot in Africa and the first film produced at Cape Town Film Studios.
Murphey first worked in South Africa in 1994, producing with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, and later served as regional representative for Film Finances across Sub-Saharan Africa.
He is founder of Kalahari Pictures, a production company behind global studio releases, Oscar nominees, and Emmy winners, and a founding director or board member of the Young Filmmakers Programme, DOCi Emerging Filmmakers Programme, and the Documentary Institute of South Africa.
Joel Soisson
Director / Producer / Writer
With a background in fine art and cinematography, Joel Soisson began his career producing such indie faves as Trick or Treat, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Over the course of more than fifty feature films as a writer, director and producer, Soisson has helped launch numerous multi-picture franchises including American Yakuza with Viggo Mortensen, The Prophecy with Christopher Walken, Dracula 2000 with Gerard Butler and Pulse with Kristen Bell.
Soisson was also featured on Season Three of the hit reality TV series Project Greenlight, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the horror satire Feast. He turned to family fare with Buffalo Rider (aka My Best Worst Adventure) and continues in that vein with the heartwarming adventure, Bird Boy.