Palesa Lebona

Palesa Lebona is a MFA Filmmaker born and raised in South Africa, based in Los Angeles. Fascinated by cartoons and the bed time stories her parents would read to her as a child and how the world operates, she developed a flair for telling stories and watching and listening to stories via radio, TV and the big screen; hence her degree in B.Comm Marketing Management as well as a degree in B.Comm Logistics Management. This then followed working in corporate within the fields of Banking, Marketing and Project Management for 5 years. She then left the corporate world to pursue her true passion (story telling) in the form of MFA Filmmaking, where she graduated with honors (90%) from the New York Film Academy in 2016. During her 2 -Year Masters degree she has worked in over 20 productions, which include short films, commercials, music videos and feature films. To date, her master's thesis short film Cream has been selected in 14 film festivals globally with two awards from various film festivals in the United States. As an African and South African Director/Producer/Writer, she aims to provoke thought and drive dialogue about human issues that are ignored and overlooked, and to transform the landscape of Film and Media in Africa into one which not only tells the stories of its people but is also profitable. She is working in the US freelancing on various productions, as well as developing various series and cartoons, which she hopes to license in the near future.