Judy Naidoo is a South African independent filmmaker. She holds a Masters Degree in Producing from the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in the United Kingdom. She was the recipient of two scholarships that enabled her to pursue this degree: The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Award and later the Trevor Jones Scholarship. Judy also holds a BA (Dramatic Arts) Honours Degree from Wits University (majoring in Directing and Television).

Under the umbrella of Ladybug Films (a company Judy had established in 2002, previously named Black Heat Productions), she had the opportunity to produce and direct several documentaries, corporates, commercials, and short films, but her aspirations to tell fictional stories grew. In 2006 she attended a filmmaking course at the New York Film Academy in New York City. There, she wrote, directed, and edited several short film projects. Later, whilst studying a Masters Degree in Producing in the UK, Judy produced the award-winning animation short Kahānikār (The Storyteller). The film was long-listed for the Oscars in 2012 and won at several major festivals around the world.

Judy made her directorial debut on the feature-length film “Hatchet Hour” in 2016. The film had its international premiere at the LA Femme International Film Festival (2016), where it won the Best Foreign Film award. The film’s Africa premiere was at the Joburg International Film Festival 2016. In 2017, the film won Best Picture and Best Director awards at the New Hope Film Festival (Pennsylvania, USA). Judy’s new film “Kings of Mulberry Street” won Best Feature Film at this year’s Children’s Film Festival Seattle (USA). The film has already been in-competition at many prestigious international film festivals and is currently enjoying a successful festival run (a list of official selections is listed under her filmography).